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Subjects
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Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 |
Brief Description
Students learn about the elements of a story (introduction, plot, climax, resolution, denouement). In groups of five, one student writes an introduction and passes it to the next person, who writes the plot and passes it to the next person, who writes the climax and so it goes!
Objectives
Students will
Keywords
plot, climax, story, resolution, denouement, writing, round robin, character
Lesson Plan
Write the following list on a board or chart:
Use the context of a story to explain to students the meaning of each of the above terms. Write students' ideas on chart paper. Some possible ideas include the following:
In order to solidify students' understanding of the main parts of a story, talk about a story the students have read together in class; identify the different parts of that story.
Arrange students into groups of five. Provide one student in each group with a sheet of writing paper and explain to students how the activity will work. Then begin the activity. When you say "Start," the first person in the group has ten minutes (or another set time period) to write a good introduction to a story. Set an oven timer to sound at the end of ten minutes. When the timer goes off, the person who has been writing passes the story to his or her right. That person has ten minutes to read the introduction and to write a plot section that builds on the introduction. Set the timer so it will sound at the end of ten minutes. When the timer goes off, the student who worked on the plot passes the paper to the next person, who will write the climax. Continue until the last person in the group has completed the denouement to the story.
Additional notes about this lesson:
Close the lesson by reviewing what students learned about writing a story, what elements make a good story, which part of the story seemed easiest and most difficult to write, how many of the parts overlap in longer stories as multiple plots unfold, and so on.
Assessment
Students write their own stories, making sure they include each of the five elements (introduction, plot, climax, resolution, and denouement) discussed in the lesson. They correctly label each section of their stories.
Lesson Plan Source
Education World
Submitted By
Gary Hopkins
National Standards
LANGUAGE ARTS: English
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