"The Lottery" Short Story Unit: Middle School + High School Tracks, 2 Slide Decks, SCR & ECR (Shirley Jackson)

Curriculum unit · Grades 7–10 · ZIP: PDF (94 pages) + 2 editable PowerPoints · $14

Teach Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" at the right level for every class. Shared core pages work for everyone, then separate middle school (grades 7–8) and high school (English I & II) tracks raise or adjust the rigor, each with its own standards chart, test, constructed responses and slide deck.

Students learn the three kinds of irony in an interactive notebook, read the story in three chunks with reading guides, hunt for text evidence and foreshadowing, track the mood shift, analyze characters and motivation, decode the symbols (the black box, the stones, the slips, the names) and read the story as an allegory. Middle schoolers pair it with an original article on why people go along with the group. High schoolers read Scapegoats Through History, try four allegorical lenses and three critical lenses, analyze Jackson's diction, syntax and point of view, and debate in four corners.

Assess with a comprehension quiz, separate 20-question STAAR-style unit tests, short constructed responses and extended constructed responses (an informational ECR for middle school; literary analysis and argumentative ECRs for high school) with a scoring guide. The story is not included; every question works with any anthology or licensed copy.

What's included

• Teacher guide: two-track overview, pacing for both tracks, teaching-with-care guidance
• CCSS + TEKS charts for middle school (7–8) and high school (English I & II)
• Anticipation guide, journal prompts, background reading on Shirley Jackson
• Irony interactive notebook + 12-scenario irony sort
• Reading guides for Parts 1, 2 and 3, reaction & reflection, comprehension quiz
• Plot diagram, implied-meaning vocabulary, text evidence hunts, foreshadowing tracker
• Irony in "The Lottery," characters & motivation, mood shift, symbolism notes + analysis, theme builder
• Story vs. adaptation comparison
• Middle school track: allegory notebook, paired article on conformity, seminar, unit test, 2 SCRs, ECR planner, exit tickets, project menu
• High school track: Scapegoats Through History, allegory lenses, names & allusion, author's craft, critical lenses, suspense, four corners debate, seminar, unit test, 2 SCRs, literary analysis + argumentative ECRs, exit tickets, project menu
• ECR/SCR scoring guide and full answer keys
• 2 editable PowerPoint decks: middle school (22 slides) and high school (24 slides) with teacher notes

How teachers use it

• Grades 7–8 short story unit on irony, symbolism and allegory
• English I and English II short story or dystopian/allegory unit
• STAAR reading and writing practice with SCRs and ECRs
• Differentiating one text across middle and high school classes

Topics: staar, test, prep, review, scr, short, constructed, response, text, evidence, ecr, essay, writing, journal, prompts, bell, ringer, literature, reading, ela, intervention, rti, mtss, sped, slides