Story About a Story Jacquie was confused about what to write in her story. She didn’t know if it was supposed to be about a certain topic or have a specific point, but she really wanted to do well on the assignment. “Hey, I’m really confused about the English assignment. Do you understand what we are supposed to do?” she whispered hopefully to Eleni who was sitting next to her in a different class. “No! I don’t get it at all! I’m going to talk to Mrs. Hayashi about it after school. Wanna come?” answered Eleni. “YES! Meet me in front of her classroom right after school.” Jacquie responded, sighing as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. When school was over Jacquie and Eleni caught each other’s eye and met in the hallway. They walked together to the English room. Mrs. Hayashi saw them and said, “Hello girls, what can I help you with?” Jacquie asked Mrs. Hayashi if she could explain more about the homework, so that it would be less confusing for her and Eleni when they try to do it. Mrs. Hayashi thanked them for going to meet with her. She appreciated that they were trying to get help. She told Jacquie and Eleni that they could write about anything that they want, as long as there is subtext. That means that there is a meaning to what happened, without being stated in the text of the story. “Uhhh, can you give an example?” asked Eleni scrunching her eyebrows. Mrs. Hayashi thought for a second and then gave an example. “Jacquie, say you were trying to jump over a bench, but it was very high. The first time, you fell and got back up. The second time, you fell and scraped up your knees, but you still got right back up. The third time, you hit your face on the ground, but yet, you still kept on trying, no matter how many times you fell. In that example, the subtext would be that you were very determined. Get it?” “Ya...sort of. Can you give another example?” Mrs. Hayashi tried to give another example, but Eleni and Jacquie realized that her example actually would not work! There wasn’t any hidden meaning that was left for the reader to figure out, so there was no subtext. Jacquie thought for a moment, and realized “If we knew that the example wouldn’t work than I think that means that we understand what we need to do! Hey! I just got an idea! Could I write about our conversation that we are having now?” a smile stretched across her face. She seemed to think that her idea was very clever.
Mrs. Hayashi said yes with her eyes widening and that is exactly what Jacquie did.