Ways of Telling: A Short Story Workshop

Ways of Telling, for use in middle secondary years, consists of twelve units designed to help students deepen their understanding of the short story form through discussion and writing.

It includes 16 complete short stories plus excerpts from others. Most are twentieth century but there are also two well known nineteenth century stories. Writers include Ray Bradbury, John Gordon, Rudyard Kipling, Katherine Mansfield, Guy de Maupassant, Muriel Spark and Dal Stivens.

Contents:

Introduction

1 Tell Me A Story [Simple narrative/story openings]

2 What Do You Think Will Happen? [Prediction]

• The Necklace - Guy de Maupassant

3 Up In The Air [Prediction/writing]

• The Lady or the Tiger - Frank Stockton
• Lieutenant Darrell's Predicament - Price Waning

4 Story and Discourse [Distinguishing between events and how they are told]

• Retellings of Romeo and Juliet

5 A Range of Interpretations [Reader response/idea webs]

• The Emissary - Ray Bradbury

6 Point of View [Focalisation "telling gaps"]

• The Temple - David King
• You Should Have Seen the Mess - Muriel Spark
• The Lady's Maid - Katherine Mansfield

7 Taking Off [Parody]

• Maddened By Mystery - Stephen Leacock

8 Echoes [Intertextuality/fables]

• The Gentle Basilisk - Dal Stivens
• The Peacelike Mongoose - James Thurber

9 Oral Interpretation [Readers’ theatre]

• The Unicorn in the Garden - James Thurber

10 Stories for Comparison [Intertextuality]

• A Matter of Fact - Rudyard Kipling
• The Fog Horn - Ray Bradbury

11 Three Stories for Discussion [Open-ended discussion]

• A Matter of Transportation - Elaine Hammond
• Bloody Joe Blake -    Kevin Hartshome
• The Place - John Gordon

12 A Final Look [Drawing together the threads]