Freshmen and Five Hundred Words: Investigating Flash Fiction as a Genre for High School Writing

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Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 58(2) October 2014 doi: 10.1002/jaal.324 © 2014 International Reading Association (pp. 111–121)

Freshmen and Five Hundred WordsI N V E S T I G AT I N G F L A S H F I C T I O N A S A G E N R E F O R H I G H S C H O O L W R I T I N G

Katherine E. Batchelor & April King

“Less is more.” The genre flash fiction provides powerful opportunities for students to learn about craft while reading high quality mentor texts and modeling author techniques in their own writing.

Each year, April (second author) faces stu-dent apprehension toward writing. Like clockwork, she finds that when students

come to her as beginning high school students, their writing skills are limited and developed primarily for standardized testing. Based on this experience, stu-dents are mainly concerned with the length of writ-ing assignments. When April presents a new writing assignment to her class, the first question is almost always, “How long does it have to be?” She struggles with this question because she ’ s never really sure how to answer. Telling a group of ninth graders that their work should be “as long as it needs to be” is a risky venture. Some will write one para-graph, completely miss the mark, and say proudly, “It ’ s done!” Others will write too much and never quite get to the point. She needed to find a genre that would avoid both issues.

National Writing Project Teacher (NWP) Consultants, April, a ninth grade English teacher, and Kathy (first author), a former eighth grade reading teacher and now teacher educator, both share a love for writing and teaching writing. Together, we wanted to find a genre that would interest students and quite possibly have them forget about writing as an assign-ment, but rather allow for feelings of freedom in writ-ing that many students lack when they enter high school. One such genre came to mind: Flash fiction.

Flash, also known as the short, short story, is a genre that has gained popularity in the last few de-cades with anthologies, such as Flash Fiction Forward and a recent release of flash fiction for adolescents called Sudden Flash Youth . However, the writing of flash has not been studied in schools. Therefore, this article attempts to highlight how two ninth grade classes engaged in flash fiction writing through the use of high quality mentor texts.

What Is Flash Fiction? How short can a story be and still be considered a story? Many argue that a story can be crafted in a sen-tence. Ernest Hemingway allegedly wrote the

Katherine E. Batchelor is an assis-tant professor of literacy at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA; e- mail [email protected] .

April King teaches English in Northeast Ohio; e- mail [email protected] .

Authors (left to right)

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following short, short story to win a bar bet: “For Sale: Baby Shoes: Never Worn.” This example, although extreme, is the essence of the short, short story, more commonly known as flash fiction. Flash fiction con-sists of fictional short, short stories (between 250–750 words) that connect to the human condition (Masih, 2009 ). It is also called a “story in miniature” (Masih, 2009 , p. xi). Flash fiction requires the writer to con-sider length while also maintaining powerful narra-tive that relies on shocking the reader with a twist or craft technique specific to the genre. Furthermore, flash allows the reader to think about powerful issues outside of the text (Batchelor, 2012 ). Typically, a great piece of flash will linger with the reader for days (sometimes weeks), even though it took three to five minutes to read. Writer Richard Bausch noted that “When a story is compressed so much, the matter of it tends to require more size: that is, in order to make it work in so small a space its true subject must be proportionately larger” (as cited in Thomas & Shapard, 2006 , p. 12).

Flash offers students narrative elements, such as characterization and foreshadowing techniques. It also teaches students irony, farce, allusion, and an-thropomorphism, since many flash pieces center on abstract concepts. For example, “The Orange” by Benjamin Rosenbaum is an excellent example of flash that uses all four literary techniques in one story. Additionally, flash helps students think of a whole story, where they form a sense of beginning and end, while also crafting it into a tightly woven 750- word story. This helps students write clearly and concisely, as well as develop other skills that they might be able to bring to other narrative writing.

Flash fiction can provide meaningful and pur-poseful writing experiences, including reading and writing with mentor texts. The flash pieces presented as mentor texts throughout this article, for example, are excellent resources for teaching inference, since many flash endings are ambiguous. Numerous pieces may be read, discussed, and then serve as texts that teachers can reference later as reminders for thematic issues and textual analysis revealed through classroom dialogue. Furthermore, by engaging students in flash fiction at the beginning of the school year, teachers have the opportunity to read multiple pieces written by each student to gain insight into their strengths and challenges as writers. These can then turn into craft lessons, which are brief five- to ten- minute lessons focusing on a specific technique or craft (Fletcher, 2011 ).

