Save the best for last...

I must admit...this lesson was "borrowed" from a good friend and great 8th grade Langauage Arts teacher. I had never heard of this story before, but it is an amazing short story with an interesting view on kindergarteners and honesty.

"Charles," a short story by Shirley Jackson, is one of those stories that makes you laugh, cry, and cringe, all at once. It is about a kinderarten boy that tells stories of another student's misbehaviors to his parents. This causes the parents great concern, so they seek to find out more about this troubled child, only to find that no such child exists. You can find this story online at http://www.lordalford.com/9grade/ss/CHARLESbyShirleyJacksonSTORY.doc in its entirety. In the following mini lesson, I will use the story as a sort of writing prompt.

This mini lesson is appropriate for grades 7-9.

Read the story to the class.
Ask them questions about the story, like:
Who do you think did all of these bad things?
Why do you think Laurie created Charles and lied to his parents?
Do you think Laurie could have done things differently?

Next, each student is to write about a time that they may have lied to their parents about something they thought they could "get away with". They should include whether they were caught in the lie, as well as how they could have handled the situation differently and why. This story should be very detailed and will be revised and edited multiple times before presenting to the class/teacher.

(Ohio's Academic Content Standards: Writing Process Standard ~ Formulate writing ideas and identify a topic appropriate to the purpose and audience)