Quarter2Unit4

AmericanHorrorStories:Fearand
theAmericanPsyche

11dayunit/90minuteclasses

UNITGOALS
1. StudentswillknowandbeabletoidentifythecharacteristicsoftheAmericanhorror
genre
2. StudentswillbeabletousetheirknowledgeoftheAmericanHorrorgenretocraftan
Americanhorrorstoryoftheirown

COMMONCORE:ANCHORSTANDARDS
Throughoutmyplanning,IwillrelyontheCommonCoreAnchorStandardfor
K-12inreading,writing,speaking,listening,andlanguage.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2

Determinecentralideasorthemesofatextandanalyzetheirdevelopment;summarizethekey
supportingdetailsandideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.3

Writenarrativestodeveloprealorimaginedexperiencesoreventsusingeffectivetechnique,
well-chosendetailsandwell-structuredeventsequences.

TEXTUALMATERIALS
FiveWordGhostStoriesArchive
He,Festival,andTheRatsintheWallsbyH.P.Lovecraft,ShortStory
TheTell-TaleHeartbyEdgarAllanPoe,ShortStory

ACTIVITIES
1. WeeklyPaper
 2. FiveWordHorrorStoryPartnerActivity
a. Studentswillpartnerupandspendthefirstfifteenminutesofthefirstdayofthis
unitwritingafivetotenwordhorrorstory,whichwellshareasaclass.
3. EdgarAllanPoe&theAmericanHorrorStory
a. WewillreadTheTell-TaleHeartasaclassanddiscusswhatmakesitascary
story,andwhatmakesitadistinctlyAmericanstory.Studentswillthenreaditto
themselves,annotate,andkeepadouble-columnreadingresponselog1during
reading.
4. H.P.Lovecraft&theElementsofaHorrorStory
a. InthisactivitystudentswillpickoneoftheH.P.Lovecraftshortstoriesknowing
onlythetitle,andreadthestoriesingroups.Theyllworkasagrouptolistthe
characteristicsofanAmericanhorrorstory,andwellcompareourlistsasaclass
tomakeadefinitiveMustHave/ShouldHave/CantHavelist.
5. HorrorStoryWorkshop
a. StudentswillbeginworkshoppingtheirownAmericanhorrorstories,usingeither
LovecraftsorPoestextsasmentors.
6. ScaryStoryReadAround
a. WewilldoatypicalReadAroundtoshareourworkwithoneanotherand
celebrateourlearning.
7. UnitReflectionandReview2

CULMINATINGTEXTS
1. HorrorStory
a. Studentswillwritetheirownhorrorstorynarrative,usingboththelistof
Americanhorrorstorycharacteristicsthatweestablished,aswellasthetextswe
readinclasstocreateanoriginalfictionnarrative.Theywillsharetheseasaclass
inaReadAround.

ASSESSMENT

Studentswillbescoredonarubricthatincludesconventions,creativity,horrorstory
requirements(decidedasaclass),andorganization/clarityonascaleof0-4(0-insufficient
evidence,1-unsatisfactory,2-partiallyproficient,3-proficient,4-advancedunderstanding).

1
Smagorinsky
2
SeeIntroductoryMaterialstabforfullactivitydescription