Short Stories Elements Assignment Part 1: Identifying the Elements Read the story Neighbourhood Hassle and use 6 different colours to highlight or underline the following short story elements. (7.4, 8.2) Setting Description: Where is the story taking place? In a pizza shop? Make us smell the pepperoni and tomato sauce. Let us hear the cooks talking in the background. Tell us the colour of the restaurant walls. Character Description: What do the characters look like? What are they wearing? What are their habits? Their background? Legend Setting Description Character Description Dialogue Blocking Interior Monologue Dialogue: This is when the characters speak to each other. Dialogue can help the reader understand the characters. Each person s voice is like a fingerprint unique. Climax / Turning Point Blocking: Think of blocking as stage directions. It tells where the characters are and what they are doing while they are talking. The blocking sets the scene, creates a place for the dialogue to happen. Where is the character? What are they doing? Walking? Tapping a pencil on their desk? Interior Monologue: What is the character thinking and feeling while the dialogue and action are happening? This literary device helps the reader discover more information about the character or the story. Example: Hi, I whispered to a girl staring at me. She answered with a roll of her blue eyes. Back then I wished I had those eyes. Life would have been so much easier. No more standing on the bus, not dirty bathrooms! Would it make a difference to was in a clean sink? Or use an unclogged toilet? I liked having a bathroom that smelled clean, without bugs crawling at my feet. The bell rang, and I came back to reality. Climax / Turning Point: This is the highest point of interest in the story. Quite literally it is the turning point of the story because it is the point at which the action could go in any direction. Will the main character get what they want? Will the bad guy be defeated? Can the conflict be resolved?
Neighbourhood Hassle By Stephenie Lincoln Name: I wish you guys would hurry up, I yelled, looking up towards the hoop. I was standing by the wire fence that was off to the right. The boys on the block were playing basketball. They never let me play because I was a girl and they didn t want girls with them. It was a sunny day. Birds were flying by and all the neighbourhood kids were out all overplaying kickball, stickball, catch, tag, anything. I had just come out from eating one of my favourite lunches, peanut butter and jelly, so I was ready to ball. You ain t playin so you might as well leave, Timmy said. Timmy was about an inch taller than me. He wasn t skinny, but he wasn t fat either. He had a mini afro and he always wore too little shorts and shirts with Coasters from Volumes. Oh yes I am, and just for that, you gone be the first person I beat, I said. All the other boys was like, OOH. So when you got finished playin, Timmy called me out. The winner of one-onone stays on the court until he/she loses. Now, these is the rules: game is, ain t no outs, and winner gets ball. O.K., I said, and we started. You got first ball since you a girl, he said. That was his first mistake. I took the ball out top. We were on the corner of Michigan and Webster at the Frazier s hoop that had been nailed to the top of the garage. On the right side was a fence and on the left were bushes. The bushes were tall and had big green leaves that were also glossy. On the other side of the bush lived a lady that we all called crazy. She looked like a monster cluck. I had Timmy all to myself. I faked left, crossed over to the right, went through my legs, and layed it up with my left hand. Timmy was embarrassed. Now all the rest of the boys were going crazy. They never knew I could ball. I was always a tomboy, but I never let them know I could ball because they were so mean. But I was fed up. So I had decided it was time to school em. It was my ball again. I dribbled to my left, crossed to my right, and busted a J. In yo face Timmy, I said like I was all that. My ball. I went right, tried to go through my legs, and Timmy stripped me. He laid it up and the score was 2-1, me. His ball. All the fellas was jumpin up and down now yellin, Go Timmy, don t let no girl beat you. Little Ronnie was the fat one. He never did anything but instigate and eat. He had on one of those polyester T-shirts that was brown and orange, with some brown pants. They looked like they both had been painted on. He had curly hair and the prettiest white teeth. Jimmy was Timmy s lil brother. He was the little tagalong with Timmy s old pants and shirt on. But Jimmy wore those little brown Dexters, and his hair was always combed. He had a cute little dimple in his left cheek and some of the most chocolate coloured skin. Timmy was grinnin now. He had the ball and pulled up for a two pointer. I blocked it, turned and layed it up. Score was 3-1, my ball. I drove in strong to the right and pulled up for another J. Cheating, I said. Yes. Money. The boys were laughing now. Timmy got so mad that on my next out he knocked me down so hard I could have cried. He had a little grin on his face like, Yeah, now what Steph? I was wearing my favourite jean shorts and my Aries T-shirt with my blue and white old school Nikes. I was lookin too cute. And he had pushed me onto the dirty ground. My shorts were all dusty. I think I might have even had a few pebbles in my pants. Anyways, I was pissed off and hurt. But I got up and socked him in the face. Oh my goodness, yelled Jimmy, his little bro.
