A comprehensive secondary English analysis unit for “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, designed to develop students’ analytical thinking, close reading, and discussion skills through the study of this iconic and deeply unsettling short story.

Through engaging and thought-provoking learning activities, students explore themes of blind tradition, conformity, scapegoating, collective violence, and gendered power while examining Jackson’s devastating use of an ordinary, cheerful narrative tone to make the story’s horrifying conclusion all the more disturbing. The unit encourages students to analyse Jackson’s narrative craft, symbolism, structural techniques, and deliberate withholding of information to develop sophisticated understandings of how the story’s meaning accumulates across a single, deceptively simple reading experience.

What’s Included
• Analysis of themes, voice, context, and cultural assumptions
• Exploration of blind tradition, conformity, scapegoating, collective violence, and gender and power
• Study of Shirley Jackson’s biography, the story’s notorious 1948 New Yorker publication and public reception, and the post-war American cultural context of McCarthyism and mob mentality
• Language features, narrative techniques, symbolism, and structural analysis
• Examination of dramatic irony, foreshadowing, tone, and the function of withheld information
• Close reading and annotation activities
• A structured sequence of analysis slides paired with classroom-ready learning activities
• Engaging activities designed to promote discussion, interpretation, and critical thinking

Teaching Approach
This resource follows a flexible, activity-based approach rather than a scripted lesson-by-lesson format. Teachers can work through the decks in order or select individual slides and activities to suit their classroom needs, supporting students in developing deeper understanding through discussion, close analysis, collaboration, and analytical writing.

File Info
• Provided as a non-editable PDF
• Not designed as an editable PowerPoint
How to Use
• Upload to your LMS (Google Classroom, Canvas, etc.) for digital learning
• Print selected pages for classroom use
• Display pages to support discussion, analysis, and writing activities
• Upload to presentation or design platforms if you wish to adapt for your own use (formatting may vary depending on the program used)