Cross-Correcting English Short Stories in Creative Writing

Today, in my Transition Year Creative Writing Module, we participated in a very different and interesting method of learning. This method of learning was based around the Short Stories, which we wrote prior to the events of today!

We have all been writing 4 A4 Page, Short Stories over the past month in this module, and today, after all of the stories were finalised, we began to ‘cross-correct’ them. Cross-Correcting, is when two students in a class will anonymously correct and scrutinise the work of the other student.

We were all given an essay which was written by another member of the class, however the work carried out was today was totally anonymous, as the essays had been typed, and all names and indicators of identity were covered in tipex. We each had to then read an essay, of an another student in the class. This allowed for us to get the chance to get and receive both positive and constructive criticism from others from the class!

The short stories, which I were reading have been of a very high standard, and it has given me a great inside into the examination system for English at Leaving Certificate, as it highlights the importance of the uniqueness of an essay for an examiner, in order to achieve the highest possible result for the student.

This activity, will also give me a chance to be able to receive a lot of positive and constructive criticism from my own short story, which was also scrutinised by another student in my class. I am really happy to undergo this activity – It has given me an insight into the examination system, and also has improved my learning experience in Crana College drastically!

Blog Challenge – The Six Word Story

Blog Challenge - Six Word Story

Over the past few weeks, Transition Year Students have been set the task of undertaking their most recent Blog Challenge. The challenges aim to encourage the students creative skills, and to showcase them on their blogs. The most recent challenge that I have received was the ‘Six Word Story’ Blog Challenge.

The Six Word Story, was first created by Ernest Hemingway, when he was challenged to write a compelling or shocking text in all but six words. He wrote many of these, but one of his most famous would have to be “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” The aim of the stories are to both shock, and make the reader think about the background of the story.

Our challenge then took this concept one step further and decided to not only allow the reader of the story to imagine its premise and background, but allowed them to visualise the story with a more tangible item. We were all asked to present our six word stories in some sort of creative way. The six word stories were one of the assessment that we have done for our Creative Writing portfolio.

My six word story is: “She’d never live beyond those bars…”, and I was really proud when I came up with it. I then was asked to present these six words in some creative way, and therefore I decided to try and draw a picture, describing a story, as I hadnt realy done much drawing so far in TY. I wanted to see how I could do aswell, and how I would be able to visualise text creatively.

My picture visualises a woman looking out from a prison cell. Her face is motionless, yet it remains cut up by the cell bars. I feel that this drawing doesn’t give much away about the background of the story, but I think that is for every reader to find out for themselves!