I recently finished work on my Short Story Unit for 9-10 grade ELA. Rather than pick stories and pair skills with each, I decided to pick skills and allow YOU to pick a story for each. As I created the unit, I noticed a trend as I was making short story recommendations. There were some that seemed to work with just about every story. Here are my favorite short stories for 9th or 10th grade, based on student interest, skill application, or even just personal preference!
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“Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez
Without fail, I choose this as my first short story. Short stories are always our first unit of the year, so that means we’re usually studying this story on day 2 or 3. In this short story, the narrator, a barber, gets a visit from a new customer. Captain Torres is the leader of the military, and he revels in bloodshed and torture. As the narrator prepares Torres for a shave, he grows more and more nervous, worried that the commander can sense that he’s actually a spy for the resistance. The central question of the story is if the narrator will kill the captain, but expose his place in the resistance, or let him escape his blade.
I like to read this aloud, while my students annotate the narrator’s dilemma. It’s only a few pages long, and by the time I get to the story’s climax you can hear a pin drop. Afterwards, they usually have lots to talk about (thanks to a twist ending!). I use this story to analyze plot, but it is also great for analyzing point of view and conflict.
“Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe
Most people know Chinua Achebe for his groundbreaking novel, Things Fall Apart. But did you know he also has a strong arsenal of short stories? Like Things Fall Apart, this story is set in Nigeria and features a conflict between traditional values and modern beliefs. Michael Obi is the new headmaster of Ndume School. He is determined to make the school as beautiful and modern as possible, which is why he closes the ancestral pathway that cuts across the school campus. When a village elder explains that the ancestral path connects the village with the world beyond, he asks if the two could simply coexist. Obi refuses, insulting the villagers’ beliefs throughout the conversation. You’ll have to finish the story yourself to see how it ends!
I find that is hard to analyze setting with students, beyond simply identifying elements of time and place. Achebe’s works are brilliant because so much of the conflict and theme is embedded in the setting, cross-cultural Nigerian villages. The story’s line, “Let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch,” is also a great way to introduce theme.
“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
I will admit, this is one of those stories that kind of destroys students. But in a good way! Charlie Gordon is a motivated young man, but he dreams of being smart, “like everyone else.” Charlie’s IQ is 73, and he qualifies for a groundbreaking new surgery that will triple one’s intelligence. It has already worked successfully on a mouse, Algernon, so now it’s time to try it on a human. After Charlie’s surgery, he grows so drastically in his intelligence that he outperforms everyone in his life, even his teachers and surgeons. Charlie discovers that the experiment didn’t make him “like everyone else,” but separated him even more.
This story is told through journal entries, complete with Charlie’s spelling and grammar mistakes from his original state. This is a great story for building sympathy for a character and self-reflection on the story’s message. It’s also a great for analyzing character growth, point of view, and irony.
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
I wish I taught this story. I teach 10th grade and this is taught in 9th at my school, so I have to keep my hands off. But oh, how I love it! This is an unusual story as there are no human characters, at least not living. The story follows the goings-on of a fully automated house, surviving beyond the demise of its human inhabitants. Eventually, something misfires in the house’s mechanisms, and it falls in a fire.
This beautiful and haunting story gets its name from the Sara Teasdale poem of the same name. I usually reintroduce it during our study of Fahrenheit 451, as it pairs well in a study of the role of technology. It’s also great for studying theme and setting.
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and 2081
I first read this story when teaching 9th grade at my first teaching job. This dystopian tale introduces us to a time where equality is emphasized so thoroughly that people must wear handicaps to inhibit their muscular strength, intellectual ability, or physical beauty. The main characters, George and Hazel Bergeron, are watching television when their son, Harrison, bursts into the screen. Harrison, a walking miracle of human achievement, has been imprisoned for his achievements. Onscreen, he sheds his handicaps and dances with a ballerina, defying the laws of the land and even the laws of gravity. The story ends with their sudden deaths, as the ruler of the land walks in and shoots them both.
While I found that students enjoyed the sudden and violent ending, many of my discussions fell flat. The book is thematically strong, but weak in character. That’s not Vonnegut’s fault, in fact I think that is the point. However, the story was adapted into a short film in 2009 called 2081. The short film, starring Arnie Hammer, changes some of the original story’s plot and creates a deeper connection between Harrison and his father, as well as Harrison’s intentions when he goes on television.
Believe it or not, this is a rare circ*mstance where I, an English teacher, believes the movie is better. The short film is only 20 minutes long and leaves my students speechless, and me in tears. I’ve seen it dozens of times and it never ceases to astonish me. The website Teaching 2081 offers the short film for free, along with several teaching materials too!
“The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
My last two stories on this list are on the longer side. I like to mix short and long short stories in my Short Stories Unit, so students can see a variety of styles. This is also a slower moving story. However, I find that many students are so fixated with murder mysteries and Sherlock Holmes as a character, that they’re willing to put in the effort.
In this classic Sherlock Holmes story, Sherlock and Watson are summoned to the estate of Stoke Moran. Helen Stoner fears for her life as the mysterious circ*mstances surrounding her sister’s death two years earlier are now happening to her. She fears that her stepfather, the wicked Dr. Roylott, is scheming against her, but she cannot prove it. In one terror-filled evening at the estate, Sherlock and Watson discover just how far Roylott will go to kill his stepdaughters. No matter how many times I teach this, my students never guess the ending!
I find that I have more success with this story, especially because it is so long, by pairing it with a few activities.
- We make a list of clues as we read, such as Julia’s bolted-down bed and the bellrope that goes nowhere. Why would those details be included if not as a clue?
- I begin each day’s lesson with a few 30 Second Mysteries. These short riddles get students to think outside the box and pay attention to detail, just as Sherlock and Watson must do in order to solve the case.
- I pair the story, which often takes us 3 days to get through, with clips from Sherlock Holmes movies and the television show. I like this clip, from Sherlock Holmes (2009), and this clip from the BBC show Sherlock, episode “A Study in Pink.” I prefer showing the earlier scene as well where John and Sherlock meet in the lab for the first time, if you have access to it.
“The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier
This is a story I pick because of personal experience. I read “The Birds,” then watched the Hitchco*ck movie of the same name, in eighth grade English class. I remember how much it terrified me. Ever since, I have had a distrust of birds, especially when they all flock in large numbers. The story is quite different from the Hitchco*ck film, in fact. The short story follows Nat, a British farmer living in coastal England. Nat notices the strange behavior of the birds before others do, then uses his ingenuity and resourcefulness to keep his family alive as the birds begin attacking people and their homes.
This is the longest story we read, and it usually takes 3 days to get through. I use it to highlight suspense. While the story is long, there is a purpose behind each scene. It’s a great choice for analyzing a building plot, growing tension, and the purpose of various characters. Plus, it’s delightfully scary!
Honorable Mentions:
- “Lamb to the Slaughter” or “Poison” by Roald Dahl
- “After You, My Dear Alphonse” by Shirley Jackson
- “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
- “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
- “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
- “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty
- “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury
- “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell
- “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
As I said in the beginning, short stories units hold a valuable place in high school English. They localize a plot and often give us singular characters, rather than novels which feature subplots and many more characters. My newest Short Story Unit offers editable skill-based notes and no-prep practice activities or assessments that you can pair with the short story of your choice!
