1. Short Story Book Clubs Practice for Novel Book Clubs conducted by you!

2. How this will work.  As a class we will read three short stories.  With the first, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, I will model how we can create discussion.  In the second, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, we will discuss the story as a class, with questions provided by students.  In the third, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, we will break in to small groups that will discuss the story independently.  As a class we will read three short stories.  With the first, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, I will model how we can create discussion.  In the second, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, we will discuss the story as a class, with questions provided by students.  In the third, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, we will break in to small groups that will discuss the story independently.

3. Having a good discussion.  With both the short stories and the books, it will be important get discussion of the text started, and then keep it going.  This sounds easy, but having almost a half hour of discussion (focused on the text, not your weekend) can be difficult.  To help, you will be graded, during both the short story and novels, on coming to class with questions and points of discussion.  The easiest way to do this will be on post-it notes, as you can put them with the text they reference.  With both the short stories and the books, it will be important get discussion of the text started, and then keep it going.  This sounds easy, but having almost a half hour of discussion (focused on the text, not your weekend) can be difficult.  To help, you will be graded, during both the short story and novels, on coming to class with questions and points of discussion.  The easiest way to do this will be on post-it notes, as you can put them with the text they reference.

4. But what will I put on the Post-it?  The following slides are IDEAS for points of discussion.  However, anything can be questioned in a text.  Good discussion questions:  Are connected to the text (with a page number or sticky note pointing to where it is coming from).  Are not yes or no questions. They should make you think!  The following slides are IDEAS for points of discussion.  However, anything can be questioned in a text.  Good discussion questions:  Are connected to the text (with a page number or sticky note pointing to where it is coming from).  Are not yes or no questions. They should make you think!

5. Some good discussion questions  Think and Search Question :  What evidence from the text suggests that the story is a flashback?  Author and You Question :  Besides being the cook, how would you describe Calpurnia's relationship to Scout and Jem?  Think and Search Question :  What evidence from the text suggests that the story is a flashback?  Author and You Question :  Besides being the cook, how would you describe Calpurnia's relationship to Scout and Jem?

6. Places to start for good discussion questions  Setting  Narration (Point of view? Reliability?)  Author’s Tone  Mood  Symbols (both what could be one, and what it stands for)  Characters and their development  Theme (What message is the author giving, and is it relevant?)  Other Literary Devices (figurative language, imagery, etc.)  Setting  Narration (Point of view? Reliability?)  Author’s Tone  Mood  Symbols (both what could be one, and what it stands for)  Characters and their development  Theme (What message is the author giving, and is it relevant?)  Other Literary Devices (figurative language, imagery, etc.) Pro Tip—your post-it note should have your prompt and answer, but you should always give your answer last.

7. Other questions for questions:  Who is introduced and how?  What are you confused about? What surprised you?  What are some unfamiliar words?  What did you like or not like about the story?  Who is introduced and how?  What are you confused about? What surprised you?  What are some unfamiliar words?  What did you like or not like about the story?

8. Other ways to engage with the text:  Hypothesize why characters behave the way they do.  Brainstorm advice you could give the characters.  Play “what if?” by discussing how different actions would have changed the direction of the story.  If you were casting the movie version, who would you have playing each character?  Consider what led the author to write the story in the way they did.  Hypothesize why characters behave the way they do.  Brainstorm advice you could give the characters.  Play “what if?” by discussing how different actions would have changed the direction of the story.  If you were casting the movie version, who would you have playing each character?  Consider what led the author to write the story in the way they did.

9. Other ways to engage cont.  What would be the soundtrack to the story ?  Deeply discuss characters: what motivates them? What kind of personality do they have?  Pick a piece of text that you find funny (annoying, profound, strange, etc.) and discuss its effects on you versus others.  Consider what you would like to have the author clarify.  Compare a piece of text to a similar experience you have had.  What would be the soundtrack to the story ?  Deeply discuss characters: what motivates them? What kind of personality do they have?  Pick a piece of text that you find funny (annoying, profound, strange, etc.) and discuss its effects on you versus others.  Consider what you would like to have the author clarify.  Compare a piece of text to a similar experience you have had.

10. Think about how to phrase each question using the following verbs:

11. Instructions:  As you read through the short stories and your novel write 10 discussion questions from each reading section that your group determines  Write these questions on a separate sheet of paper with page numbers for easy reference in book club discussions, or write your questions on sticky notes and insert them in your book on the corresponding pages  As you read through the short stories and your novel write 10 discussion questions from each reading section that your group determines  Write these questions on a separate sheet of paper with page numbers for easy reference in book club discussions, or write your questions on sticky notes and insert them in your book on the corresponding pages

12. Now, an example.  First, we will read “Story of an Hour”.  When we finish, I will show some examples of how to pick text and create discussion from the text.  Next time, we will read and YOU will bring questions to the class for us to discuss!  First, we will read “Story of an Hour”.  When we finish, I will show some examples of how to pick text and create discussion from the text.  Next time, we will read and YOU will bring questions to the class for us to discuss!

13. Now read the short story “The Story of an Hour” ~Kate Chopin~

14. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death. o What could “heart trouble” mean? Just a physical illness? It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message. o What is this passage showing about how Mrs. M’s family treats her? o Why would they treat her this way?

15. She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her. o Why is it mentioned that she had a different reaction than most women? o How would most women react? Is that different than how men react? o What does Mrs. M’s reaction tell us about her as a person? There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul. o What could an armchair facing out a window symbolize?

16. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window. o What is the setting? Could it be ironic? Why or why not? o What kinds of sensory details are included in the passage? What kind of scene do they create? Does it seem fitting? o What symbolism is there in seeing the blue sky beyond the clouds?

17. She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams. o Why is she compared to a child? o Does this description fit with characterization up to this point? She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought. o How did this description fit with how you had imagined her up to this point? o What does this statement mean? Does it seem positive or negative?

18. There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. o What kind of figurative language is used in this passage? What kind of feeling does it create in the reader?

19. Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will --as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free !" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body. o What does the language used to describe her will and her hands tell us about her? o Why is she repeating free? Free from what? o Is this freedom good or bad?

20. She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. o What is meant by “monstrous joy”? Why does she apply it to her situation? o Did her husband seem to love her, and how does that fit with her reaction to his death? o Does she seem to feel love for her husband, and how is that influencing her reaction to his death?

21. There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination. o How is this bit of text addressing the institution of marriage? o Is this perspective normal for the time period? How is it unique or the norm? o What point could the author be trying to make with this paragraph?

22. And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being! "Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering. Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door-- you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door." "Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window. o How are her feelings in this situation contrasting with those of her sister outside the door? o How is this open window symbolic of the moment?

23. Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long. o Is it ironic that the end of her husband’s life makes her wish for a longer one? o How does her reaction to looking forward to the future without her husband fit with how we expect someone to act when a loved one dies? She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom. o What is she victorious over in this line? o What does this visual of the way she descends the stairs make you think of?

24. Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife. o There is very little description of Mr. Mallard. What does the little we get tell us about him? Why would he have not been on the train? o Why does Richards’ make the attempt to keep Mrs. M. from seeing her husband? But Richards was too late. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease --of the joy that kills. o Why may Chopin have purposefully started and ended the story on a similar note? o What is meant by “the joy that kills?” How is it accurate (or not) for this situation?