Activity Overview
Students will analyze the settings of several short stories, study the mood created by the settings, and write brief sketches. They will then evaluate how setting is used to contribute to the meaning and literary merit of the selected stories.
Before the Activity
See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.
Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.
Install the NoteFolio(tm) App on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.
Review the terms setting and mood. Refer to the setting sketches from Activity 1 as a form of quick review. Remind the class of the ways in which critical information about the story is presented by means of the setting.
During the Activity
Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
Distribute the NoteFolio(tm) file(s) to your class using TI Connect(tm) and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity
Students will:
Comprehend setting and mood.
Analyze a short story to identify setting and the mood it creates.
Develop their own detailed settings.
Write short setting sketches.
Identify and evaluate the literary element of setting in professional models and peer writing.
After the Activity
When the groups have completed their work, select different students to share their setting sketches. As a class, critique the sketches for accuracy. Students should agree on and understand setting and mood as developed by the details of time, place, thoughts/feelings, and statements/quotations.
As a final exercise, lead the class in critiquing the author?s use of setting as it contributes to the meaning and literary merit of the story. If the student groups analyzed different stories, then choose the one story with which the entire class is most familiar. Identify elements that set the mood of the story (or stories, if the groups analyzed different stories.) The teacher may wish to tell the class that they will be developing original settings using these criteria in the next activity.