Short Story Boot Camp is an idea I stole during one of my AP Camp experiences at St. Johnsbury Academy. During a discussion on vertical integration of curricula (vertical teaming) a teacher explained their method for teaching literary analysis to students being "like a private at boot camp: dirty, smelly and exhausting." The image lingered weeks after AP Camp, and I began to formulate my current method of Literary Analysis Boot Camp.
First, we have the five voice lessons which give us a context for analysis: diction, details, imagery, syntax, and tone. Second, we have the four writing dimensions which give us a direction for solid analytical writing: purpose, organization, detail, and voice. Finally, we have the texts, a variety of pieces collected from magazines, anthologies, and short story collections. Put them all together and you get -- Short Story Boot Camp.
Over the course of the next four weeks you will actively read, discuss, analyze, and write on ten selected short stories. Each story is selected with a focus connected to one of the voice lessons. Every class you will spend half the time discussing (45min) and half the time writing (45 min.). All essays are timed and graded using the College Board's Advanced Placement Scoring Guide for English Literature.
The goal of Boot Camp is simple, but varied. Read. Discuss. Write. Critique. Each of your ten essays will be scored, and progress will be monitored over time to guide and foster growth. Get ready to become dirty, smelly and exhausted.
WOW.The gross descriptions of boot camp I could have done without. By the way, we only get 35 minutes each class to write our essays. Maybe with 45 I could write better conclusions. Oh well, I hope they are okay.
ReplyDeleteNorma, I have no problem giving people more time to write as long as we discuss less. The change in time is in reaction to feedback that we needed more time to discuss. If you want to lobby for more writing time, I am all for it.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, when you first told us we would be doing "Writing Bootcamp" I groaned. But now, I take that back because so far I think it has really helped me. I understand how the essays are graded so now I feel I can sit down, think of how to write an upper essay and actually improve my scores. Also, the class disscussion before we start to write has definatly helped with my own brainstorming skills. I understand how to dissect the story story and find a focus.
ReplyDeleteThose folks in Daytona Beach will be handed out 9's like crazy....hopefully.
Short story boot camp has helped me a lot to get me ideas together and figure out how to use style to critique the reading. It has helped me mostly in realizing how to look at a reading and not just say what happened and what I got from that, but to look at how it is written and use that to make my view sound like I know what I am talking about. The discussions help, but I think it is good that we have started writing without them, because we can't have them in the test. It is a lot easier to write now that I understand that I need to analyze stories by looking at the voice lessons, so I don't paraphrase as much and do more analyzing. Hopefully I will be doing good at the end of all this, it is quite the journey.
ReplyDeleteI agree that short story book camp has helped me out a lot but I still think there is room for improvement. Each night when I’m reading the stories I tell myself that I need to write faster and include more analysis to increase my scores, but when I get to class and begin writing I panic and find it extremely difficult to write. I believe I am a good writer and I want to be able to show that to the scorers come May. Do you have any tips to help me improve my scores?
ReplyDelete"I believe I am a good writer"
ReplyDeleteHow modest of yourself Erin.
Looks like SSBC has developed Erin's confidence as a writer, but also deprived her of her ability to be humble. Seems to me like a win loss situation.