JOb by Dan Preston short story study

1. Adapted from
NZQA resource
booklet by Christine
Wells
Updated for 1:1
devices
2014
1.1 SHOW
UNDERSTANDING OF
SPECIFIED ASPECTS OF
STUDIED WRITTEN
TEXTS USING
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE.
External
4 credits

2. Your mission…
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

As we study the short story, Job, you will be
required to make a study guide for yourself.
You will use Creative Book Builder, Book
Creator, or a similar app or website of your
choice to do this.
This study guide will include all of the
information you need to know the story well.
Any task that you do and any artifacts that you
create will need to be added to the study
guide.

3. Types of short story
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Gathering
Slice of Life: Deals with an experience of ordinary life;
often has no climax; reveals character and situation.
Surprise Ending: Popular form, includes horror,
suspense stories.
Story of Incident: Looks at the course and outcome of
a single event.
Story of Narration: Beginning, middle and end, building
to a climax, often with a turning point. May cover a long
period of time.
Story of Atmosphere: Bringing alive a certain mood or
setting.
Story of Character: Reveals a characters mind,
motivation or moral quality.

4. Job by Dan Preston: Plot
If something happens or is described in a short
story, it is important and there is a reason for it.
The plot contains only a few incidents, which are
sketchily drawn, very condensed and neatly put
together.
1.
Read the story.
2.
TASK:
 Use the BeforeNow app to create a flow chart to
show the progression of the story.
 For each section, write a brief description from the
Thinking
Using
story.
language, text and
 Include a picture toGathering
represent the section. symbols
Processing
Applying
Managing self

5. Characters
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
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Thinking
Using language, text
and symbols
Managing self
Seldom more than two or three characters are described in
any detail.
Any information about the characters is important to the
story.
Characters seldom develop or change in any way during the
story, which often deals with a point of crisis in one person’s
life.
List the characters in the story.
Describe the crisis in Job’s life.
Explain how he coped with it.
What do we learn about the type of person he is?
Create a short iMovie to make a news item about the crisis
in Job’s life. Include an interview with Job and one other
character. Your interview should include information from
Gathering
questions 2, 3 and 4. Processing

6. Character Profiles
Thinking
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Choose 2 characters and use PicCollage to
create a personal profile for each one. Find
pictures that you think represent each
character well.
Include:
 Name
 Age
 Gender
 Occupation
 Interests
Gathering
1.

7. Protagonist and
Antagonist
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1.
2.
3.
Thinking
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
The protagonist is the leading character in the
story, the one that the audience empathises with.
The antagonist is the main character who is in
opposition to the protagonist.
In pairs,
Identify the protagonist and the antagonist.
Use SimpleMind+ to brainstorm a list of at least
5 adjectives for the protagonist and 5 adjectives
for the antagonist in the story.
Choose 3 for each person and locate a quote
from the story that supports each adjective.
Gathering
Processing

8. Compare and
Contrast
Processing
Applying
1.
2.
Thinking
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
Create a Venn diagram to show the
similarities and differences between 2
characters.
Choose 1 similarity and one difference and
discuss what may have caused this similarity
or difference.

9. Setting
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Gathering
Short Stories are usually located in one place and are
usually set during a brief time period.
Setting is rarely described in detail and is often of little
significance – story could happen in any city or
secondary school etc.
Important details of setting are often described rather
than the whole setting.

10. Setting description
Gathering
Processing
As a class:
1.
Brainstorm a list of adjectives to describe Job’s house.
2.
Locate 3 quotes from the story that link to your adjectives.
Use Skitch to import a photo and write the adjectives and
quotes onto.
3.
Add a text box and explain why the setting helps the reader
to understand the characters.
Thinking
Relating to
others
Using
language, text
and symbols
Managing self
Participating
and
contributing

11. Setting & Effect
Thinking
Relating to others
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
Processing
Applying
As a class discuss the
following:
1.
Explain the effect that
the setting has on the life
of Job.
2.
Imagine how the setting
would affect you. Write a
paragraph to describe
how you would react to
the setting.
3.
Explain what you think
the author wants us to
learn about Job by
placing him in this

12. Themes
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Gathering
In short stories, themes are usually stated in
the most general terms, or hinted at subtly
through repetition of certain words or phrases
or through the title.
A short story does not necessarily contain a
particular message, other than to say “this
situation exists – can you understand how it
feels?” Many slice of life stories are like this.

