Teaching The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Instructions for You

Objective: Sherlock has had enough of Watson's literary stylings by the time we reach "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange," and is contemplating putting together his own crime-solving book. However, he's a little busy with all the investigating and whatnot, so unless someone helps, it'll be a long while before the inevitable front-page NYTBR review.

In this sixty-minute activity, your students will be creating an outline for a Holmes-inspired "How To" crime-solving book, detailing all the necessary steps and protocols that should be undertaken to solve a crime. Best of all, this will be based on a specific story that you assign, so there's plenty of room for scouring the text for useful evidence.

Materials Needed: A copy of the text, and/or Shmoop's summary page

Step 1: Your students should split into groups of four or five to prepare notes for Holmes' "How-To" book, tentatively titled On (Not) Getting Away with Murder. You'll assign each group with a story from the book, which they'll use to scope out textual evidence as they need it.

The first chapter of Sherlock's "book" will be about the interview process. The group should compose a list of at least five questions that a detective should ask any primary witness, providing a brief explanation for why these are so important. We're thinking about the questions that help the detective gain insight from what the witness knows, as well as prompts to see if the witness is lying.

These can be based on actual questions that Sherlock asks in the stories, as long as they cite page numbers.

Step 2: The next chapter is all about lying, an unfortunate factor in many investigations.

The team must put together a list of at least six telltale signs that a witness is lying, each with a quick sentence or two about how these signal that deception is afoot. Liars from the stories can be used as a case study, focusing on the following elements:

• physical actions
• behavioral patterns
• appearance

They'll also want to add a 100-word conclusion that details and describes why people lie. Although lying can make a case way more complicated, sometimes characters have to lie for different reasons, not all bad.

Step 3: Because this is Sherlock Holmes we're talking about, it's probably best to also include something about unusual occurrences in the next chapter. The groups will draft a plan for the next chapter, which should focus on and give examples for the following:

• The importance of unusual things in a case
• Examples of unusual things
• What to do when you find an unusual thing
• How to link these unusual things to the case
• How to proceed in the aftermath

They can list bullet-pointed notes as long as they hit all their marks, and should definitely use details from their assigned story for evidence.

Step 4: This next chapter will emphasize the importance of supplementary research when a detective is struggling to solve a case, including meeting people who aren't directly linked to the crime, and exploring ideas/areas that aren't obviously connected.

The ghostwriting team should produce a series of questions (we're thinking five or so) about the importance of supplementary research, providing answers to these also. The team can compose their own questions, or include some of the following:

• What's supplementary research?
• When should it be used?
• What are the benefits?
• How does supplementary research help a detective who is struggling with the case?

They should also refer to the case at hand and remember to cite pages when giving evidence.

Step 5: We've arrived at the final chapter. In this final section, on their own, the students should write out a short chapter that will generally discuss the various problems a detective will face while solving a case, from Holmes's point of view.

This can be pretty free form, but we'd like around 300 words and (as always) they should cite specific evidence from their assigned story.

The "book" is done; maybe it's not quite perfect and probably needs an editor to shape it, but we're sure Sherlock will appreciate all the good efforts on his behalf.

Instructions for Your Students

Things aren't going so well with Holmes and Watson in "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange." Holmes has dissed Watson's writing style, and decided he wants someone else to help him write a crime-solving guidebook. And he's chosen…you.

Congrats.

With a group, you'll be putting together an outline for a Holmes-inspired "How To" crime-solving book, detailing all the necessary steps and protocols that should be undertaken to solve a crime. Best of all, this will be based on a specific story, so there's plenty of room for scouring the text for useful evidence.

Step 1: First, split into groups of four or five to prepare notes for Holmes's "How-To" book, tentatively titled On (Not) Getting Away with Murder. You'll be assigned a story from the book, which you'll use to scope out textual evidence as you need it.

The first chapter of Sherlock's "book" will be about the interview process. Your group should compose a list of at least five questions that a detective should ask any primary witness, providing a brief explanation for why these are so important. We're thinking about the questions that help the detective gain insight from what the witness knows, as well as prompts to see if the witness is lying.

These can be based on actual questions that Sherlock asks in the stories, as long as they cite page numbers.

Step 2: A detective's number one pet peeve is lying.

Your group must put together a list of at least six telltale signs that a witness is lying, each with a quick sentence or two about how these signal that deception is afoot. Liars from the stories can be used as a case study, focusing on the following elements:

• physical actions
• behavioral patterns
• appearance

You'll also want to add a 100-word conclusion that details and describes why people lie. Although lying can make a case way more complicated, sometimes characters have to lie for different reasons, not all bad.

Step 3: Because this is Sherlock Holmes we're talking about, it's probably best to also include something about unusual occurrences in the next chapter. Your group will draft a plan that should focus on and give examples of the following:

• The importance of unusual things in a case
• Examples of unusual things
• What to do when you find an unusual thing
• How to link these unusual things to the case
• How to proceed in the aftermath

You can list bullet-pointed notes as long as you hit all your marks, and should definitely use details from your assigned story for evidence.

Step 4: Supplementary research is another important part of the investigation process; thinking outside of the box is key for Holmes. This next chapter will emphasize the importance of supplementary research when a detective is struggling to solve a case, including meeting people who aren't directly linked to the crime, and exploring ideas/areas that aren't obviously connected.

Your group should produce a series of questions (we're thinking five or so) about the importance of supplementary research, providing answers to these also. You can compose your own questions, or include some of the following:

• What's supplementary research?
• When should it be used?
• What are the benefits?
• How does supplementary research help a detective who is struggling with the case?

You should also refer to the case at hand and remember to cite pages when giving evidence.

Step 5: We've arrived. In this last section, on your own, you'll write out a short chapter that will generally discuss the various problems a detective will face while solving a case, from Holmes's point of view.

This can be pretty free form, but we'd like around 300 words and you should cite specific evidence from the case in your story.

The "book" is done; maybe it's not quite perfect and probably needs an editor to shape it, but we're sure Sherlock will appreciate all the good efforts on his behalf.