Short Stories for the Activity

See our Google Classroom for more details.

Soldier's Home by Ernest Hemingway

Araby by James Joyce

The Destructors by Graham Green

The Way of the Machete by Martin A. Ramos

Porcelain by Henrietta Rose-Innes

Short Story Activity

• The class will be divided into 5 random groups (7 students per group), one for each story as listed in the Short Stories for the Activity section.

• With your group members, discuss 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.

• Individually, read the story you have been assigned AND THE OTHER 4 STORIES.  They are listed in the Short Stories for the Activity section.  See our Google Classroom for the texts.

• Individually look up all the words you cannot define as they present themselves.  Write those words and definitions down.

• 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)

• Present your analysis. Each section (plot, setting, character, POV, theme, symbolism, style and tone) should be under 5 minutes. 7 sections x 4 minutes = 30 minute max. presentation time per group

• When you have finished your story ... if you need a break ... or for homework ... read the other 4 stories.

Short Story Assignment

Read an approved short story and analyze it, allowing you to write a theme statement.  Research either the author or the short story in an approved library database, looking for scholarly articles, allowing you to write an annotated bibliography. 

If your author is contemporary, you will not find many scholarly articles about the short story in our database. Understanding this is part of the research process.  If you cannot find articles on the specific story, broaden your search to include the author, or remove the 'peer-reviewed' filter.

Steps

• 1. Choose and read a short story from the list.

     • This is not a group assignment

     • Individually choose one of the short stories listed in the Short Stories for the Assignment list 

     • See our Google Classroom for the stories

     • You must do the story you chose

     • One story per student

     • The class has been put in random order.  You will choose your story based on your spot on the Pick List. The Pick List is in our Google Classroom.

  2. Read and analyze the story

     • Look up the words you do not understand.

     • Use a graphic organizer of your choice to take notes

     • Are you comfortable with the literary terms?  See Basic Literature Resources and Literary Terms for even more details.

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

  3. Using your analysis, write a theme statement as outlined in the theme notes. 

     • Make sure you understand the definition of theme

     • Answer the General Questions

     • Answer the Discovery Questions

     • Make sure that your theme statement follows the Principles for discovering theme

     • You will be handing in the theme statement

  4. Research either your author or short story in an approved library database.  Look only for scholarly articles.

     • Passwords for the school library's databases are found in the library's Google Classroom

     • Please use a Chrome browser, and make sure you are logged in as "student you", not "private you" when you do your research

     • You can access the Library Catalogue Link at the very top of any DPCDSB page

     • Please review the  Accessing the School Library's Databases presentation

     • Make sure to save your articles as a PDF

     • Make sure you copy the source citation that the database creates for you. You will be handing in the source citation.

  5. Write a 150 word annotated bibliography based on the article you read.

     • You will be handing in a 150 word annotated bibliography

Layout

Please layout your assignment on one sheet.  Provide in this order (see diagram):

MLA header

Your Title: indicate the title of the story and the author

Your theme statement. 1 - 2 sentences

The SOURCE CITATION. It is found at the END of the article in the database.  It is already in MLA format!

Your 150 word annotated bibliography

Short Stories for the Assignment

See our Google Classroom for more details.

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Márquez

Cell One by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Interlopers by H. H. Monroe (Saki)

Powder by Tobias Wolff

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

Symbols and Signs by Vladimir Nabokov 

The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson

Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Boys and Girls by Alice Munro

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

A & P by John Updike

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

Four Women by Alfian Sa'at

I Want to Be a Book: On Becoming a Writer by A. Igoni Barrett

The Curse by Chika Unigwe

The Spokesman and The Tribe by Ha Jin

Children As Enemies by Ha Jin

Lorry Raja by Madhuri Vijay

Once Upon a Life by Mohsin Hamid

Road to Chitral by Azhar Abidi

A Game for Heros... If You Believe the Hype by Alexander Nderitu

A Piece of Steak by Jack London

Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff

One Of These Days by Gabriel García Márquez

The Rocking-Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence

Accessing the School Library's Databases

If you can't see the document, please read: You Do Not Need Permission To View Any Documents.