Analyzing and Presenting a Story

Aim: How to analyze a short story?

Do Now: Think of a short story you are familiar with. Jot down the title of the story, the main characters' names, a major conflict.

Procedure:

• Use the chart to organize your ideas.
• Read the story and identifying the following elements in the story.
  a. PLOT - Create a setting, create characters, and make something happen.
  b. POINT OF VIEW - Write a story from one point of view or tell the same story from all four points of views: first person, second person, third person omniscient, and third person closely attached.
  c. DIALOG - Create two characters and develop a setting using dialog.
  d. CHARACTERIZATION - Create a character or write about a person who most influenced your life. Use aspects of the character development process
  e. SETTING - Describe your favorite place using the five senses.

Homework  Create your own story  using the story elements learned.

Aim: How to present a story/novel/autobiography?

Some ideas--

•  plot summary( if it's a novel, do chapter by chapter summary)
• essays
• character descriptions( personality traits, his/her relationship with other characters)
• character analysis (your comments on the characterization of each character)
  See lesson on How to write a character analysis?
• character image gallery
• theme descriptions and analysis ( How to write a theme analysis?)
• Analysis: What's the meaning of the book title "The Color of Water"?
• Analysis of James Mc Bride's Identity .Make three lists: black, white, Jewish. On each list, write down the particular "traits" McBride associates with these labels. Find passages in the text to support your answers. Decide whether you agree with McBride's take on these social categories.
• write a book review
• Write about the total effect of the book.
• glossary of historical references, difficult terms and words
• literary glossary (list of examples of various literary elements and techniques, such as symbolism, irony, imagery or metaphor, etc.)
• illustrations of an important scene ( climax, turning point, ending, etc) or any other art related to the story
• text of the story if not already available in the web
• comparing or contrasting the story with other familiar literary works you have read
• creating a question sheet to test your audience (Use ThinkQuest Create a Test Feature)
• creating a study guide for your peers (Answer the study question I gave you )
• add some resource links
• add a quotation sheet( your favorite lines in the story)
• about the author
• about the historical background of the story

Aim: How to use the web to present your understanding of a story/novel?

Some ideas--

•  plot summary( if it's a novel, do chapter by chapter summary)
• essays
• character descriptions( personality traits, his/her relationship with other characters)
• character analysis (your comments on the characterization of each character)
• character image gallery
• theme descriptions and analysis
• glossary of historical references, difficult terms and words
• literary glossary (list of examples of various literary elements and techniques, such as symbolism, irony, imagery or metaphor, etc.)
• illustrations of an important scene ( climax, turning point, ending, etc) or any other art related to the story
• text of the story if not already available in the web
• comparing or contrasting the story with other familiar literary works you have read
• creating a question sheet to test your audience
• creating a study guide for your peers
• add some resource links
• add a quotation sheet( your favorite lines in the story)
• about the author
• about the historical background of the story

Homework # 2 for the short story: Create a written piece from above choices to present your understanding of the story.( Coordinate with your group members)

AIM: What can we write about a short story or a novel/play?

1. Write about the protagonist, his characteristics, his involvement in a conflict, his relationships with other characters, his changes or lack of changes, his ups and downs, what makes him the most important character of the work, etc.
2. You can compare and contrast two characters from the same work or from two different works
3. Write about symbolism or irony in the work
4. Respond to the theme 
5. Choose a character and pretend to be him/her and follow her through the whole book. Write diaries from his/her point of view retelling or responding to the events happened in the book.
6. Be a news reporter and turn certain events into news articles.
7. Rewrite a scene using a different genre, for example, you can turn a very interesting chapter of a novel into a dramatic scene, or a narrative poem; or you can choose a different point of view to retell the story (see lessons on Point of View Writing)
8. Critical essays on a certain aspect of the novel
9. Use different literary response approaches, such as psychological, historical and political perspectives, to prove the significance of the work( Read an example)
10. You can also write about the connections between an art work and the story (read an example: art's unfighting feelings)