We wanted to investigate how flash might be a way to offer students the benefits of narrative writ-ing that perpetuate sound writing practices in high school. Much research surrounds mentor texts within genres (e.g., Pytash, 2012 ; Sanders & Moudy, 2008 ; Skinner, 2007 ; Strassman, MacDonald, & Wanko, 2010 ) since there is a natu-ral overlap between genre studies and the texts used to deconstruct these genres. This is particu-larly highlighted within writing workshop studies (e.g., Gutzmer & Wilder, 2012 ; Lain, 2007 ). However, no research utilizes flash fiction mentor texts. We focused on two of April ’ s ninth grade English classes, and together we taught a two- week unit on flash to ninth grade writers, specifically to examine how students engaged in writing flash (a genre unknown to April ’ s students) with mentor texts and how it promoted narrative writing in the high school classroom.

How Does Flash Fit Into a Writing Curriculum? The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010 ) has gen-erated new conversations on writing instruction by im-plementing 10 standards for writing. These standards emphasize writing as a complex and multi- faceted en-deavor. More specifically, CCSS asks students in grades 9–10 to “write narratives to develop real or imag-ined experiences or events using effective technique, well- chosen details, and well- structured event se-quences” (CCSS.ELA- Literacy.W.9- 10.3). Flash fic-tion fits nicely into CCSS ’ s goals of writing standards with a writing framework that includes purposeful writ-ing, freedom to choose topics, writing for real audi-ences, and using writing models, also known as mentor texts (Graham & Perin, 2007 ). Mentor texts are exem-plar models of work in a genre. Mentor texts assist stu-dents to learn more about a particular genre and represent an inquiry stance on teaching writing (Ray, 2006 ). According to Graham and Perin ’ s ( 2007 ) meta- analysis of adolescents’ effective instructional writing practices, a model approach ranked highly effective because students could model their writing after exem-plar texts.

Incorporating mentor texts teaches students that reading is an integral part of writing. They provide opportunities to study how writers craft their sen-tences, use techniques that are unique to a specific

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genre, and can serve as a resource to model (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2007 ; Lattimer, 2003 ; Ray, 2006 ). Mentor texts can assist students in under-standing new text structures and the discourse within genres (Pytash, 2012 ; Sanders & Moudy, 2008 ) and have been used as a springboard to in-spire students’ writing, generating ideas for their own work (Skinner, 2007 ). Newman ( 2012 ) referred to mentor texts as a “powerful tool for helping stu-dents contextualize and situate their own language and experiences within the stories of other writers” (p. 25). By conducting close readings, students be-gin to notice intentional decisions writers make in crafting their pieces, which, in turn, they can practice.

Context of April ’ s Classes April teaches in a public high school near an urban city in the Midwest. The school consistently ranks “Excellent” on the state education system school re-port card and serves a wide variety of students in its population of more than 1,600. Ethnic identities in-cluded: 82% Caucasian; 10% African American; 4% Hispanic; less than 1% Asian/Pacific Islander; and 4% multiracial. Fifty- one percent of students are eligible for free or reduced- cost lunch.

We chose to work with two of April ’ s classes: an at- risk English class (consisting of 12 students) and a college- prep English class (consisting of 19 stu-dents). At April ’ s high school, ninth graders are placed in a two- period “at- risk” English class based on the following criteria: (a) students who scored poorly on the eighth grade state reading test. If the score indicates that the student might be at risk for failing the state graduation test in 10th grade, the block is suggested as a place where he or she can re-ceive extra intervention, (b) students with specific learning disabilities in reading and/or writing who would need an extra period of English, and (c) stu-dents whose performance in eighth grade warranted a teacher ’ s suggestion that they may benefit from the block.

The school labels students as “at- risk,” which as educators we do not abide. We feel that it can create a hierarchy among students as well as provide limita-tions to how students view themselves. Therefore, for the purpose of this article, when we refer to “at- risk,” we describe the student ’ s course placement rather than imply that the student has less ability than the “college- prep” student.

April was hesitant at first to teach flash with her at- risk class. She admitted that the block class had its struggles in the beginning. Students typically resist having English class for two periods. They do not un-derstand the need and feel that they are not capable students; therefore, they are reluctant readers and writers. When choosing the two classes, she was hesi-tant to choose her block class because of their reluc-tance to write. She feared that they would worry too much about what she wanted and not write from the heart. She admitted she could not have been more wrong.

We worked with both classes each day for 45 minutes during the course of two weeks. We differen-tiated instruction based on students’ needs, but we followed the same principles that guided our under-standing of how to teach flash. Throughout our 10- day unit, students examined flash through mentor texts, noticing specific features common to this genre, as well as crafting and practicing the components in their writing. Students self- selected topics, took pride and ownership in their writing, and engaged in small, collaborative writing groups.

