It’s Spooky Season, y’all!

As an ELA teacher, one of my favorite times of the school year is October. Not only is it the point of the year when you finally feel settled in and have routines figured out, but it’s also the time of the year when I get to introduce my students to some of my favorite authors and spooky short stories!

While my excitement always grew when I thought about introducing a new group of students to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, W.W. Jacobs, and Ray Bradbury, a slight nervousness also crept in when I thought about how complex these texts can be for both proficient and struggling readers. What could I do to help bridge the gap and help my students navigate these stories successfully? Enter close reading strategies and high-interest audiobooks for the win!

Close Reading Strategies are KEY!

I knew I would pull from my reading strategies toolkit and incorporate close reading strategies to help my students tackle these stories. Close reading strategies were truly a game-changer for my middle school ELA students. It was definitely a learning curve of trial and error to find the right scaffolding activities, structure, and lesson pacing. Still, I finally found a consistent and effective combination that led to increased student understanding and academic growth.

One of the biggest takeaways from my close reading journey was that the first read is the most important part of the entire structure. You have to create a solid foundation in the first read that you can then build upon during the second and third read and beyond, regardless of what standards or skills you are teaching.

Building the First Read Foundation

The purpose of the first read, especially for short stories and other fiction texts, is two-fold. During the first read, it’s your one chance to grab students’ attention and get them interested in the short story. The first read is also a great opportunity to check for understanding and practice identifying the main idea and supporting details and writing an objective summary.

Setting a Clear Purpose

You may be asking yourself how I accomplish checking for comprehension and practicing those vital ELA skills in one task, but it’s super simple. In my classroom, our first read always focuses on answering the question, “OMG! What happened!?!” so that I can see which students got the gist of the story and which students struggled to comprehend the big picture.

After we have completed the first reading of the short story, reading it from start to finish without stopping, students are given 5-7 minutes to write and answer the question, “OMG! What Happened!?!” in the story. I typically let students share their written responses with a partner and give them time to discuss them with one another. You can take it a step further and then do a whole group discussion if you have time left in the class period.

The writing produced from this one simple prompt allows me to determine how the rest of my unit will need to be structured. I can easily identify students who do not have a basic understanding of the short story and students who do have a clear comprehension of it. This allows me to create effective student groups for the second read, where students are expected to dive deeper into the text.

Effective grouping can involve students working with partners who are on their level, a small group of students who struggled to comprehend the text sitting in the same area of the classroom so small group instruction can happen, students grouped by high, medium, and low levels of understanding, and many other combinations.

Get Students Hooked with Audiobooks

Now that we have discussed how to set a clear reading purpose for students, which will lead to your roadmap for instruction, let’s discuss how I get my students excited and engaged in the short stories.

The most effective way I have used to hook students into reading a short story is to have them listen to an audiobook version of the story while they have a copy of the text in front of them. Now, I’m not talking about a boring audiobook where an author monotonously reads the story verbatim. Who wants to listen to that!?! I know I don’t, and I can assure you that your students won’t either.

Rocky Coast Radio Theater’s Nightmare on Congress Street

There are some amazing audiobooks and plays available for most spooky stories. My FAVORITE audiobooks come from the Rocky Coast Radio Theater’s Nightmare on Congress Street editions. I found these over a decade ago while searching for an audiobook version of “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs on iTunes. Not only are these audio versions engaging dramatic radio plays, but they follow the short story text word for word. There are two audiobook versions available in the Apple audiobook store, Nightmares on Congress Street Part IV and Nightmare on Congress Street Part V. Each audiobook is priced at $7.99 and contains several short stories, poems, and original plays.

Nightmares on Congress Street Part IV includes “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, “The Cremation of Samuel McGee by Robert W. Service, and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe.

Nightmares on Congress Street Part V includes “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Demon of the Gibbet” by Fitz James O’Brien, “The Wind” by Ray Bradbury, “The Door Below” by Hugh B. Cave, and “The Statement of Randolph Carter” by H.P. Lovecraft.

My Favorite FREE Audiobooks

Now, I know that money is tight nowadays and that spending money to buy audiobooks may be out of the question. Over the years, I have found a plethora of FREE and equally fabulous audiobooks to set the mood for spooky season. I’m going to share a few of my favorite versions from YouTube below:

• “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
• “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
• “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl
• “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
• “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
• “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury

Don’t see the short story you are planning on teaching this Halloween season above? Don’t worry, I have created a PDF document that contains links to the most popular spooky stories for Middle School ELA and Reading. I’ve done the heavy lifting and hard work for you! The best part is that this list is FREE! All you have to do is click the image below to grab yours.

So, there you have it—spooky season is the perfect time to spark your students’ interest in classic literature and sharpen their close reading skills. With the right strategies and engaging audiobooks, even the most reluctant readers will get hooked on these eerie tales. Whether you’re diving into Poe’s chilling works or exploring Bradbury’s haunting sci-fi, these stories are sure to bring both thrills and academic growth to your classroom.

Now, grab your audiobook playlist, gather your materials, and get ready to make this October a literary experience your students won’t forget! 👻📚 Happy haunting, y’all!