Bundle of Short Story Close Reading Worksheets

This bundle of 20 assessments promotes analytical thinking, measures and extends reading comprehension, and offers flexibility of choice to differentiate and satisfy the academic needs of students of varying proficiency levels in classroom and distance learning settings. Included are close reading activities, answer keys, and copies of public domain texts. Short story selections include the following:

“Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin *
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell *
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe *
“The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving *
“The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield *
“The New Dress” by Virginia Woolf *
“The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane *
“The Open Window” by Saki *
“The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe *
“A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett *
“After Twenty Years” by O. Henry *
“The Businessman” by Edgar Allan Poe *
“The Legend of the Christmas Rose” by Selma Lagerlof *
“The Old Tombstone” by Hans Christian Andersen *
“The Wind Blows” by Katherine Mansfield *
“The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen *
“The Stolen Farthings” by the Brothers Grimm *
“Slave on the Block” by Langston Hughes
“The Wives of the Dead” by Nathaniel Hawthorne *
“The Sparrow and His Four Children” by the Brothers Grimm *

(* denotes a public domain text)

By completing these analysis exercises, students will demonstrate the following high-order skills:

• An ability to apply knowledge of more complex literary devices to the texts including foreshadowing, situational irony, dramatic irony, hyperbole, personification, metaphor, symbolism, theme, and more
• An ability to analyze context clues and draw logical inferences about character motivations and other elements of plot
• An ability to discern and articulate details that illustrate contrasts between characters
• An ability to define complex words by taking into consideration denotative definitions, connotative definitions, and context clues
• An ability to find and articulate relevant textual details in support of claims
• An ability to discern mood and tone in context
• An ability to discern author’s intent
• An ability to conduct brief research and articulate historical and autobiographical parallels
• An ability to analyze text structures
• An ability to analyze text to determine the function of an excerpt
• An ability to analyze a text for how it conforms to the conventions of a particular genre
• An ability to establish formal tone, paying attention to conventions of written English
• An ability to take leadership in class discussions, addressing nuances in the author’s craft to help peers understand literature from different perspectives