They began multiple pieces in their journals to experiment with techniques found in mentor texts, specifically focusing on a mini- lesson we taught each day. This meant that many beginning flash stories ap-peared in their journals as writing prompts, but they were encouraged to abandon any story that did not seem to “go anywhere,” which is part of our belief that writing is experimentation and should not be forced. While students spent the first week of the study reading and practicing the craft of flash in their notebooks, they spent the final week specifically se-lecting one story they wanted to expand from the prior week. Students had five days to finish writing and revising one piece and then used computer lab time (not included in the 10 days) to type them into any font, format, or style that best fit.

One completed flash piece was required for the class anthology. All 31 students submitted a com-pleted final draft, on time, without hesitation. Some students even asked to submit two, since they could not decide between their finished pieces. However, due to space in the anthology, we suggested that stu-dents make a choice on which story to submit. Furthermore, April commented that she typically has to prod and remind students to turn in their work in final draft format, but at the end of this unit, she did not need to nudge any of her students to submit their writing. In fact, she noted that they were eager to see

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their writing in print and took pride in their finished pieces.

How to Teach Flash Writing? Reading Like a Writer We began our introduction to flash by comparing it to music, generating discussion of how some of the students’ favorite songs tell stories in a three- minute span. We related flash to this notion; sharing a story, leaving the reader wanting more, all in one sitting. April explained that students typically grumble when she asks them who likes to read. Getting them to love the books they read is time- consuming, she admits. However, she found that with flash pieces, there is no wasted time. Students did not have to spend time learning background information. April realized that a piece that can be read in three minutes can be as powerful as the novels they spend weeks reading and analyzing. One student shared, “I like flash fiction a lot because of the way that it is written and it ’ s short and to the point.” Another stated, “I have fun reading the flash fiction stories. They are fun, sad, angry, but I really like them. I love how short they are but how they still tell details.”

We knew that choosing the first mentor text to start the unit would be crucial in engaging students, so we chose a humorous piece, “To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder” by Ander Monson. As April

read it aloud, we asked the students to mark any sen-tences they noticed or liked directly on the story. We noted students’ interests by highlighting their chosen sentences and then projecting them on a Smartboard. Students enjoyed how the author repeatedly used “Do not” at the beginning of each sentence to tell the story. As a class, we discussed what struck them about the repetition and their first impressions of flash. One student shared, “I liked the repetition of the do nots and the way it grabbed my attention in the beginning.” In their journals students then prac-ticed an example of a lead of “Do not… .” One stu-dent in the at- risk class shared her first attempt: “Do not go swimming. Do not go swimming with sharks. Do not eat shark. Do not go swimming after eating shark.”

Noticings Lead to Craft Lessons We gave each student a collection of flash stories and found that both classes chose the same titles as their favorite mentor texts. We provide a list of these men-tor texts in Figure 1 . Choice is essential in allowing students to explore and find connections. We invited them to read titles that interested them. From this collection, students discovered one of the first “notic-ings” flash writers use: the title. In flash, most titles are one word, and students in both classes observed this. Noticings are identified by inquiring, “What did we notice about how these texts are written?” (Ray,

FIGURE 1 Mentor Text Set on Flash Fiction

Bottomy, H. (2006). Currents. In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash fiction forward: 80 very

short stories, (pp. 51-52). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co.

Budzko, S. (2006). How to set a house on fire. In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash fiction

forward: 80 very short stories, (pp. 46-47). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co.

Eggers, D. (2006). Accident. In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash fiction

forward: 80 very short stories, (pp. 101-102). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co.

Lisicky, P. (1992). Snapshot, Harvey Cedars: 1948. In T. James, D. Thomas, & T. Hazuka (Eds.)

Flash fiction: 72 very short stories, (pp. 179-180). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co.

Monson, A. (2006). To reduce your likelihood of murder. In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash

fiction forward: 80 very short stories, (pp. 141-142). New York, NY: W. W. Norton &

Co.

Weber, K. (2006). Sleeping.In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash fiction forward: 80 very

short stories, (pp. 40-41). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co.

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2006 , p. 19). These identifications are then given a name (by students) where they will be able to practice and recognize the technique in their writing as well as peers’ writing.

In addition to titles, students recognized other specific techniques used in flash (see Figure 2 ). Students’ interests and discussions with peers al-lowed us to start each day with a craft lesson to highlight a particular technique. For example, stu-dents discovered the use of second- person point of view with the author referring to the reader as “you.” Since these examples engaged them, we shared a craft lesson they could practice by asking

students to select a paragraph from their journals and rewrite it from a second person perspective. This lesson allowed students to practice hearing their story in a different way, noticing how the writ-ing perspective changes by addressing the reader as “you.” Many of the craft lessons developed into fin-ished essays they later chose to include in the anthology.

