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The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry Short Story Unit

Teach irony, theme, the author's craft of using inspiration from the past, and literary devices through O. Henry’s timeless classic, The Gift of the Magi, with an engaging, discussion-based approach designed to spark critical thinking and meaningful connections in your 7th and 8th-grade classrooms. This unit provides everything you need to guide your students through rich Socratic Seminar discussions and thought-provoking reading responses.
 
 

This short story unit is the perfect introduction to the Socratic Seminar and reading response structure I use throughout all my reading units and short story resources. It offers a hands-on experience to boost student engagement and comprehension while encouraging deep, text-based discussions.

What’s Included:

  • "The Gift of the Magi" 3-Lesson Reading Unit: Complete with teacher answer keys, suggested vocabulary, and differentiated rubrics.
  • 40+ Page Implementation Teacher’s Guide: Featuring Socratic Seminar tips, pacing guides, student examples, FAQs, and detailed scripted lesson examples.
  • Comprehension & Guiding Questions: Includes questions for both comprehension checks and deeper interpretive discussions, available as PowerPoint, PDF, and JPEG formats for classroom display or digital use.
  • Digital Student Reading Response Notebooks: Ready-to-use, fully editable notebooks to support student thinking and responses.
  • Editable Rubrics: Available in both PowerPoint and Google Slides, differentiated for various grade levels to accommodate diverse classrooms.
  • Small Group & Individual Conference Forms: Tools to help you support every student’s progress effectively.

Five Irony-Focused Lessons:

  1. Pre-Lesson Setup & Socratic Seminar Norms: Establish expectations and build the foundation for effective discussions.
  2. Irony Interactive Notebook Lesson: Break down irony and its impact on theme, characters, and plot.
  3. Irony Reading Response & Socratic Seminar: Facilitate deep, text-based discussions while encouraging critical thinking.
  4. Inspiration from Religious Works: Analyze how allusions and thematic connections enhance meaning.
  5. Comparing Text to Multimedia Version: Encourage students to compare and contrast interpretations across different media.

Why You’ll Love This Unit:

This unit isn’t just about reading a story; it’s about teaching your students to analyze, discuss, and respond thoughtfully to literature. Through Socratic Seminars, your students will gain the skills and confidence to engage in high-level discussions and construct detailed, evidence-based responses.

How These Units Stand Out:

Unlike other short story units, this approach dives deep into Common Core standards for reading literature and writing, ensuring your students are developing skills they can apply across all their ELA work. Plus, the structured yet flexible format allows you to tailor the lessons to fit your students’ needs.

TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Elizabeth G. says, "This had everything I was looking for! The story with room for annotations, a reading guide, and a five-paragraph essay assignment! My students really enjoyed reading through the story. This resource is definitely worth the price!"

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Victoria S. says, "Love every product by The Hungry Teacher and this one did not disappoint. Perfect one-stop-shop for everything I needed for "All Summer In A Day" for my summer school students."

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ Gwen T. says, "I could not believe how much my students loved working with these materials! Even in their heightened state of "Christmas Crazy", they followed along and paid attention thanks to the easy-to-understand resources from the queen of lit herself. Thanks so much for another fantastic product."