The literary concept of irony can be an extremely abstract idea for students to grasp if the concept is not fully illustrated. When teaching irony, play Alanis Morissette’s song entitled “Isn’t It Ironic” for students to listen to. You may need to play it twice, and tell students to write down some of the lyrics. As students hear the song, they will formulate a solid understanding of what the literary device of irony is. Most students will grasp the idea rather quickly and see that irony occurs when the opposite of the expected outcome results.
After listening to the song, student should use their notes to recall the lyrics, and as they recite the lyrics, they end up providing concrete examples of situational irony. For example, the song references a man who is afraid to fly, and when he finally travels on an airplane, it crashes. Even though the man was afraid to fly, he did not expect that he would die. If teachers emphatically emphasize this examples of irony illustrated in the song, students will never forget the literary device of irony as students can link irony to a familiar song.
Now, that the teacher has established an understanding of irony and of situational irony, the teacher should explain the other two types of irony, verbal and dramatic irony, providing students with definitions and examples.
An interesting short story that a teacher could use to illustrate how irony functions in literature is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” This particular short story is full of irony as it contains examples of both verbal and situation irony, and it allows students to see the difference between these two types of irony.
After students read the short story, whether aloud as a class or silently to themselves, assign students the task of writing a comparison/contrast essay in which they must compare and contrast the two types of irony that are present in Chopin’s short story. Not only do teachers effectively teach irony, but they also incorporate writing, editing, and grammar skills; identifying similarities and differences, and reading comprehension skills.