Teacher as Model We share NWP ’ s belief that teachers should model the writing process, demonstrate successes, and work through difficult moments. Teacher modeling has

FIGURE 2 Flash Fiction ’ s “Toolbox of Techniques”

Titles Get the reader’s attention even before they begin reading your storythrough your title. The more unusual, the more it will appeal to yourreader. Keep it short and sweet!

Leads Purposefully worded, leads drive the reader right into the action of thestory. The first sentences capture the reader’s attention and make themask questions about what is happening in the story.

Point-of-View There’s usually one point-of-view. Many times, writers of flash fictionchoose first person point-of-view becausethe main character can also narrate through his thinking, which drives the plot forward. Secondperson point-of-view where the writer addresses you, the reader, can alsobe effective for its novelty.

Flashback/Flash Forward

Telling a story backwards can have a dramatic effect on a flash fictionpiece. Also, moving in fast pace, forwarding time, can be an effective wayto hold the reader’s attention as well as give necessary details in the plot.

Farce/Irony Many writers of flash fiction use farcical situations in their plots, in whicha ridiculous situation where everything goes wrong or seems implausible,tells their story. The same is true with using irony, suggesting the oppositeof what they really mean. Absurdity also provides great humor.

Using Inanimate orAbstract Conceptsas Characters

Using inanimate objects as main characters provide something new foryour reader. When reading flash fiction, the reader accepts the fact thatthere could be an orange or a kettle speaking. Writers can also useabstract concepts, such as love or hate as main characters.

Surprise Twists Many authors use the “shock” technique at the end of their flash fictionpieces. The element of surprise works in this genre and readers want tobe left with something to ponder. A surprise in the plot can be effective.

Topics Topics must represent the human condition in successful flash fictionpieces. Depth is needed despite the brevity.

Holding Back Info Hemingway’s theory of omission holds true in flash fiction; only show “aneighth of the iceberg” to the reader. What is not said (or written) is fargreater than what is penned on paper.

UnusualFormat/Setup

Readers want the shock of the unexpected. By creating your flash fictionstory in a non-traditional format, it will not only grab their attention, butthey will appreciate the creativity and variety of the read.

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been shown to be highly effective in teaching writing (Murray, 2007 ; Romano, 2007 ). By sharing our strug-gles, we showed students how to overcome chal-lenges. For example, Kathy struggled with using the flashback technique, shared her frustration in her drafts, and then asked students for help. She wrote her lead underneath the document camera, so her writing would be live. She explained that she wanted her story to be about a bicycle accident and that she had difficulty figuring out how to write the story in reverse chronological order. Students gave her a vari-ety of suggestions, and she practiced each suggestion with them. By modeling this, students were able to see the many ways writers play with crafting sentences.

April shared her apprehension with writing fic-tion. She confessed that she is not a great fiction writer. Instead, she writes about personal experiences. She explained to students that writing, for her, is ther-apeutic; it helps her let go of negative aspects of her life and celebrate positives. After reading the mentor texts, she found inspiration to write and modeled her writing after the pieces we loved so much. Her stu-dents used this as an opportunity to do the same. For her and many of her students, flash allowed freedom.

Writing alongside students and sharing our at-tempts helped students see writing as enjoyable, espe-cially in the at- risk class. April reflected that at the beginning of the unit, she asked students not to worry about grades. She explained that if they actively par-ticipated they would get the grade. She knew that for many of them, this was a confusing proposition. However, she realized after reading a few mentor texts, students forgot about grades and were eager to begin writing flash.

Students’ Transactions With Flash Flash impacted student literacy learning by encour-aging risk- taking, which granted them ownership of their writing through mentor texts. However, differ-ences occurred between at- risk and college- prep stu-dent experiences with the mentor texts, which altered our instruction.

Flash Provided Freedom in Students’ Writing Students experimented with grammar rules and in-tentionally chose to break them. Students in both classes enjoyed using “you,” which they confided has been unacceptable by some teachers. However, stu-dents in the at- risk class particularly enjoyed breaking traditional rules. For example, one student stated, “I like when we broke the rules and used ‘you.’” Another student agreed, “I like the fact that you can break rules, especially writing with a set base like ‘you.’ I enjoy writing this way.” Tonya commented, “I could write about anything and there weren ’ t any rules to make it harder to write.” Figure 3 shares the use of this technique by Samantha, a student in the at- risk class.

