Engaging Reading and Writing Independence in High School: Teaching The
Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs
By
Jessica Kahan
To illustrate various strategies to encourage reading and writing independence, I
have chosen the short story by W.W. Jacobs, The Monkey’s Paw, which is commonly
taught as part of the ninth or tenth grade curriculum in many Massachusetts public
schools.
Prereading strategies:
1. As a teacher, I believe that an important prerequisite for reading a story is to
peak student interest. One strategy is to help students make a personal
connection with the text. In Writing to Read, Steve Graham and Michael
Hebert assert that “Comprehending a text involves making meaning by
building relationships… between the text and one’s knowledge, beliefs, and
experience (Wittrock, 1990).” p.13. This bridge between what the student
already knows and what the teacher would like him or her to know is an
important ingredient for learning success. Writing can be an effective
strategy. An example of Prereading writing prompt: If you could have any
three wishes granted, what would they be and why?
2. Building Vocabulary Skills: The vocabulary in The Monkey’s Paw is
challenging, and students would be well served to be familiar with the
vocabulary of the short story before reading. As neuroscientific research has
shown, “fun”, stress-free learning activates the dopamine receptors in the
brain, enhancing retention. Thus, I would use the web site,
http://www.spellingcity.com, to create enjoyable vocabulary building
learning activities.
Reading the Story:
3. Multiple Entries into Reading the Story. Students would be able to read on
an e-Reader, use Read and Write For Google Chrome for the speech to text,
read the story through Kurzwell or Read and Write Gold software, Project
Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) or listen to free
YouTube audiobook, such as the reading of The Monkey’s Paw at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_iMX0leQCY.
Collaborating With Peers: Teenagers need to feel connected to their peers and
working together on a collaborative activity, is a great way to draw on everyone’s
strengths and skill sets. Some writing and project creation activities that would be
great for a group working on The Monkey’s Paw:
 Create a travel brochure that illustrates and advertises all of the exotic
locations that Morris claimed to visit (students could use such sites as
www.national geographic.com or www.discovery.com).
 Since Mrs. White is a very superstitious woman, research 6 strange
superstitions from around the globe and their origination. Students can use
preselected web sites chosen by the teacher, or a kid-safe, school-approved
search engine, such as www.sweetsearch.com.
 Monkey Paw Jeopardy – Students create and “MC” a game of questions for the
class to help them study for a test on the story (Learning how to formulate
questions and answering them are important thinking skills).
In writing to read, Graham and Herbert state “…writing about a text should enhance
comprehension because it provides students with a tool for visibly and permanently
recording, connecting, analyzing, personalizing, and manipulating key ideas in a text
(p.13).”
4. Students could be taught the writing process while engaging in these
writing activates related to The Monkey’s Paw*:
 Write a eulogy for Herbert’s funeral service.
 What would have happened if the third wish was never made? Write a
different ending for the story.
 Summarize the problems that the Whites experience during the story and the
lessons they learn from these troubles (Summarizing is an excellent skill to
practice, since it allows students to extrapolate information from different
kinds of discourse, helping them to find main ideas, sift out extraneous
details, and organize ideas in a logical format, all important skills for helping
to develop better understanding and formulate longer pieces of writing).
 Who is your favorite character in the story, and why? How does this
character change from the beginning to the end of the story?
*Software apps, such as Schmoop, Evernote, Notestar, Bubble.Us, can be
extremely useful in helping students brainstorm, organize, research, and take
notes on their writing.
Another excellent post reading (and enjoyable) activity is to show the episode
of The Simpson’s cartoon, Monkey’s Paw, which is a contemporary adaptation of the
story. (http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/monkeyspaw/17wue26u3?cpkey=1a9f86e4-c8e7-4666-b46c05153049f278%7C%7C%7C%7C). Then students could write about or discuss in
groups the similarities and differences between the original story and the Simpsons
cartoon episode.
In conclusion, the examples of activities that I described to use with the short story,
The Monkey’s Paw, are certainly not an exhaustive list. However, I do believe that
they incorporate sound strategies to encourage independent reading and writing,
and are aligned with neuroscientific research on how students learn best.