13. Choose from the list:
•Love
•Violence
•Family drama
•Good vs evil
•Conflict
•Transformation
•Man struggles against nature
•Society vs individual
•Friendship is dependant on
sacrifice.
•Overcoming adversity
•The importance of family
•Sacrifice brings reward
•Humans all have the same
needs
Gathering
Processing
•Loss of innocence.
•A person grows only in a crisis of
confidence or identity.
• Enjoy life now because we all die
too soon.
•Isolation.
•Through alienation comes selfknowledge.
•Modern culture lacks community.
•Man’s struggle to understand God
•Crime does not pay

14. Thinking
Using
language, text
and symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
Theme & text
1.
2.
As a class brainstorm a list of possible
themes.
For each theme, describe the relevant
section of the story where the theme is
shown.
Gathering
Processing
Themes

15. Theme & characters
Thinking
Using language, text
and symbols
Managing self
Use Educreations to create a short presentation to
answer the following:
1. Choose 2 themes and list the characters that
are linked to each theme.
2. Explain why you linked each character to the
theme.
3. Speculate on and explain what you think the
author wants us to learn about these
characters by using this theme.
Processing
Applying

16. Theme in action
1.
2.
Choose a part of the story that shows one of
the themes in action and use ComicBook to
create a short cartoon to show what happens.
Include dialogue from the story.
Thinking
Using language, text
and symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
Processing
Applying

17. Thinking
Relating to others
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
Theme quotes collage
In pairs:
1. Use Word Collage to create a collage of
quotes from the story that are linked to the
main theme.
Gatherin
g
Processi
ng
Applying

18. Style
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1.
Gathering
Thinking
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and
contributing
A short story can be likened to a microscope –
the chosen details are magnified and the
background detail is cut out.
Short Stories have limited space so they are
usually very structured.
Short Stories use an economy of style – material
is carefully selected and arranged so certain
words, images or ideas are repeated. Repetition
emphasises important ideas and links different
parts of the story.
As a class, find 2-3 examples of repeated words,
ideas or images from the story and record them.

19. Language
Thinking
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and contributing
Atmosphere and creating tension between characters is
important to the stories effectiveness.
 Tension is achieved through the use of descriptive and
emotive words to show stress or conflict.
 The type of language used can help us understand the
characters and the sort of people they are.
As a class:
1.
Locate at least 5 words or phrases that show stress or
conflict.
2.
Explain what type of language the author uses. Is it formal
or informal? Record an example to support your opinion.
3.
Record an example of a character’s speech and explain
what we learn about them as a person.
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Gathering
Processing

20. Language features
Thinking
Relating to others
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and contributing
Language features are used to add description,
sound effects and help the reader visualise what is in
the story. These include: alliteration, assonance,
simile, personification, metaphor, onomatopoeia,
rhyme and repetition.
Work in pairs to:
1.
Choose 3 language features and find examples from
the story.
2.
For each one, write a sentence to explain why it is
effective.
3.
Link each language feature to a theme in the text.
Explain why you linked it – what did it help you
understand about the theme?
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Gathering
Processing

21. Narrative viewpoint
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Thinking
Using language, text
and symbols
Managing self
A first person story (“I”) has one character as
narrator. The viewpoint may be less obvious in
other stories but often the reader only finds out
what one character learns or sees other
characters from one person’s point of view.
Is the story written in first, second or third
person?
Whose point of view is the story told from?
Identify whose voice is heard the most in the
story.
Record an example from the story.
Use the Paper app to draw a picture of the
character and a speech bubble of them saying
Gathering
something that you found interesting Processing
from the

22. Style, Language & Narrative
Viewpoint
Either
a) Use Quiz your Friends to create a quiz on the
information you have gathered about
style, language and narrative viewpoint
Or
b) Create a presentation to show what you have
learned. You may use
Keynote, Educreations, Prezi or another
appropriate app or website.

23. Event
Gathering
Processing
Thinking
Relating to others
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and contributing
Discuss and answer in pairs:
1.
Describe an important event
from the story. What happens?
2.
List the characters that are
involved.
3.
Identify the theme that you
would link to this event. Explain
why.
4.
List 3 outcomes from this event.
5.
What do you think the author
wants us to learn from this
event?
6.
In pairs, use Quickvoice to

24. Conflict
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Gathering
Processing
Applying
6.
Thinking
Relating to others
Using language, text and
symbols
Managing self
Participating and contributing
Describe a conflict from the
story. What happens?
List the characters that are
involved.
Identify the theme that you
would link to this event.
Explain why.
List 3 outcomes from this
conflict.
Judge what you think the
author wants us to learn from
this event.
Use Mematic and create a

25. Thinking
Using
language, text
and symbols
Managing self
Essay Topics – choose one
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Describe at least ONE character or individual you enjoyed reading
about in the text. Explain why the character or individual helped you
understand an idea in the text.
Describe at least ONE idea in the text that you found interesting.
Explain why the idea was interesting in the text as a whole.
Describe at least ONE important aspect of setting in the text. Explain
why an aspect of setting helped you understand a key idea in the text.
Note: Setting could include time and /or place.
Describe at least ONE language feature that was used to help you
understand an important idea in the text. Explain why the language
feature helped you understand key ideas in the text. Note: Language
features could include imagery, style, vocabulary, or symbolism.
Describe at least ONE event at or near the end of the text that was
important. Explain why the event helped you understand a key idea in
the text.
Describe ONE important conflict in the text. Explain why the conflict
helped you understand a key idea in the text.
Applying