Samantha reflected, “I really like the pacing. I feel like it has a nice rythm (sic). I also like the mes-sage and the irony in it.”

Mentor Texts Guided Students’ Writing Three mentor texts stood out as ones students chose as models. The first is a work called “How to Set a House on Fire” (2006) by Steve Budzko. This story reads as a set of directions, with lines like, “Before you light the gas, light a cigarette under the old red maple in the front yard, under a hunter ’ s moon, and take a last look” (p. 46). Here, students chose to model a “how to” scenario. The students who chose this text used it effectively, often quite humorously. Below we share two flash pieces from the at- risk class modeled after Budzko ’ s work (see Figures 4 and 5 ).

Students also modeled their essays after “Currents” by Hannah Bottomy, who uses “Before that” repeatedly to break up linear time. The tech-nique drives the action from present tense to past tense, which intrigued students. They attempted this technique numerous times. Even though we found it the most difficult to implement in our writing, stu-dents had little problem writing chronologically backward. Samantha noted, “I am proud of being able to follow the ‘before that’ model and create my own version of it.” Figure 6 shares an excerpt of Andy ’ s essay, a student in the at- risk class.

FIGURE 3 Samantha ’ s Introduction from Her Story “Forever Awake”

You look down at the group. You tell him that you are sorry. So sorry. Sorry that you

weren’t there for him, that you couldn’t even protect him. You blame yourself, knowing

you always will. If you would of (sic) told him, things would have turned out different. It

wouldn’t be raining.

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The third most popular mentor text is called “Snapshot, Harvey Cedars: 1948” by Paul Lisicky, which contained a surprise ending and demonstrated how short a flash piece could be (two paragraphs), yet still tell a powerful story. Many students applied the concept via the idea of holding an old photograph. We had done a craft lesson earlier where we asked students to bring in a photo from home. April also found images from the Internet for students who wanted to focus on unidentifiable characters. To brainstorm, we asked students to create a story around the images and characters in the pictures. Sandra, a student in the at- risk class, noted, “I liked the line, ‘my father weights down her shoulder.’ I put, ‘You can see the weights she carry on her back’ into my

piece because my aunt was battling with a lot at that time looking for a way out.” Figure 7 shares Gavin ’ s flash piece in its entirety.

Students acknowledged that modeling their writ-ing after these pieces and others made it easier for them to understand how to write flash. They felt that borrowing specific techniques from mentor texts aided creativity and gave them confidence. The at- risk class especially noted the value of mentor texts. Joelle stated, “I was inspired by the mentor texts. Like in the mentor texts, I held back info. I purposefully didn ’ t tell the whole story about my dad.” Bryan ex-plained, “It helped me get a feel for how my piece should be written in this genre.” Amanda agreed, “I borrowed Accident because it was so small and

FIGURE 4 An Excerpt from Marcus ’ s “How to Get Rid of your Sister ’ s Boyfriend”

Tell him your sister is cheating on him. When he comes over to see your sister, tell him

she’s not home. When he acknowledges her car in the driveway, tell him she left with a

friend and then slam the door in his face. When your sister asks, “Have you seen my

boyfriend?” You reply with, “Nope, haven’t seen him.”

FIGURE 5 Leland ’ s “How to Drown” Flash Piece

How to Drown

First, you should find a place with deep water. The deeper the more likely you will

succeed. Once you find water you have a couple of options. If you cannot swim, simply jump

into the water and have fun. If you can swim, then drowning gets complicated. I suggest tying a

heavy object to your waist or leg. Some heavy objects could be any type of weights, bricks, or a

car. A large boulder would also do.

Doing this can become dangerous if you have eaten something thirty minutes before. Do

not drink before doing this, for it could be bad for your health. Two people or more should not

try to perform this act at one time. Do not try this in shallow water. Drugs should not be used

before doing this. If you do any of these things, the outcome could be fatal.

Remember to hold your breath, and you should be fine.

FIGURE 6 An Excerpt from Andy ’ s “Bullied”

When I woke up I was in the hospital, with bandages all over my head I couldn’t

remember a thing.

BEFORE THAT, I was getting punch and kicked by a lot of people. Trying to escape

them, but too weak to get away.

BEFORE THAT, I was on the ground picking up my papers.

BEFORE THAT, I got tripped. All my papers went everywhere, with everyone walking

by. No one willing to help me.

BEFORE THAT, I was walking in the hallway with the feeling everyone was watching

me.

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simple, but meaningful. I wanted the reader to get inside my character ’ s head like you can in this story.” According to Stacy, “Studying this genre with mentor texts has helped me be more creative and shown me that I could write.”

