When I first started teaching, the teacher next to me showed Disney movies 3-4 times per week. I didn’t feel that was a good use of classroom time.
These movies derived from short stories, however, are. Just click on the link and get ready to educate your class using multimedia.
As you know, I would never encourage my colleagues to show a movie without having a legitimate lesson plan with legitimate objectives.
Here’s the assignment handout. It’s self-explanatory. This is one of those lessons that’s easy to teach, entertaining for the kids, and actually involves practicing and mastering skills and standards.
Life is good when your short story lesson plans are finished for the year.
Don’t forget to write one of these standards on the board.
- RL.9-10.7 – Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
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RL.11-12.7 – Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.) (Bradbury is technically an American dramatist).
Here’s a list of short stories turned into movies on YouTube. I’ve watched them all to make sure they’re school appropriate. I’d still recommend you preview anything you show in your classroom because I won’t be there handling angry phone calls.
- Ray Bradbury Theater: “The Veldt”
- Ray Bradbury Theater: “A Sound of Thunder”
- “Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
- “The Open Window” by Saki
- “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
- “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell
- “The Interlopers” by Saki
- “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce
- “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
- “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
- “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
Last Updated on August 8, 2018 by Trenton Lorcher
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Hi Trenton, Thanks for your great set of plans!
I strongly recommend the Hitchcock “Lamb…”, as the author Dahl actually wrote the screenplay. The comparisons between the two can be teased out into the differences between British and American language and expectations. With that prepped for them, my sophomores have been wonderfully engaged in and have effectively written about the comparison.