Lesson 3 – Lesson Plan
Web Quest on “How to Write a Mystery.”

Book:  Rage in Harlem or other mystery/detective fiction by Chester Himes.

Grade Level:  11/12

Essential Question:  What are the elements of a mystery from the writers point of view?

Connection to Standards:  Writing:  Short Story Writing (9/10  2.1), Narrative Writing (11/12 2.1)

Technology:  The computer is used as a research and reading tool to find and study sites on the how-to of mystery writing.   

Lesson Plan Content: 

1) Read a short mystery of your choosing to or with the class.  This should be a short story and should exemplify the kind of story you want to see your students write. Chester Himes wrote short story mysteries as well as novels;  Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is also a good source.

2) Discuss the “elements” of the mystery story with the class

3) Also, a general discussion of motive, opportunity, means and other quasi-legal features of crime fiction should be held.

4). As a class, outline a mystery (Students often like to “kill” their teacher and will willingly participate in a mock-mystery.

5) The students will go on-line to read and study a site such as http://www.gillianroberts.com/write/lesson1.htm which is “How to Write a Mystery” in eleven lessons.   The students are to follow the Gillian Roberts lessons and write vignettes you require as they move through the lessons.  You may, of course, use as many or as few of the lessons as you feel are productive.

Assessment:

The objective here is to produce a fairly full outline of a mystery story which defines in some detail the plot, the character of the detective, the crime involved, the suspect pool, the clues, the red herrings and the method of revealing and solving the crime.

The students, then, will create an annotated outline of their mystery story including some dialogue.  The evaluation, according to the following rubric can be done by other students in read-around groups to share the good ideas with other students.

	Weak	Strong	Excellent
Characters	Characters are stock, weak or unbelievable.	Characters are engaging particularly the detective.	At least two characters are unforgettable, engaging or fun.
Plot	The plot, though present, is unrealistic or hard to follow.  Or it does not “work.”	The plot has twists but remains possible, believable and compelling.	The plot is ingenious, employing ruses and surprises.
Ingenuity	The story is mundane or lacks compelling detail of action, situation or character.	The writer shows ingenuity in crafting the plot, characters and situation.  Surprises are included.	The writer has thought about the problems of creation and clearly shows some mastery.
Situation	The situation is too brutal, too usual or unrealistic.	The situation is not only possible but likely though it might be unusual.	The situation is plausible, engaging, well researched and authentic.