Short Stories for the activity

Short Story Activity

• Part 1 of this assignment will allow you to review what you have learned in this course, and in previous years. Part 1 will also help you prepare for the Short Story Assignment Part 2.

• Form groups of between 6 and 7 students. We should have 5 groups total.

• Sit with your group members. Talk about which graphic organizer you want to use as you read. For short stories, I recommend the Reading and Viewing Guide in the Teacher Tools document as a start. I would probably move to a web or a concept map afterwards. Which graphic organizer did you use?

• Your group will be assigned a story from the list below.

• Individually read the story you have been assigned.

• Individually look up all the words you cannot define as they present themselves. Write those words and definitions down. Use the word map graphic organizer for words you do not recognize or are unsure about.

• As a group, share the words together. Note which words were new to all of you.

• As a group, answer the questions provided in the Analysis Questions document.

• If you need a refresher on Literary Terms, review the document.

• Prepare to present your findings to the class. You need textual proof to support your ideas. Please provide the class the first three words of your quote, and the last three words. This will allow the students to find your quote quickly using CTRL-F (the find tool)

• Review Dealing with Quotes.

• Each section (plot, setting, character, POV, theme, symbolism, style and tone) should be under 5 minutes. 7 sections x 5 minutes = 35 minute max.

Short Story Assignment

• Choose one of the short stories from the list.

• Read the story, look up the words you do not understand. Use a graphic organizer of your choice to take notes. Are you comfortable with all the literary terms?

• Individually answer the Analysis Questions. FOCUS ON SYMBOLISM, THEME, STYLE AND TONE.

  • Identify the theme of the short story, then state it.

  • Write a formal paragraph that argues which literary element best supports the theme of the short story.

  • Your formal paragraph should follow this structure:

    • Topic sentence

    • Point # 1

    • Proof (a quote from the text) # 1

    • Explain # 1

    • Point # 2

    • Proof (a quote from the text) # 2

    • Explain # 2

    • Concluding sentence

• Layout your assignment in this format:

  • MLA header (your name, my name, course code, date). Place this in the HEADER of your document.

  • An original title, don't underline it. Italicize only the title of the story and the author in your title. For example: How Setting Establishes the Theme of Jane Smith's The Good Dog

  • indicate your theme statement with the heading,'Theme'.

  • include your formal paragraph.

• Please look at the sample layout for the Short Story Assignment.

• Review MLA Basic Format and MLA Basic Work(s) Cited

• Read the rubric

• Submit this assignment to Turnitin and Google Classroom

Short Story Assignment List

One Mile of Ice by Hugh Garner

Butterflies by Patricia Grace

The Visitor by Christine Pinsent-Johnson

The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury

The Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway