Panda Short Story - National Zoo

Activity 5
Panda Short Story
Objective & Overview:
Students will draw upon their creativity and writing skills to write a
short story that incorporates at its core a panda metaphor.
Teacher Background Information:
Giant Pandas as Metaphor?
Giant pandas strike a chord in many people. Even those not
particularly stirred by these animals find them hard to forget. In this
exercise, your students will write a short story that weaves the panda
in as a metaphor. There are many ways to do this and you should
leave the playing field as open as possible to spark your students'
creativity.
Some examples: Your students may wish to draw up main characters
who read about, dream about, or see giant pandas. Or the student
authors may be more abstract. The giant panda could represent,
among many other possibilities:
• the beauty of nature
• the vulnerability of nature
• the frailty of life
• the fragility of love
• hope for the future
• a symbol of traditional past.
Friends of the National Zoo Page 37

Directions:
1. Discuss the uniqueness and plight of the giant panda, referring to
other background material found in this guide. Once the stage is
set, tell your students that the giant panda will play a central role in
a creative work that they will write.
2. Provide your students with a few handouts of short stories by
famed authors, preferably writing in different styles. Read the
stories and discuss their elements, suspense, plot, etc.
3. Explain that each student will write a 1,000-word (about 2-1/2
pages at 1-1/2 spaces) short story that uses the giant panda as a
metaphor for something central to the story. The panda can play
out subtly or blatantly, but encourage your students to try to write
as deftly and powerfully as possible--to grab their audience and
weave the panda right in with other elements, characters, etc.
4. This project should be inspiring. The students can draw from their
experiences or explore new fictitious possibilities or meld both.
Explain to them the importance of writing short stories in the
training of writers: They must set the stage in a compelling way,
introduce characters, conflict, and lead up to some kind of ending,
either a total wrap-up or open ending--all in two and a half pages.
This is how many fiction writers start out. Students should give this
a serious shot but expect to need improvement. Perfecting the
short story takes many years for writers.
Friends of the National Zoo Page 38

5. Explain before the project begins that the stories will be critiqued
by the other students as well as by you. This type of peer review is
considered critical to help writers better understand how they
reach an audience, if they succeed with some elements, or
perhaps need improvement in some areas.
(Please note: If for some reason you would rather grade the short
stories and skip the peer review process, simply have students
hand in their stories at this point.)
6. After the short stories are handed in, distribute them randomly to
other students. Group desks in a circle so that everyone can face
reviewers and authors. Hand out the Review Sheet to all
reviewers.
7. Take time during class for students to critique their peers' stories.
While reading, they should take notes so that they remember the
points to cover in their oral review. Make sure reviewers fill out
their Reviewer Sheets so you remember who critiqued what. You
may want to grade reviewing skills as well as short story writing
skills.
8. Explain that everyone's story will be included in this review
process and that reviewers should gear their critiques solely to let
the writers know how their story reached, or didn't reach them--
and why. Short stories can be very personal. They also may strike
the reader as such. This is the power of prose. The overall goal is
Friends of the National Zoo Page 39

to help each writer improve, not to hurt anyone's feelings. There
should be no personal slights or non-constructive criticism. Tell
your class, and remind them later, that this process is very similar
to that followed by professional writers.
9. A 1,000-word story (a bit more than two pages at 1-1/2 spacing)
should not take long to read and critique. After the class has read
their stories for review, allow each reviewer five minutes to
introduce the story they're reviewing and comment. Give a bit less
time for the author to remark.
10. Have students give the stories back to the authors and have the
authors turn in their stories. Students should also hand in their
Review Sheets for you to grade.
Friends of the National Zoo Page 40

Short Story Review Sheet
Reviewer Name _______________________________________
Date: ___/___/____
Story Reviewed: Title "___________________________________"
By:___________________________________
Areas of story that were powerful, stirring, compelling:
Areas that were too abstract/confusing:
Areas that were not compelling:
Suggestions?
Other comments (continue on back if necessary.):
Friends of the National Zoo Page 41