Use a rubric to help your students understand and evaluate the basic elements of a short story. A rubric begins by defining the major elements of the short story. Then a numerical rating (a 1 to 5 scale is common) or sometimes a list of descriptive terms is created to rate each part of the story. In general, each specific element is then subjected to the same set of parameters.These elements usually include title, beginning, setting, characters, theme, plot, style and ending. To aid in the writing process, many teachers will take a sample story and openly discuss and rate each element.
"Roman a Clef" is a French phrase, which literally means "novel with a key." The term applies to a fictional story, where real-life events and persons are transposed into a fictional tale. In most "roman a clef" stories, each fictional character can be linked to someone connected to the writer's actual life. Often a "Roman a Clef" short story is deployed to record an actual event that might create ill will or even malice among some of the real-life persons in the story. To create a short story of this nature, you will want to instruct your students to re-create an actual personal experience as a traditional short story with all the basic elements, such as plot, characters, setting and ending. Further discussion might follow about why someone might choose to fictionalize a real event.
Dialogue can be an imposing hurdle for any writer. One good exercise that might help middle-grade students negotiate this challenge is writing a short story that consists of nothing but dialogue. To help facilitate this exercise, teachers can encourage students to create very short written pieces, often called flash fiction. Completion of this exercise should help your students overcome their fear of writing dialogue and further their understanding of how dialogue is important in just about all short stories.
Have your students write a story that takes place in the Middle Ages. This exercise will force them to do some preliminary research into how people lived during that time period. From this information, they will then proceed to construct a short story using the principles described in the first section. Incidentally, this technique is a good starting point for producing a magical or fantasy sword and sorcery tale, a type of tale that is often very popular with this age group.