Short Story Club

Recently, I hosted the introductory meeting of the Short Story Club which is a small group is focusing on deep conversation about stories and time to write in response to them.

I handed out a copy of the Eleven by Sandra Cisneros. Sandra is an interesting author who attended the Iowa Writers Workshop, but did not have a pleasant experience. She also sometimes calls her stories “buttons”.

Many of the students had read this story previously. On this reading, I asked them to think of it through the lens of a writer. I wanted them to pay attention and notice particular craft moves done by the author for them to purposefully use later.

Questions we asked:

• What pops out to you in feelings from reading this selection?
• What lines do you notice that you like or wish you had written?
• What craft moves is the author using that you would like to try?
• What aspects of your own life does the story remind you of?

I allowed them to annotate on their copy, and I followed suit with mine.

The discussion then followed after reading time, focusing on the above questions.

Noticings from students:

• The details. It was noticed and remarked that the story has the structure of being taken…