Short stories for middle and high school students are everywhere! You can pretty much search for this phrase all over the internet and see tons of options for your students. Because of doing this search every year for 15 years of teaching, I have come across a ton of short stories I absolutely love to teach. They come from different eras and have various reading levels, but each one has something to teach students about life and about themselves!
More than any other short story writer, Edgar Allan Poe short stories still captures the imaginations of his readers 150 years after his death.
One of the things I love most about his writing is that he appeals to even the most reluctant readers. Students get to delve deeply into twisted plots and even more twisted characters. They become fascinated by his tales, because they appeal to everyone of us for various reasons.
Check out ideas below for teaching Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories!
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Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories: Top 3 To Teach
1. The Tell Tale Heart: The Best of Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories
Have you ever been captivated by something? Or riveted to something or someone only to become obsessed? This short story tells of a man consumed by an obsession. He lives with an old man who has a “vulture” like eye. Because of this eye, the narrator schemes to murder this man. Yes, there is no other stated reason. Odd and creepy, right? By the end of the story, the narrator has become so overwhelmed by guilt and the fear of discovery that he confesses to the crime!
I don’t know about you, but this sense of horror is oddly appealing. We can’t look away when something bad is about to happen. In the same way, we read this story and can’t believe why the narrator kills the old man. We can, however, most definitely connect to the sense of shame and conviction he enacts at the resolution. We can hear the pounding of the heart, just like when we have done something wrong and feel we are about to get caught.
Click the link for this Digital and Print Lessons for Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories, Activities, Writing Responses, and Test Prep Reading Comprehension Quiz Bundle, so you can teach “The Tell Tale Heart,” the best of Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories with no stress!
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5 Activity Ideas for The Tell Tale Heart:
- 1-Sentence Summaries: You can break up the story into chunks to make reading this higher-level text a bit easier! After reading each chunk, encourage students to underline 2-3 important details. Then, model how to create a 1-sentence summary for each chunk. It makes reading this short story a piece of cake!
Click below for fun Edgar Allan Poe short stories activities!
- Character Analysis: Students can compare and contrast the 2 main characters: the old man and the narrator. Start out by teaching about character traits, both internal and external. (CHECK OUT THIS CHARACTER TRAITS FREEBIE!!) Then, have students locate descriptions of either or both of the characters. They can analyze what the text says about each character and how the evidence contributes to specific traits.
- Visualization: For most students, visualization is key to comprehension! Plus, your more creative students will have a blast with depicting the images within this story! You could even have them create a Movie Poster or a Comic Strip for any of Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories!
- Imagery Analysis: Analyzing imagery is essential for understanding short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. He is the master of language. Encouraging students to read every word and bathe in the imagery will not only help with comprehension, but it will hopefully also develop some Poe admirers!
- Literary Analysis: The Digital and Print Lessons for Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories, Activities, Writing Responses, and Test Prep Reading Comprehension Quiz Bundle, encourages students to begin their journey into writing literary analysis. It takes students step by step through the literary analysis process by teaching them to examine how characterization leads to theme. Poe is not merely a horror writer. His writings display humanity’s weaknesses, sins, and the deepest parts of ourselves we are unwilling to show others. Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories are rife with thematic connections, or the story’s message(s).
By digging deeply, students can break down the theme of “The Tell Tale Heart!”
2. The Cask of Amontillado
This classic piece of American Literature was the first Poe short story I ever taught to my ninth-grade English students. It describes the story of a man, Montresor, bent on revenge. We don’t know why he wants revenge specifically, yet we most eagerly join him on his journey to achieve vengeance against a man named Fortunato. Because of this twisted plot and ironic resolution, students will love this story!
There are so many ways you can approach this story, like other Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories. You can focus on citing evidence, theme, characterization, word analysis, irony, structure, literary analysis writing, etc. It really is up to you! Below are 7 questions you can ask your students as you read this fun, albeit morbidly, fascinating tale!