Flash Encouraged Taking Topical Risks Even though we taught flash as fiction, students in both classes wondered whether the authors drew from personal experiences in order to write concisely, yet still provide a deep emotional connection. For ex-ample, did Paul Lisicky in “Snapshot” lose his father to suicide? Students wondered, how could he write such a deep, dark emotional flash piece? For the mentor texts that contained thematic issues of love and loss, students believed that the authors pulled from their own memories. Ten of the twelve students in the at- risk class echoed this notion, claiming that they found topic choice difficult. Many wanted to write emotional essays, yet needed inspiration. Many students experienced personal challenges, such as poverty, criminality, and family members dying. They wanted to incorporate these experiences, but needed the safety of fiction. Furthermore, students used specific flash techniques from the mentor texts to keep their writing in the genre, such as writing in unconventional formats, starting stories deep in ac-tion, and including a surprise twist at the end, all within a 750- word limit.

In the at- risk course, topics were deep, contained the human condition, and often centered on losing a family member. Students used the writing assign-ment to work through grief. For example, Julie stated, “I wrote about my confusion about my father passing away. I didn ’ t understand why he was never there for me. It seemed like an important topic to write about.”

Andy, however, decided to write about bullying in school. He shared, “I chose this topic because it ’ s something that people need to stop doing.”

Unless they told us, we did not know what part of their writing was nonfiction. April also reflected that she had never seen her students more excited to share. Students came to see her before school, after school, and during lunch asking, “Will you read my piece?” Grades were never mentioned. They simply wanted to share, and to be heard. One student offered this advice regarding writing flash: “I would tell a stu-dent that they could write a personal story if they want to, and I would show them the mentor packet and tell them at the end of the story, they should feel some type of emotions.”

Students in both classes commented on the relief they felt after writing their flash fiction pieces and the risks they took with their writing. Timothy wrote, “I ’ m proud that I finally wrote about the one thing that has been bothering me almost my whole life.” Taylor reflected similarly stating, “I ’ ve been holding it in for a while; it ’ s been really bothering me. I wanted it off my chest.” Marisa agreed, “I am most proud that I got the courage to write about something personal that no one knew about. Not even my mom!” We believe that Marisa gained this confi-dence to write about her personal topic under the guise of flash fiction.

One student in the at- risk class surprised April, reminding us that it is the process, not the product that matters when inviting students to write in any genre. April described Julie as an open enrollment student who should have been identified as learning disabled. She was often absent from school, rebelled against the dress code daily, and exhibited childlike behaviors. However, Julie was most engaged when

FIGURE 7 Gavin ’ s “The Perfect Picture” Flash Piece

The Perfect Picture

My mom is holding onto my dad like she’s in need of help. Looks like she’s never gonna

let go. Dressed so pretty, she’s the only one who recognizes it. Even now she is waiting for the

camera to flicker.

He holds her like he’s never gonna let go. His hair long and curly. Arms are big and

muscular. He looks like he’s gonna be there forever. But he’s already gone. You already see him

moving on, getting his new car and his new house. The look on his face is not dad.

They are hugging. Their pose says: together forever. But my dad’s smile looks so

deceiving, it’s just not the same. Why is he smiling like that? Is he looking at the girl next door,

watering her garden? Or can he already hear the screaming and yelling?

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they read and discussed in class. Julie ’ s first draft was a story about a young girl whose Barbie jeep had been stolen. She completed the writing by including some of the toolbox techniques we studied, but her piece was lifeless. That day in class, April shared her flash piece, which was influenced by Lisicky ’ s “Snapshot” mentor text and its personal inspiration. April remem-bered a picture of her and her brother at a wedding when they were children. In this image, her brother beamed from ear to ear. It is the perfect “snapshot” of him as a child. However, she recollected, this image is no longer her brother. Mental illness has taken his smile. She wrote about this picture and shared this painful aspect of her life to try and show students that writing can help them heal.

Julie took her journal home that night and wrote a new story. She came to class early the next day to have April read it, and tears welled up in April ’ s eyes as she read her flash about the loss of her father. Julie wrote, “In the picture there is a man who would be called daddy one day…Where was he? Did he not love her?” The voice of a child confused about why her father never came to see her, pouring out of a girl who now understood that it was not her fault, that he did love her, is gripping. Julie explained that she de-cided to write the new piece to express her emotions the same way that April did. For the first time all year, she did “homework.” She had ownership of her work. The writing was powerful. More important, however, was the connection they made discussing their es-says; realizing the connections they had that they may have never known if they did not share their writing.

