Sophomores Study Famous Short Stories
November 9, 2017
Some sophomores created posters for their chosen stories while other wrote sequels to them.
Sophomore English classes are reading and analyzing short stories and the teachers, Alison Jussaume and Clare McFlynn, have different approaches in the way they teach the students about the stories.
Jussaume tasked some of this year’s sophomores with writing sequels to short stories. Both Honors and College Prep English could choose from The “Monkey’s Paw”, “The Leap”, “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket”, and “There Will Come Soft Rains”. Since the Honors class had more time, they were also given the option of “Games at Twilight.”
“I think that “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” will be very popular based on the questions students have asked about their individual ideas for sequels,” says Jussaume.
The task began with the students reading and analyzing all of the short stories in class, then choosing their favorite to write a sequel for. This helps the students to dig deeper into their chosen story to better understand it.
“I like doing this more than an essay because they’re boring and writing a sequel you get to use more creative thoughts. It’s more educational because it’s not just facts that you write about, you have to comprehend the story instead,” said Tress Jacobs (‘20).
Students had many different ideas on how to create their posters ranging from using plastic silverware as a border to adding fake blood.
Clare McFlynn is using a different approach to teach her students about short stories. Her students are reading “The Lamb to the Slaughter”, “The Chaser”, “The Lottery”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart” and chose their favorite story to create a poster and write an analytical essay. The essay and poster were chosen to give students different ways to demonstrate their understanding of the story.
“I like the posters better than essays because I think of myself as a creative person and essays are difficult,” said Reagan Finch (‘20).
McFlynn chose posters and an essay to use different methods for students showing their understanding of the story. Their posters must demonstrate an understanding of the central theme and plot development. Through these assignments, McFlynn is already noticing the students showing a deeper understanding of their chosen story.
“It helped to explain the plot diagram and sequence of events better. It also helped point out the major ideas instead of reading and not understanding the story,” says Madeleine Gallagher (’18).
“It’s a chance to be more creative and show that they understand it in a different way,” says Clare McFlynn.