TEACHING CENTRAL IDEA QUESTIONS FOR THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
If you are teaching the Common Core standards (or general state standards), let’s check out what this specific standard requires of texts like Edgar Allan Poe short stories:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
- Determine a theme OR central idea
- Analyze how the theme/central idea develops throughout the text
- Examine how details shape and refine the theme/central idea
- Provide a summary of the text
1. What is a summary of this short story?
Now, this question seems simple, but you can teach this standard in so many ways, especially when including Edgar Allan Poe short stories! You could focus on the beginning, middle, or end, a specific chunk, or the entire story? This question works for all of Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories!
Perhaps, you could teach How To Write a ONE-SENTENCE Summary! What better way than to use Edgar Allan Poe short stories!
The Cask of Amontillado Summary Activity Pack helps students focus on writing ONE-SENTENCE summaries for chunks within the short story. By breaking down the story into chunks, we can make comprehension MUCH easier for our students!
2. What is the central idea of the short story?
This question might seem almost too easy for your students; however, most students struggle to capture what the short story is truly about. Or they confuse it with theme (the message of a text).
TIP: Make sure to encourage your students to always cite evidence! Without evidence, our foundation for a response simply breaks down.
Want to easily teach Citing Evidence? Check out How To Cite Textual Evidence: Direct Quotes!
3. Which theme could be true based on the short story?
Check out these 6 possible themes that may or may NOT be true for Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories!
- Outside appearances do not always correspond to what people intend.
- Too much drinking will ultimately lead to death.
- Revenge takes careful planning and hard work.
- Lying is an important part of friendship.
- People take time to become enemies.
- Families determine life outcomes.
Have your students discuss the options and why each could or could not be a theme for this short story!
Want to make this standard a piece of cake for teaching one of Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories? Check out this Digital Quiz!
Do you want some ENGAGING ideas for the end of school? Check out>>>11 Fun End of Year Activities for Middle School and High School Students
TEACHING WORDS AND PHRASES QUESTIONS FOR THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
Here is one of the standards that asks students to analyze words and phrases, in this case figurative language.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.5
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
4. How does Poe use irony to contribute to the meaning of the text?
Check out the PRINT & TEACH pack below!
You also might want to focus on TONE! As a part of the standard below, students are asked to analyze the impact of diction on tone.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
5. What is Montresor’s tone towards Fortunato in the journey through the catacombs?
TEACHING CITING EVIDENCE QUESTIONS FOR THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO OR OTHER EDGAR ALLAN POE SHORT STORIES
For every answer, students should be able to support their responses with evidence! Too often, a student will guess. We don’t want that; we want them to be sure. One way to bolster students’ confidence is to teach them how to cite evidence! Here is the standard for citing evidence:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Let’s break it down. Students must do the following:
- Cite evidence that is both strong and thorough
- Use the evidence to support what the text says explicitly and implicitly
- Make inferences
This is a tough standard for any teacher, which is why we need to consistently ask our students for the evidence!
Here is an example that helps students understand the connection between characterization and evidence.
6. Which word or phrase from the text best characterizes Montresor? Choose 1 or 2 words and explain why these words best represent him.
7. Which sentence demonstrates Montresor is enjoying Fortunato’s response?
1) I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. 2) The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. 3) It was not the cry of a drunken man. 4) There was then a long and obstinate silence. 5) I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain.
6) The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. 7) When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier.
3. The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story of fear and pride amid the time of a raging disease leading to widespread death. More importantly, it is a study in humanity. Prince Prospero, an elite of an unspecified time period, invites others to socially distance with him in his one of his abbeys. Attempting to leave the rest of the population to their demise, he parties the night away with the other aristocrats in the belief that this sequestration will spare their lives.
Unfortunately for him and others like him, disease is undiscerning. It doesn’t care where you live or who you are. It simply spreads to its next victim, finding a host in every class within society.
Why is The Masque of the Red Death, like other Edgar Allan Poe short stories, relevant today?