Differences Between Courses Between April ’ s at- risk and college- prep classes, we noticed slight differences in students’ experiences. First, since many flash endings are ambiguous, April ’ s students in the at- risk class grew frustrated. Their ini-tial reactions consisted of “I don ’ t get it” or “what hap-pened?” We found that their confusion caused early reluctance in discussing the texts with their peers and us. April believed the response stemmed from their experiences in remedial reading courses that focused on multiple- choice testing, rather than discussing the experience of reading. Furthermore, we discovered that when students in the at- risk class were given choice in reading mentor texts, they flipped through seeking out the shortest stories, which can be esoteric. This led to deeper discussions with students about text selection and comprehension, including multiple

close readings, but this also took away intended class time for writing.

In the college- prep class, however, students en-joyed ambiguity. One student shared, “I like how the writer gives the reader the power to use their own imagination to define the end.” Another student stated, “No matter how short it is, it leaves the reader to fill in the pieces and have what they think goes in the blanks as the story.” And another commented, “I like how it makes you think, not just, here is the answer.”

What is most informative is that the at- risk class relied more on the mentor texts and craft lessons to write their stories. For example, Sheila commented, “I used the before that technique so that it broke things up in parts. I tried to make it almost like hers.” Another student wrote, “I used the snapshot piece. I took the format of it and tried to write about a picture with me and my dad like the author did.” Students in this class did not attempt to steer away from the men-tor text craft lessons, whereas the college- prep class played more with their writing, inventing techniques, as well as incorporating many mentor texts into their writing. For example, Robin stated, “I liked Currents and Accident . I took flashbacks and second person perspective from it. I morphed it so it included not just you ’ s but I ’ s.”

Closing Thoughts Engaging in flash fiction with freshmen revealed many implications for the English adolescent educa-tion field. First, students in the at- risk class grew in confidence as writers. By practicing multiple tech-niques modeled in their favorite mentor texts, they felt successful. They took pride in the flash pieces they submitted to the class anthology. Overall, stu-dents did not reveal themselves as “at- risk” or “college prep.” Rather, both classes enhanced their literacy practices by immersing themselves in the full tenets of flash.

Additionally, implementing flash throughout the school year can be accomplished by carving out two- week units (10 45- minute class periods), allowing time to read mentor texts, study craft, writing prac-tice, and then sharing. Flash can also be integrated in other content areas, such as social studies or science. For example, flash nonfiction is increasing in popularity, and this could be included as a compo-nent to a multigenre research project, or as a unique way to begin a standard research paper. Flash sci- fi

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can include informational research on scientific concepts, such as cloning and robotics, which can then be integrated as flash writing in the science classroom.

Moreover, English teachers of adolescent writers can encourage flash writing in order for students to find their voice. April recognized the impact writing flash had on her students. She saw how they could voice the human condition and center on deep con-cepts, such as death. Exposing students to flash can help raise student interest in writing narrative, while the use of mentor texts may build confidence and in-crease student awareness of their writing ability. We found that mentor texts provided technique model-ing opportunities. Without mentor texts, students stated they could not have written flash as effectively. They used mentor texts to hone in on specific prac-tices and modeled their own sentences on them. They also used mentor texts for generating ideas of experiences similar to events or themes expressed in the texts. Overall, writing flash served a purpose out-side of writing for an assignment (or grade).

Our aim with this project is to ignite a flame in high school students for writing, generate new inter-est in flash, and create new “mentor texts” and tech-niques that future flash writers can use. We believe that using mentor texts to engage students will spark an interest in not only reading like writers, but also writing like flash writers. April reflected that she was more proud of the writing accomplished by this class than she has been of any writing her students have accomplished during the eight years she has been teaching English.

References Batchelor , K.E. ( 2012 ). In a f lash: The digital age ’ s inf luence

over literacy . In B. Batchelor (Ed.), Cult Pop Culture: From the Fringe to the Mainstream (pp. 77 – 88 ). Westport, CT : Praeger .

Dorfman , L. R. , & Cappelli , R. ( 2007 ). Mentor texts: Teaching writing through children ’ s literature, K-6 . Stenhouse Publishers .

Fletcher , R. ( 2011 ). Mentor author, mentor texts: Short texts, craft notes, and practical classroom uses . Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann .

Graham , S. , & Perin , D. ( 2007 ). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high school . Washington, DC : Alliance for Excellent Education .

Gutzmer , C. , & Wilder , P. ( 2012 ). “Writing so people can hear me”: Responsive teaching in a middle school poetry unit . Voices from the Middle , 19 ( 3 ), 37 – 44 .

Lain , S. ( 2007 ). Reaffirming the writing workshop for young adolescents . Voices from the Middle , 14 ( 3 ), 20 – 28 .

