Activities for 8th Grade Short Story Discussions
Short stories are one element of an eighth grade language arts class. Students have to learn how to understand short stories; how to figure things like themes, symbolism and plot lines; and how to deconstruct the elements of a short story to get an overall picture of the story itself. There are several projects that eighth grade students can do to help them understand short stories and how they work.
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Book Club Discussions
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Just like with novels, students benefit from having a chance to talk about the short story. An activity can be an unstructured chance for students to simply talk about what they've read. When students have a chance to talk and share information about the short story they've all read together, they can often get a lively discussion going that wouldn't take place otherwise. The teacher can sit back and listen and only chime in if she feels there is a need. When there aren't too many rules, teachers will be surprised at what students come up with.
Reenact and Discuss
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A discussion activity for short stories in eighth grade is to have students reenact the short story and then discuss what the story was about. The teacher should choose a couple of students to quickly reenact the short story, which gives her a chance to make sure students have read it and understand it. Then, the teacher can lead a classroom discussion about both the reenactment and the story itself. With questions such as "Was the reenactment pretty close to the story?" the teacher can lead a discussion about both.
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Story Rewrite and Discussion
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A trick of writing short stories is to make the story concise and make sense at the same time. The teacher can have students put the story into their own words and rewrite it. Then, she can have all of the students discuss these versions of the story and whether or not they were similar. By retelling the story and then talking about it, all of the students get a chance to really focus on what the story was talking about and what the meanings were.
Short Story Writing and Discussion
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Along with reading short stories and talking about them, writing short stories and talking about them also helps students get an idea of what the story process is all about. The teacher can instruct students to write their own short stories and then present them to the class. After a student has read his story out loud, the teacher can facilitate a discussion about that story. This helps solidify the story telling process as well as provides students with a chance to be creative.
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References
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