I am blown away by the significance of this short story today! We live in a world riveted by fear of disease in 2020 and 2021, and so did the characters in “The Masque of the Red Death.” The wealthy hid themselves away from the world to party the time away only to succumb to the Red Death! One cannot escape death. We try to avoid it at all costs; however, it cannot be shaken or deterred.
More than in past years, our students will see this short story through different eyes. Prince Prospero is no longer just a foolish character in a story. The Red Death is no longer an imagined illness from the brilliant mind of Edgar Allan Poe. The place of safety is no longer “safe” from the ravages of the outside world.
We are Prince Prospero. We are the ones trying to hide from death. We are living in our homes in a mirage of safety. We are the ones wearing the masques!
It might be too real for some students, as they might have lost someone close to them. But this short story, like many Edgar Allan Poe short stories, has survived for the last 180 years for a reason. It reveals who we are and what we fear most!
5 The Masque of the Red Death Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories & Activities
1. Character Analysis
Analyzing Prince Prospero, the other aristocrats, or DEATH is simple and effective! Check out this FREE My Traits Organizer Pack for help teaching characterization in Edgar Allan Poe short stories!
Step-By-Step Outline for Edgar Allan Poe short stories
1. Answer the question about the characterization of Prospero
2. Incorporate a piece of evidence; be sure to embed the quote
3-4. Examine how the evidence conveys a specific effect that connects to the characterization
5. Incorporate another piece of evidence; be sure to embed the quote
6-7. Examine how the evidence conveys a specific effect that connects to the characterization
8. Reiterate the traits of Prospero
Want to teach your students how to write a LITERARY ANALYSIS for Edgar Allan Poe short stories? Check out>>>Use Literary Analysis Examples in 5 STEPS!
2. One Sentence Summaries
One of the most important standards is teaching main idea. Why not incorporate this standard by helping your students create one sentence summaries for each chunk of the story?
Directions: Reread the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. For each CHUNK, underline at least 3 important details (phrases) and write a 1-Sentence Summary.
THE “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.
CHUNK #1
The Red Death, a disease characterized by its quick, bloody nature, has ravaged the country for some time.
3. Imagery Impact
Students have fun when creativity is an option! Yes, they can always write a response in paragraph or essay form; however, why not make analyzing this short story a bit more engaging by having students create an visual based on imagery?
For these activities, you may want to define “imagery.” See these Edgar Allan Poe short stories activities at my store on TPT!
4. Setting Visualization
Students can practice analyzing setting in The Masque of the Red Death by identifying the textual evidence that describes the setting, which is a description of the time and place. The Seventh Room and the other colored rooms play a major role in the story and deeply affect Prince Prospero.
5. Test Prep Quiz
Students can work independently or in pairs to answer Reading Questions with their own ideas and/or take a test prep Quiz with questions and answers modeled after state standardized tests! When students are done, students can review their answers with a partner and come to a consensus and/or you can THINK ALOUD and model how to answer the questions.
Check out this example from the PRINT & TEACH QUIZ for one of Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories available here>>>The Masque of the Red Death Digital Quiz
This question has 2 parts.
Part A: What is the central idea of the short story?
A. Prince Prospero and his friends put on a masquerade to celebrate the Red Death.
B. Prince Prospero and his friends assemble everyone in the kingdom to flee the Red Death.
C. Prince Prospero and his friends gather to escape the Red Death and end up dying anyways.
D. Prince Prospero and his friends hold a ball to commemorate those who survived the Red Death.
Part B: Which 2 quotations support the answer to Part A?
- “And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.”
- “In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation.”
- “In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded.”
- “But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that protected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room.”
- “It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.”
- “When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.”
Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories: A Legacy
There are other Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories that we could teach; however, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Masque of the Red Death should be considered first when teaching short stories because of their timelessness, brilliance, and ability to mesmerize!
For more activities, quizzes, and lesson ideas for Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories, check out my store Integrated ELA Test Prep!
