A Lesson in Comparing and Contrasting Two Short Stories

Comparing and contrasting two short stories is something your students will enjoy doing. It is a skill that can be repeated and expanded to enhance students' appreciation of literature throughout their lives. As they read more extensively and watch more videos, they can apply this skill to compare a book to a screenplay, a book to a movie, a news report to a documentary, and on and on. 

At first, when teaching this concept, I suggest that you choose the two short stories that you want them to compare and contrast. Be sure to choose stories that have some common elements. If you are entirely familiar with the stories, it will be so much easier for you to grade their work. I also suggest that you assign the same selections to the whole class. 

Here is the sequence when teaching this lesson: 

• Prepare a rubric to use as an instructional tool to let students know what you expect in their essays. 
• Assign a point value to each element in the rubric to make it easier to determine the grade on the paper.

• Assign the two stories as an in-class reading assignment or for homework. 

• Give students the instructions you want them to follow while writing their essays.

• My instructions are to write a four-paragraph composition in which they discuss three similarities and three differences between the two stories or novels). The first paragraph is the introduction, the second discusses three similarities, the third discusses three differences, and the final paragraph is a summary of the main ideas. (I include specific details in the rubric.)

• Give them a copy of the rubric you will use to grade their work. Tell them to study it, so they know what you expect when they write their essays.

• Have students brainstorm on a graphic organizer and take notes on the plot, characters, theme, point of view, and tone of each of the short stories 

• Assign writing a four-paragraph composition in which they discuss three similarities and three differences between the two stories (or novels) that they are comparing. 

If you are working with students who will need to write such essays frequently, do this assignment again. This time, let them choose the literary selections they wish to compare and contrast. 

You can prepare this lesson just as you wish, and your students will be successful. Grading the papers should not be a time thief for you if you prepare the rubric first. However, if you want this lesson ready to go with everything already prepared, you will find it here in my TpT store. 

This resource is both printable and digital and can be used in Easel by TpT™.

Thanks for reading. Here are some interesting blog posts from my teacher friends in The Best of Teachers Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.

   All the best,

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Find Amazing Bargains in Back-to-School Sale on TpT

The annual back-to-school sale on TeachersPayTeachers.com begins next week on Tuesday, August 3rd. You will have two days to save up to 25% on thousands of resources that you can purchase, download, and use immediately. 

Be sure to enter the code BTS21 when you check out. Many sellers are pricing their resources at 20% off and if you enter the code, TpT will take off another 5%.

Busy teachers will especially enjoy the back-to-school activities that are printable, and many resources also provide a link to a product in Google Drive™ or offer the opportunity to work in Easel by TpT™.

Here's a link with more information on how to use Easel by TpT™. 

I have spent much of my summer making 50 of my resources available to use in Easel. If you wish to see which of them have been converted to Easel, click here. 

If you have already purchased a resource that has been converted to Easel, please go to the "my purchases" tab in your TpT dashboard and download it again.

Here's a great opportunity to enter an amazing contest sponsored by Victoria Leon and The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. You can win a $100 TpT Gift Certificate. Click here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

One of my goals for the coming school year is to write a blog post and an email each month to help you teach a grammar, writing, or creative writing lesson to your students. If you have any special requests about concepts you would like to see me spotlight, please tell me in the comments below or send me an email at charlenetess@yahoo.com. I would love to help you in any way I can. 

You may find these two back-to-school lessons helpful. 

This back-to-school unit will get your new semester or school year off to a good start. Everything you need is included in this unit. Five pages of instruction for the teacher and a four-page handout packet for the students. 

When completed, students will have introduced each other to you and to their classmates, and you will have taken three assessment grades.

The twenty back-to-school-themed sentences in this exercise all begin with the subject and the verb.

Good writers vary their sentence patterns by sometimes placing phrases or clauses at the beginning of their sentences. 

In this exercise, students will rewrite sentences by varying the sentence patterns.

I hope the 2021-2022 school year is a happy and healthy one for you, your family, and your students.

Best,

Charlene

Sun, Sand, and Savings Sale Week of July 19-23

Sun, Sand, & Savings Sale  

$1 resources $2 resources and FREE resources. Week of July 19-23

It's that great summer sale again. You can choose from amazing TpT resources and save BIG!

You can find all the sales and giveaways for grades K-12 here.

Every Monday in July, I will mark two of my resources down to $1.00. Click on the link below to shop deals on 7/19. (I will not reduce prices until tomorrow!)    

Three Ways Authors Reveal Characters

Comparing and Contrasting Two Short Stories

Every Tuesday in July, I will mark two of my resources down to $2.00. Click here to shop deals on 7/20. 

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Scenarios to Plot a Mystery Story

Show Don't Tell

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Guide to Understanding a Novel

Using Irregular Verbs Correctly Set One

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Finding Prepositional Phrases Video

Practice with Possessive Nouns Worksheets

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Sun, Sand, and Savings Sale Week of July 12-16

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It's that great summer sale again. You can choose from amazing TpT resources and save BIG!

You can find all the sales and giveaways for grades K-12 here.

Every Monday in July, I will mark two of my resources down to $1.00. Click on the link below to shop deals on 7/12. (I will not reduce prices until tomorrow!)    

How to Develop a Thesis Statement

How to Write a Character Analysis

Every Tuesday in July, I will mark two of my resources down to $2.00. Click here to shop deals on 7/13. 

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Sentence Pattern Worksheets for Back to School

Getting to Know You Activities for Back to School

Every Wednesday in July, I will mark two of my digital resources down to $1.00. Click here to shop deals on 7/14. (I will not reduce prices until Wednesday.)

Halloween Song-Writing Activity

How to Keep a Reading Reaction Journal

Every Thursday and Friday in July, you can enter a $100 TpT Gift Card giveaway. Winners are announced on the main website on Saturday.

You can enter the giveaway on Thursday and Friday here.

Every Friday you can grab one or two of my Freebies.

Reducing Wordy Sentences

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Worksheets

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Sun, Sand & Savings Sale Week of July 5-9

Sun, Sand, & Savings Sale  

$1 resources $2 resources and FREE resources. Week of July 5-9.

It's that great summer sale again. You can choose from amazing TpT resources and save BIG!

You can find all the sales and giveaways for grades K-12 here.

Every Monday in July, I will mark two of my resources down to $1.00. Click on the link below to shop deals on 7/5.    

All About Verbs

How to Write a Critical Essay

Every Tuesday in July, I will mark two of my resources down to $2.00. Click here to shop deals on 7/6. 

(I will not reduce prices until Tuesday!)    

Show Don't Tell 

Action and Linking Verbs Complements

Every Wednesday in July, I will mark two of my digital resources down to $1.00. Click here to shop deals on 7/7. (I will not reduce prices until Wednesday.)

Proofreading for Capitalization, Punctuation, & Spelling BOOM Cards.™

Practice with Apostrophes Boom Cards™ Deck 1

Every Thursday and Friday in July, you can enter a $100 TpT Gift Card giveaway. Winners are announced on the main website on Saturday.

You can enter the giveaway on Thursday and Friday, here.

Every Friday you can grab one or two of my Freebies.

Who, or Whom, Fewer or Less, Bad or Badly BOOM Cards.™

Gratitude Booklet Creative Writing Activity

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