I taught a class on iconic short stories this spring at our homeschool co-op. I don't know how many of my former English teachers may have passed since, but any that have are rolling in their graves at this news.
I find teaching especially stressful but this class exceeded my expectations in basically every way and that might have made it worthwhile.
We read 20 short stories, which I was free to choose primarily on the basis of how much I liked them. I organized them based on loose associations.Table of Contents
Short Story Elements
Irony
Irony - American
Setting - Irony - Foreign
Dialogue
Madness, POV
Films
"Final Exam"
Mark Twain
I cribbed from the system of achievements Paul Gestwicki uses with his college students and came up with 20 "challenges" (see end) that I hoped would be enough variety to meet kids where they were at. The ultimate goal was to have them write -- and therefore, think -- /something -- anything/ about the story to be prepared for class discussion. I offered a prize to anyone who completed 10 unique challenges, expecting maybe my own kids to do this.
- Paul helped me learn LaTeX, a text-based typesetting system that is favored in the scientific community for ease of organization and inserting things like figures near the appropriate text, that a program like Word makes difficult. My challenge was to collate the various PDFs of short stories and supplementary materials and generate a table of contents so that I could print and bind a custom, paginated anthology for each student. Hooray for technology!
- Unfortunately, I did not proofread carefully and there were several typos. My favorite was "Edgar Allen Pow". We created a bonus Challenge for anyone who drew this comic book character. Leo did.
- The first class, I sat on the table, and it slowly collapsed on me, spilling my water. This was a great ice-breaker that came up several times throughout the semester.
- We started with a blitz review of the elements of story telling so we could all start with the same vocabulary when talking about setting, characterization, plot elements, foreshadowing, irony, point of view, and themes.
- To Build a Fire is a little brutal, but it's easy to see how all the literary elements support each other and drive the story. The second week, then, I could give them stories where nobody died and try to win them back. LOL I never really lost them, and some students latched on to this idea, wondering each week if someone was going to die. I don't think they kept a running headcount or anything, but don't suggest it!
- I would have included Flannery O'Connor and a Washington Irving story if I'd had room, but the co-op system of collecting fees asks one to charge for the class before having time to plan out a new class and even without knowing how many students will be in the class! This is challenging, and they were unwilling to raise the price when I asked. C'est la vie. There wouldn't have been time for them, anyway.
- One student, who I'd taught before, had a reputation for never doing the readings or any assignments. This student was the first to complete 10 unique assignments, doubling and even tripling up on stories the first four weeks -- but never did an assignment after that. I do think this student kept up with the readings and would comment in class.
- One student was particularly reluctant to talk in class, but everyone participated in class discussions.
- The assignments were due on Wednesdays, submitted to a shared folder on Google Drive. All the students had access to each other's works, but I never got any feedback in class that kids were reading each other's pieces, but one parent told me this week that this was a big motivator for their student to get their work in on time and compare theirs to their classmates' work.
- Several weeks in, I realized my mistake: we met for 10 classes so I counted on 10 assignments, but of course, no assignment was due the first week, so kids were going to have to complete more than one challenge at least one week to meet the goal.
- The challenge names were modeled after Paul's achievements, with fun titles, but this made it a challenge for ME to remember what each one meant.
- I had 11 students, 10 of whom were regularly in class. Going in to the final week, ten students were within striking distance of meeting the prize threshold of ten unique assignments and I had to scramble for suitable prizes on no budget. (Shout-out to the Book Center in town who was flexible with their trade-in policy and generously donated three $5 gift certificates so I could get to 10). Ultimately, nine students earned prizes.
- Each "challenge" was chosen at least once. It was kind of a pain to track each week. I didn't know if someone would repeat one challenge every week. I never imagined anyone would do multiple assignments in a week. I ended up with largely meaningless system, but it's probably easiest to read by color -- each color represents a week of class and you can see the distribution of assignments that were completed. There was a good range of assignments each week!
- Several of the stories had film adaptations. One student, on her own initiative, found two films to watch and compare. We watched Wes Anderson's adaptation of Roald Dahl's Poison, which is available on Netflix. I assigned two others that week to watch outside of class, but it was a last-minute realization that we wouldn't have time to watch them all.
- The final week, we implemented Operation Flu, an emergency class I had prepared in the event that I got sick and had to miss a class. The students were to read the two Mark Twain stories as soon as they could, just in case. Hillsdale College has a course on Mark Twain with a 30-minute video on these two short stories. I brought popcorn and fizzy drinks to share (though few people seemed to care). The second half of the class, I read What's the Worst That Could Happen? by Bruce Coville, a hilarious story about a 13-year-old boy, his crush, and a play.
Challenge Assignments
Huh?
Write 3-5 questions that you had about the story. What puzzles you? What do you wonder?
Plot
Brevity
Concisely write an accurate summary.
Repeated Readings
Read a story 3-4 times and chart your understanding and enjoyment of the text with each reading.
I Saw That Coming
How many different instances of foreshadowing can you identify from the text? List them and write a paragraph explaining how those examples provided clues to the climax of the story?
I Think I Can, I Think I Can
What repeated words, phrases, or images appeared in this story? Why are they there? What is the author trying to communicate to the reader?
Try replacing those repetitions with variations. What is lost in the communication and content of the story if you remove the repetitions?
Isn’t it Ironic
How is this story a good example of verbal/dramatic/situational irony (review definitions on Page 11). Define the type you choose to talk about and give two examples from the text to support your claim.
Surprise!
Look for the moment of revelation in the story. When and why does it occur? What changes because of it?
Take 2
Rewrite the ending of the story.
Setting
Sunrise, Sunset
Change the setting of the story. Does it work as well in these new circumstances? You can rewrite a passage of the story or explain in paragraph form what effect your new setting would have on the characters and themes.
Mood Board
Make a list of things you associate with this short story, whether it’s playlist of songs, movies, characters from shows or other stories, people you know personally, foods —
What motivates these associations in your mind? How do these things make you feel?
Characters
Some Pig
Make a Characterization table with two columns: Direct and Indirect. Fill in the table with everything you know about one character according to how you know it. Reference paragraph or page numbers.
Point of View
First, identify the point of view of the story as written. Who is telling the story? From which perspective? Then rewrite a passage from a different POV. What effect do your changes have?
Trust Issues
Do you think the narrator is trustworthy? Why or why not? Identify potential biases using examples from the text.
A Rose By Any Other Name
What significant names did you notice? Explain what references or meanings they called to mind for you. How did the author’s choice of these names influence your perception of the characters?
Fan Fiction
Keeping with the author’s characterization, write what someone in the story would do next.
Theme
Theme
Write a paragraph defending one theme of the story. State a theme you see. Select examples from the story to support your claim. Explain how these examples prove your claim.
Quote
Choose a passage or quotation that deserves attention in discussion. Why do you think it’s important and what might it signify?
Life Imitates Art
How do you see aspects of this story playing out in the world around you? Does it speak to a truth about human nature or bring to mind current events? Write a few paragraphs in response.
Miscellaneous
A Picture is Worth 1000 Words
Draw a picture that relates to an element in the story, whether the setting or the character or the mood. Be prepared to show it in class and tell us about your interpretation.
Film Critic
With your parents’ permission, watch a film adaptation of the story. (Put a link to your movie source underneath the heading.) What departures did the movie take from the original story? Which version did you find more affecting and why?
It Stinks!
First read the Rules for Reading Fiction on page 5.
Grounding your critique in textual examples, choose an element of the story that you did not like and explain how the author’s choices contributed to your critical reaction.
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