The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Full Lesson Plan w/ PowerPoints & Graphic…

Identify the elements of narration and characterization and apply the terms to a specific passage

Explain how third-person limited narration keeps the reader inside Walter's point of view, and how that shapes each imagined scene

Contrast a character's imagined self with his real one and say what the contrast emphasises

Define eight pre-reading words — hurtling, distraught, haggard, craven, insolent, bickering, menacing, inscrutable — and use each correctly in an original sentence

Explain an authorial structuring choice, in this case why the final scene arrives without the paragraph break that has cued every earlier switch

The story is supplied by the teacher: the lesson plan lists "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty text by James Thurber" among its materials, so an anthology, textbook or class set is needed alongside the packet.

Run the anticipatory discussion as the plan describes it — ways of handling stress sorted into a positive and negative T-chart on the board, closing on when students have wished they could take a break from the real world — because it sets up Mitty's behaviour before he is met.

Sentence starters are already printed under most Questions for Thought, so a class can be pointed straight at them rather than being given scaffolding on the board.

Question 7 is the analytical one and rewards being held back for discussion: it asks students to notice a paragraphing pattern across the whole story and then account for its absence at the end.

Every printable is supplied as a Word document beside its PDF, so questions can be cut, reordered or reworded before the packet is copied.

Point-of-view analysis — students explain what third-person limited narration is and how Thurber applies it, including how it develops the surgeon scene from inside Walter's head.

Character contrast — the questions repeatedly pair the imagined Walter with the real one, from the opening Navy pilot against the man scolded for driving too fast, to Captain Mitty against the clumsy, insecure Walter of the parking lot.

Inference about relationships — two questions ask what a reader can infer about the Mittys' marriage from how she speaks to him and from how much energy he spends anticipating her anger.

Noticing structural choices — question 7 asks students to account for the missing paragraph break in the final scene and to say what effect Thurber is creating by letting the daydream sneak up on the reader.

Vocabulary in context — students define hurtling, distraught, haggard, craven, insolent, bickering, menacing and inscrutable before reading, then write an original sentence for each.