This 2-page activity is a creative way to get students thinking about story organization and literary elements. Intended for the first day of school, this activity can launch a unit for reading short stories, or a longer text, such as a novel. To begin, students have a discussion about the parts or elements of a story that are important to pay attention to. Use this to create lists of literary terms and elements the students have prior knowledge of. A skilled teacher can keep this a simple activity, or utilize this with higher level thinkers to create in-depth lists of terms with examples. Next, students listen to the short story, “An Arrest,” by Ambrose Bierce, read aloud by the teacher. The teacher utilizes drama as a means for conveying the story. Students work on proving a statement about suspense true or false. When the story is done, the students will discuss their reasoning for the most suspenseful moment in the story. Higher level thinkers can take it a step further and determine a rule of thumb for finding climax. This could even lead to a journal writing assignment. Finish up with a discussion on why people enjoy reading or watching interesting stories. Possibly make connections between teenagers who like to be involved in drama and rumors, and how it centers on a basic instinct to hear and tell stories. Assign vocab homework with the literary terms you created on the board, or even a short story to read and practice locating suspense and climax. Please understand that this product is not a “how to teach” short stories or literary elements. This product assumes that the buyer has the ability to take an idea and make it his or her own. This is a fun and exciting way to get the attention of the students, as well lead into more challenging reading. Thanks for you interest.