Short Stories into Short Movies

Short stories are essential to an ELA classroom. Close reading is becoming a major part of curriculum due to testing, such as the Keystone Exams. It is asked of teachers to give students opportunities to practice close reading as an effort to build analyzing skills. The thought is that if students can successfully complete a close reading in the classroom, then they will be able to successfully respond to the prompts given on the Keystone Exam. The major problem with putting close reading activities is the amount of time it takes to instruct close reading skills. While reading a novel, the content of the novel must be moved through at a pace that will allow students to comprehend, participate in in-class activities, and then be assessed in a variety of mediums. Due to their nature, short stories open themselves up to the prospect of being placed in a close reading activity. I believe the 20-shot short story adaptation will provide the most effective learning experience for students. After a brief lesson on filming technique and rationale, it will be the students responsibility to recreate the themes and characters of the short story they are assigned. Reading and discussing the short story will take care of the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy, but by forcing the students to adapt the story to film they must reach the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. This will result in a forced close reading, that will disguise the learning of critiquing and analyzing skills needed for the Keystone Exam. Students will also be able to relish in the fact they are being allowed to create their own movie as well, and should in turn attack the assignment with an invigorated enthusiasm. All this being said, I am anxious and excited to see how this assignment is realized through creating our own 20-shot short stories in class. Thoughts, comments, concerns, criticisms, and questions are always welcome.