This Common Core-aligned unit plan helps high school Creative Writing teachers facilitate the study of situational irony and the drafting of original short stories with ironic outcomes. The elements of this project are delivered as PDFs and include the following:

• A standards-based unit plan: This document conveys the unit’s transfer goal, essential questions, enduring understandings, learning targets, academic vocabulary, formative assessments, summative performance tasks, and pacing guide.
• Detailed directions: This document provides a concept overview and clarifies the project requirements, as well as the formatting requirements.
• A standards-based scoring rubric: This document helps students understand the criteria for evaluation and streamlines the grading process for teachers.
• A PowerPoint presentation: This visual aid provides an overview of literary devices including irony in all its forms (dramatic, situational, and verbal).
• Anchor texts: Four public domain narratives are included, each emphasizing ironic outcomes (“The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, “It Walks by Night” by Henry Kuttner, “The Fox and the Horse” by the Brothers Grimm, and “The Wolf and the Fox” by the Brothers Grimm).
• Prewriting activities: These materials complement the anchor texts, helping students study literary elements with emphasis on irony.
• A story outline: This document helps students organize their initial ideas for drafting their own original narratives.
• An editing document: This document may be used to self-evaluate one’s work or to offer peers feedback on their work.