She socked him, yelled Ronnie. By then the other neighbourhood kids were watching. They had never seen me play either. Plus I was playing Timmy, the best boy baller on the block. Get up Timmy, get up, they all started yelling. I just walked down the little so-called court and turned left leading home. As I walked, I kicked the cherry tree that was on the right of me. By the time I turned the corner, I saw Mr. Johnson. Steph, what s the matter? he asked. Nothing, I said sounding as if it was his fault I had been pushed on the ground in my favourite jean shorts. The next day I went outside. I was sitting under the tree in front of our house. I had on my pink overalls and white T-shirt and sandals. I was making some mud pies and was interrupted by Timmy. I m sorry Steph, for treating you like that. He continued, Do you wanna play again? Feeling kind of fresh cause I had got the best of him, I said, Yeah, but don t let me have to kick yo butt again. So I washed my hands on the side of the house and went in to put on my old school Nikes. When I came out Timmy, Jimmy, and Ronnie were standing at the end of my steps. When I walked down the stairs, they moved out of my way. We walked to the Frazier s hoop and we got our ball on. From then on, they never told me I couldn t play with them. Part 2: Analyzing the Elements 1. Use one of the character descriptions to draw a detailed sketch of one of the characters in the space below or on a separate piece of paper. Don t worry if you don t think you can draw well, it can be a stick figure if needed, I m just looking for the details that the author described in the story. (8.2)
2. The author describes the setting at Fraizer s hoop quite well. Locate the description of this part of the setting and draw a detailed sketch of it in the space below or on a separate piece of paper. (8.2) 3. What is the point of view of the story? How can you tell? (7.2) 4. How is this narrator different from some of the other narrators we have encountered in other stories we have read? What details do we get from her version of the story that we wouldn t get using a different point of view? Explain. (7.4)
. Approximately how old is the narrator in this story? Give an example from the story to support your opinion. (6.1) 6. Find an example of Steph s interior monologue. What do we learn about Steph from her thoughts that we may not have been able to learn from her actions or words? (7.4) 7. Slang is used frequently in this story. Find at least different examples of slang and record them in the space below. (7.1) 8. Why do you think the author chose to include slang in this story, rather than use proper English grammar and spelling? Explain. Don t forget to use examples from the story to back up your opinion. (6.1, 7.1)
9. What is the major conflict in the story? How is this conflict resolved? (7.1) 10. Find one example of blocking from the story. Why are these stage directions important to the development of the story? What do they tell us about the characters? (7.4) 11. Is this story realistic? Explain. Be sure to support your opinion by using examples from the text. (6.1)
Outcomes: 6.1 Articulate personal responses to text by expressing and supporting a point of view about issues, themes, and Total: situations within texts, citing appropriate evidence. 7.1 8 Total: 7.4 11 Total: 8.2 2 Total: 16 Examine the different aspects of texts (language, style, graphics, tone, etc.) that contribute to meaning and effect Recognize the use and impact of specific literary devices (e.g., figurative language, dialogue, flashback, symbolism) Use note-making, illustrations, and other ways of representing to reconstruct knowledge Assessment Name: Indicators of Mastery Articulates opinions and personal responses to the story 3 Can explain opinions and personal responses to the story 2 Supports opinions and personal responses by citing appropriate 3 evidence from the story Can identify different examples of slang Can articulate how language contributes to the understanding of 3 character and the stories Can identify the major conflict in the story and articulate how it is resolved 3 Can identify at least 2 examples of setting description, character 10 description, dialogue, blocking, and interior monologue Can identify the turning point / climax of the story 2 Can identify the point of view of the story 2 Can articulate the difference between a first person and third person narrator Can articulate how interior monologue can contribute to the understanding of 3 character Can articulate how blocking or stage directions contribute to the 3 understanding of the story Uses highlighting or underlining to identify various story elements 6 Uses illustrations to help reconstruct character descriptions Uses illustrations to help reconstruct setting descriptions