The second class for the Short Story Workshop involved a good deal of class discussion, which worked to engage students more with both a) the elements and possibilities of the short story and b) each other. I'd like to make some comments on how I saw this working throughout the class period.
The idea of the elements and possibilities of the short story came up right away, as David distributed the list that the class had created together last week concerning the components of a good short story and then immediately followed it with encouragement to the students to "try to break one of these rules during the semester -- we're talking about art here." -- I admit, I was a bit surprised to hear David encourage this so early on the semester, but I think it also communicates a welcome trust and confidence in students' writing. It also gives them a lens from which to consider what they appreciate about the example stories read in class.
After handing out the stories for next week's class and explaining that they were stories that "tweak" reality a bit, David went over the writing exercise for next week and collected this week's writing assignment. Then class discussion began with student groups sharing the art pieces they had chosen as a reflection of one of the stories read for class. David seemed to encourage students' responses to move beyond literal connections the art made to the story to the more associative or conceptual by asking "What about the style?" This seemed to open up new ways of talking about the stories (ie. considering B&W vs. color to different perspectives). This also happened when the groups presented the excerpts they had chosen -- David asked students to connect the authors' language to tone or possible subtext. He also followed up on his encouragement from the beginning of class by asking "Do the authors here break any of the rules we've laid out?" and having students discuss this.
The second half of class, discussion centered on the Baxter essay from The Art of Subtext. David selected one idea from the essay -- that of "obsessive characters" to discuss together and also to have students consider the characters in the Baldwin and Cheever stories. (This seems like it was a good way to help get students in the mindset for the writing assignment they will have for next week.) David wrapped up by asking students if there were stylistic things from either Baldwin or Cheever that they'd like to try in their own work, and had them do an in-class writing connected to the "projecting" perspective of Cheever's narrator in "Goodbye, My Brother." (Was this something that David had planned beforehand or did it arise from class discussion?)
Another aspect of the class discussion I noticed was how David engaged students and managed it in such a way as to allow students to begin responding to each other rather than just him -- something that seems important to build up in a workshop class where students will soon enough be responding directly to each others' work. In discussion, he would solicit responses from several members of the class. At times, when two students seemed to either differ in their views or have similar views, he would then have the first student respond or follow up. This translated to the excerpts the different groups brought in as well -- the two groups who chose "Sonny's Blues" were able to bring their choices "into conversation" with each other. David was also good at holding a student's question/comment "to the side" and then addressing it later on in the discussion (ie. Nora's "Do you mean in these two paragraphs or the whole story?") I am always looking for different ways to facilitate discussion and bring students into conversation with each other, so this was helpful to observe.
I'm sure I'm leaving things out, so I'd love to hear other's comments and observations. But hopefully this gives us some to start with. Cheers!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Test Post
Greetings and Salutations! I have set up a basic blog here to discuss our independent study this semester. Maybe we should begin by establishing a rotation or schedule for writing here. Hope everyone is having a nice week. I will see you Thursday, but until then enjoy this pic of Nancy Reagan and Mr. T.
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