Lattimer , H. ( 2003 ). Thinking through genre: Units of study in reading and writing workshops 4–12 . Portland, ME : Stenhouse Publishers .

Masih , T. L. ( 2009 ). Field guide to writing flash fiction: Tips from editors, teachers, and writers in the field . Brookline, MA : Rose Metal Press .

Murray , D. ( 2007 ). Teach writing your way . In K. Beers , R. Probst , & L. Rief (Eds.), Adolescent literacy: Turning prom-ise into practice (pp. 179 – 187 ). Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann .

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers ( 2010 ). Common Core State Standards for English language arts . Washington, DC : Authors .

Newman , B.M. ( 2012 ). Mentor texts and funds of knowledge: Situating writing within our students’ worlds . Voices from the Middle , 20 ( 1 ), 25 – 30 .

Pytash , K.E. ( 2012 ). Engaging preservice teachers in disciplinary literacy learning through writing . Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , 55 ( 6 ), 527 – 538 .

Ray , K.W. ( 2006 ). Study driven: A framework for planning units of study in the writing workshop . Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann .

Romano , T. ( 2007 ). Teaching writing from the inside . In K. Beers , R. Probst , & L. Rief (Eds.), Adolescent literacy: Turning prom-ise into practice (pp. 167 – 178 ). Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann .

Sanders , J. , & Moudy , J. ( 2008 ). Literature apprentices: Understanding nonfiction text structures with mentor texts . Journal of Children ’ s Literature , 34 ( 2 ), 31 – 42 .

Take ActionS T E P S F O R I M M E D I A T E I M P L E M E N T A T I O N

• Begin by surveying students’ favorite songs that tell a story. Allow them to explore these plotlines and connect how emotions are often expressed in moments that last under four minutes (this is usually the length of time it takes to read a flash fiction piece).

• Select powerful flash fiction mentor texts, and invite students to reflect on techniques, lines, and moments that linger with them. (We call this “stalking sentences.”)

• Generate a list of techniques for display in the classroom, encouraging students to add to the list after reading a text.

• Have students name the techniques.

• Provide time in class for students to model their writing using these techniques, practicing, and playing with their words.

• Write with your students, showing them your own struggles and strengths.

• Have students select their favorite flash piece and create a class anthology generating either a bound copy or secure online website.

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Skinner , E. ( 2007 ). Writing workshop meets critical media liter-acy: Using magazines and movies as mentor texts . Voices from the Middle , 15 ( 2 ), 30 – 39 .

Strassman , B.K. , MacDonald , H. , & Wanko , L. ( 2010 ). Using captioned media as mentor expository texts . The Reading Teacher , 64 ( 3 ), 197 – 201 .

Literature Cited Bottomy , H. ( 2006 ). Currents . In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.)

Flash fiction forward: 80 very short stories (pp. 51 – 52 ). New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Co .

Budzko , S. ( 2006 ). How to set a house on fire . In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash fiction forward: 80 very short stories (pp. 46 – 47 ). New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Co .

Lisicky , P. ( 1992 ). Snapshot, Harvey Cedars: 1948 . In T. James , D. Thomas, & T. Hazuka (Eds.) Flash fiction: 72 very short sto-ries , (pp. 179 – 180 ). New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Co .

Monson , A. ( 2006 ). To reduce your likelihood of murder . In T. James & R. Shapard (Eds.) Flash fiction forward: 80 very short stories (pp. 141 – 142 ). New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Co .

Perkins-Hazuka , C. , Hazuka , T. , & Budman , M. ( 2011 ). Sudden flash youth: 65 short, short stories . New York, NY : Persea Books .

Thomas , J. , & Shapard , R. ( 2006 ). Flash fiction forward: 80 very short stories . New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Co .

More to Explore C O N N E C T E D C O N T E N T - B A S E D R E S O U R C E S

BOOKS ✓ Masih , T.L. ( 2009 ). Field guide to writing flash fiction:

Tips from editors, teachers, and writers in the field . Brookline, MA : Rose Metal Press .

✓ Moore , D.W. ( 2012 ). The Rose Metal Press field guide to writing flash nonfiction: Advice and essential exercises from respected writers, editors, and teachers . Brookline, MA : Rose Metal Press .

READWRITETHINK.ORG LESSON PLAN ✓ When Less IS More—Understanding Minimalist

Fiction . http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/when-less-more-understanding-1007.html

WEBSITES FEATURING FLASH FICTION STORIES ✓ Flash Fiction.Net . http://flashfiction.net ✓ Flash Fiction Online.com . http://www.flashfiction.com

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