Podcast Summary: How to Teach a Short Story

Hillsdale College K-12 Classical Education Podcast
Date: November 10, 2025
Guest: Dr. Benedict Whalen, Associate Professor of English, Hillsdale College
Host: Scott Bertram

Main Theme

This episode explores the unique value of short stories within classical education, how their structure serves both teachers and students, and effective classroom strategies for teaching them. Dr. Benedict Whalen discusses why short stories deserve their place beside longer literary forms and offers concrete exercises for engaging students deeply with these compact narratives.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Value of Short Stories in Classical Education

• Short Story vs. Novel:

  • While classical literature often focuses on lengthy works like Hamlet or Moby Dick, Dr. Whalen argues for the distinctive strengths of short stories.
  • "More complicated or longer or more complex does not automatically mean better. Sometimes the beautiful things are very simple..." (Dr. Whalen, 01:50)
  • Short stories are "accelerated, compressed, very tight," making them potent and accessible for cultivating close reading habits.

• Shared Experience:

  • Short stories allow students and teachers to experience a work together in real time, promoting discussion.
  • "With a short story, it's quite possible... to have that moment of encounter together, sort of like watching a TV show with people." (Dr. Whalen, 03:50)

Why Conciseness Matters

• Every Line Counts:
  • The density of short stories demands close attention: "Every line in a short story is doing more work, it's bearing more weight, and hence it encourages very close analysis." (Dr. Whalen, 05:05)

Common Pedagogical Mistakes

• Mistaking Means for Ends:
  • Teachers sometimes treat the short story merely as a vehicle for technical concepts (narrative structure, literary history) rather than art to be appreciated.
  • "The most common mistake is treating the work of art as a means to an end outside of itself." (Dr. Whalen, 05:20)
  • Technical elements should serve a richer enjoyment of the literary work, not overshadow it.

Proper Attitudes for Teaching

• Privileging the Story Itself:
  • Let the story be the "centerpiece" rather than technical vocabulary or analysis.
  • Read stories aloud; don't be afraid to spend class time on direct engagement.
  • Recalling a personal anecdote, Dr. Whalen emphasizes the impact of simply reading: "[My most impressive] moment in literature education... was actually... when a teacher... spent the whole period for a week or so reading the stories of Flannery O'Connor..." (Dr. Whalen, 07:44)

Distinctiveness of Short Stories

• Integrity & Wholeness:
  • Unlike a novel chapter, a short story is a discrete, self-contained unit—it must "stand entirely on its own." (Dr. Whalen, 08:38)
  • This quality gives it a "punchy flavor" and informs how it should be approached pedagogically.

Practical Classroom Techniques

• George Saunders' Method:

  • Inspired by George Saunders' A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.
  • The analogy: "The opening page sets up all... the author is tossing up a bunch of juggling pins... the rest of the short story... is the catching of those pins." (Dr. Whalen, 10:44)

• Three Simple Questions Activity (based on first page only):

  1. What do we know so far? (Summarize in 1-2 sentences.)
  2. What are you curious about?
  3. Where do you think the story is headed?
  • This fosters discussion, anticipation, and attentive reading: "You can spend a whole class period on the first page of a short story and just discussing those three things." (Dr. Whalen, 11:43)

• Classroom Example:

  • Dr. Whalen reads the first page of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (12:59) to illustrate how this exercise provokes immediate questions:
    • "Wait, is she sick? And why doesn't her husband believe her?... All sorts of different expectations aroused by this first page..." (Dr. Whalen, 14:13)

Recommended Short Story Authors

• Classic & Underappreciated Writers:
  • Chaucer (Canterbury Tales), Chekhov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain.
  • Special mention: Willa Cather as an underrated master of the form.
  • "Willa Cather is, I think, sadly underrated and underread... she's just a marvelous... short story writer." (Dr. Whalen, 15:53)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Sometimes powerful or moving things are very simple... we have the phrase short and sweet... those are elements of the short story that I don't think we want to lose in a classical education." – Dr. Whalen (02:08)
• "If you realize that you're constantly stressing, okay, where's the climax? What's the denouement? What you're doing is privileging technical language about the story rather than the story itself." – Dr. Whalen (06:44)
• "Let the story be the centerpiece and the thing that you're always coming back to. That is most easily done by simply reading a short story aloud in the classroom." – Dr. Whalen (07:08)
• "There are all sorts of different expectations aroused by this first page that then, in a good short story, ought to be answered or caught later in the ensuing pages." – Dr. Whalen (14:18)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:35 – Why teach short stories in classical education?
• 05:15 – Common teaching mistakes with short stories.
• 06:44 – Prioritizing the story over technical analysis.
• 08:38 – The integral wholeness of short stories vs. novel chapters.
• 10:13 – George Saunders-inspired classroom technique using the story’s first page.
• 12:59 – Example of applying these questions to The Yellow Wallpaper.
• 15:36 – Dr. Whalen’s shortlist of recommended short story authors.

Conclusion

Dr. Benedict Whalen makes a powerful pedagogical case for the short story’s unique place in classical education. Through emphasizing closeness, intentionality, and appreciation of artistry, he recommends practices that foster true literary engagement. By focusing on the short story as art—rather than vehicle—teachers can nurture wonder, curiosity, and careful reading in every student.