Virginia SOL 8.RL.2.D
The Standard
Analyze how an author’s use of literary devices including foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism, and irony are used to build mystery, suspense, or surprise.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Craft and Style
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students locate literary devices in a story and explain what each one does. They connect the author’s choices to the mystery, tension, or surprise readers experience.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students accurately identify foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism, and irony in context. They use specific details to explain how each choice shapes expectations, reveals information, or changes the reader’s reaction.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name a device without explaining its effect on the reader. They may confuse flashback with foreshadowing, or assume irony simply means something unexpected.
How to Assess It
- Give students a suspenseful paragraph containing one clear literary device. Ask them to identify the device, quote the evidence, and explain how it creates mystery, suspense, or surprise.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs shuffled scene cards from a mystery story to arrange, then label flashbacks and foreshadowing and explain their effects.
After reading a short story, ask: Which detail most changed your expectations, and how did the author create that change?
Play device detective with brief passages, teams earn points for naming the device, citing evidence, and explaining its effect.
Show a short movie trailer and have students track symbols, clues, and unexpected contrasts that build suspense or surprise.
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