Practicing the Genre: Analyzing a Story Collaboratively

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PRACTICING THE GENRE

Analyzing a Story Collaboratively

Although writing about stories is an important academic kind of discourse, many people who are not in school enjoy discussing stories and writing about how a story resonates in their lives. That is why book clubs, reading groups, and online discussion forums are so popular. Talking and writing about stories we have read and seen can help us understand why a particular story may be moving or thought-provoking. Sharing the experience with others exposes us to different ways of interpreting and responding to stories—expanding our openness to new perspectives, deepening our insight, and enhancing our pleasure.

To benefit from this kind of discussion with others, work together on an analysis of one story with two or three other students. Here are some guidelines to follow:

Part 1.

  • Get together with students who have read the same story from An Anthology of Short Stories that begins on p. 495.
  • Begin by discussing one question from the Analyze & Write section following the story your group read. (During the discussion, you may go on to answer other questions as well.)

Part 2. After you have discussed the story for half of the time allotted for this activity, reflect on the process of analyzing the story in your group:

  • Before you began, what were your expectations of how the group would work together? For example, did you think your group should or would agree on one “right answer” to the questions, or did you expect significant disagreement? What actually happened once you began to discuss the story?
  • How did the discussion affect your attitude about the story or about the process of analyzing stories? What, if anything, did you learn?

Your instructor may ask you to write about what you learned and to present your conclusions to the rest of the class.