100-Word Stories by Kim Culbertson

I am a serial buyer of teacher books, even though I rarely have time to read them. These slick, crisp volumes with their pages full of ideas represent endless promise. Maybe this book will be the one that solves all our problems and motivates kids to learn! Maybe this will be the perfect set of ideas to build the kind of classroom where kids are engaged and excited to do their work! Of course, those are wild fantasies, but it certainly doesn't stop me from dreaming...and scouring the Heinemann website every few months. I picked up 100-Word Stories from there a few weeks ago. I was initially intrigued by its idea of using short pieces of text to teach an array of literary concepts and its inclusion of lots of sample 100-word stories to use in the classroom. When the book arrived, I was both surprised and pleased by how short it was (it makes sense when you think about it). This, finally, was a teacher book I could sit and read in a few sittings. I got started hoping to find some ideas to bring to my school.

100-Word Stories begins with an explanation of how Kim Culbertson found success using 100-word chunks of text in her language arts classroom when teaching various concepts. She describes how she was able to get more student participation and engagement when the stories were very short. Not only were students better able to maintain their focus with these texts, but they also allowed her to explore many different concepts quickly. After that short introduction, she moves onto a series of chapters each focusing on a different story element. Each concept contains two 100-word stories, discussion questions for students to grapple with, and suggested writing activities for students to try. The book contains a total of 25 short chapters covering everything from basic story elements to revision strategies, making this a wide-ranging resource for reading and writing teachers.

Overall I did like this book. The idea of using short texts is a good one, as I can personally attest to the fact that students struggle with paying attention to longer pieces. These lessons offer quick and interesting ways to see different literary elements in action and provide good examples for students to try the techniques out by writing their own short stories. The discussion questions are thoughtful and encourage deeper thinking and the suggested writing activities incorporate a lot of student choice. This book contains some solid strategies and advice.

One element that was a bit of a disappointment for me were the 100-word sample texts. There is a little note at the start of the book warning that some of these might not be appropriate for all ages, but that an effort was made to have at least one story per chapter that was appropriate for grades 5-12. I did not always find that to be the case. Some of the stories included content that was inappropriate for younger readers, some of the stories had vocabulary that would be very difficult for struggling readers, and some of the stories required more inferencing skills than your average 5th-8th grade reader would have. Most of the samples are written by students too, which is fine, but I was hoping for pieces by well-known writers that I could use as a bridge to encouraging students to read their longer works. I work with 7th and 8th graders. If I was going to use these lessons, I would frequently find myself needing to source other texts or write the samples myself. This book is more user-friendly for high school teachers. As the sample 100-word stories were what I was looking forward to the most, this was a bit of a disappointment.

In spite of that, however, I did still enjoy the book and think that it is a good addition to my professional library. I agree with the logic behind using short texts and I think these lessons are a nice way to change up writing instruction and increase student engagement. Is this the magical teacher book with all the answers? No, but it certainly does have some answers that will help teachers improve their writing instruction.

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 22/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 12/24