Writing the Short Story

Today we began the process of writing the short story.  Please see the handout description below.

Homework:  Pictures (if you are using Storybird) / typed rough draft due Friday.  Final project due the following Friday.

Create a Short Story!

You are going to create a short story to show us that you know what a good short story takes.  Once you create your story, you need to share it with us in one of three ways:

1)   By creating a Storybird using www.storybird.com (you turn it in through that website)

2)   By creating a picture book using Keynote (and emailing it to me through the app)

3)   By recording it with Garage Band to make an audiobook (and emailing it to me through the app)

Word Count:

            Academic: Minimum of 300 words (Storybird = 10 pages)

            CP:  400 – 500 words (Storybird = 16 pages)

            Honors: 500 + (no maximum, but try and keep it under 700 please!)

The Writing Process:

The way you go about doing this depends on what you want your final product to be.  If you are making a Storybird, you would be best to start choosing your pictures first, and then writing the story to go along with them.  Then, go the STORY WORKSHEET and make sure you’ve hit everything before revising your Storybird.

If you are going to make a Keynote book or Garageband audiobook, then you should start by outlining your story (see the STORY WORKSHEET).  That way you will have a basic idea of where to go.  Then, go ahead and type out your story.  After that is finished, you can add pictures through Keynote, or just read it aloud on Garageband. 

Short Story Rubric

Elements you must demonstrate in your story

(50 points)

Your teacher fills out the following!

­­­­______  /  5      A consistent and describable narrative tone (intelligent, innocent and naïve, dark and pessimistic, matter-of-fact) and point of view for your narrator

(1^st pers., 2^nd person, 3^rd pers. omniscient, 3^rd pers. Limited, 3^rd pers. Objective)

______  /  5      A Protagonist (or two protagonists, maximum) that is ROUND and DYNAMIC

           

______  /  15      Each of the parts of the plot diagram is obviously addressed, including inciting incident and climax, there is a sense of a complete/whole story, and you clearly chose ONE of the 36 PLOT LINES

______  /  5      An object, color, name, or season that has obvious symbolic meaning and fits into your story

______  /  5      Some obvious foreshadowing early in your story to the resolution of your primary conflict.

______  /  5      At least ONE type of irony obviously used (verbal, dramatic, or situational)

______  /  5      A repeating phrase, image, object, sound, or idea as a clear motif

______  /  5      It is professionally edited for spelling and punctuation

The last two short stories

Read "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" here.

Read "Harrison Bergeron" here.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Today we read the story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."  Find the whole story here.


Homework:  Take the reading quiz on Edmodo tonight.  If I don't see it in there by this morning, it is a zero.

Soooo...Alfred Hitchcock is a TOTALLY awesome director...and he tackled this famous story...in three parts.  He does change the plot...a little...so make sure you read the story, not JUST watch the videos.

All Summer in a Day

Today we read "All Summer in a Day"  Read the story again here.  Then we started filling out a grid of how all the terms fit in all the stories for the final test at the end of next week.

Homework:  Quiz on Edmodo due Monday.  The terms you are looking for are: Narrator type, irony type, conflict type, symbolism.

Literary Terms

Today we went over the quiz for "The Cask of Amontillado" and briefly discussed the story you read yesterday, "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned."

Then we got some new terms (see the flashcards in previous post).

• 1st-person, 2nd-person, 3rd-person omniscient, limited, and objective narrator.

• static vs. dynamic, and flat vs. round characters

• foreshadowing

Homework:  take the "After I Was Thrown ..." quiz on Edmodo.  You have 10 minutes, so be ready for it!

Metaphor

Nothing New Under the Sun: 36 types of short story

They say there are no new stories, just variations.  Some say all stories can be related to the Hero's Journey.  Some say all stories are either comedies or tragedies.

There is another popular theory out there that all stories can fit into one of 36 categories.  We'll be talking about those 36 categories on Wednesday in preparation for your final task: to write a short story.

Click here for explanations of those 36 categories.  We will go over many of these in class.

To help you with this task, we'll be reading several cool short stories along the way.  Most of the reading will be started in class and finished at home for homework.  Here are the terms you will be responsible for:


At the end of this unit, you will have a short story test, and will have written a short story!

Tonight's homework:

Read "After I Jumped in the River and Before I Drowned".

The Cask of Amontillado

Today we read a story about revenge.  We will also learn some more literary terms: irony, verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony, AND symbolism.

You can read the story online here, if you prefer.

For a huge list of symbols in literature, and what they often refer to, click here.



Homework:

Finish reading "The Cask of Amontillado" and be able to identify the terms we mentioned in class today

check out these videos....

 

 

Here is what the Parisian catacombs look like:

Literary Terms Flashcards

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study english flash cards

Period 4

Here is where period 4 left off with the game!

Block Days: Review for the Test on Friday

Hi kids,

So today we continue reviewing for the test on Friday.  Through a "board game" we reviewed all the terms you are responsible for for the eight stories that we covered.

The format of the test as follows:  Match-ups of themes to stories, multiple choice for identifying the primary conflict of the stories, and finally, fillins for the other literary terms within stories.

The game involved identifying every term possible for each of the eight stories.

If you need your notes bolstered, please see Mrs. Trojan, who copied down the notes from the board.

Mini-Quiz on "The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

Today we had a quiz on this quirky, dark comedy.  From what I saw, many of you had difficulty in identifying the CENTRAL CONFLICT of the story (Detective Jack Horner vs. The Queen of Hearts).

This is the beginning of our reviewing for a cumulative test on short stories and short story terms.

Homework:  Short Story test on FRIDAY!  This is a big one, kiddos.

"The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

Here are some links to short stories that you should know to get the most out of this weekend's story!  Click on the picture to find out even more information about the nursery rhymes!

Here is the story itself:  "The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

Here is a nursery rhyme link to "Who Killed Cock Robin" ... that gives away the killer!

Here is the one that the story is based on and explains what happened to the queen (Four and Twenty Blackbirds)  

And of course, here is (Humpty Dumpty)

Now, for further investigation, here is the link for "film noir" a genre of film, and stories, were there is usually mystery and murder, and it is always rainy and dark out.

Short Stories and Finishing the Storybirds!

Okay, enough with the NECAP's.  Let's finish off the storybirds!

Of course we will go over last night's homework - which you guys obviously need work on!

Also, today we will pass out the writing folders, and many papers will get passed back.  Any writing assignments will get put in there!

Homework:  Read the second-to-last short story that we'll read this year: "The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds."  There is a mini-quiz on Monday identifying the narrator, central conflict, an example of irony, and tone of the narrator.