Subject: Reading / Grade Level(s): 6-7
Teacher: / Time Frame: 60 minutes
Lesson Summary:
Students will be able to identify the basic elements of a plot and their relationship.
Lesson Objectives
The students will know…· How to determine the sequence of events in a story.
· How to map a plot line.
The students will be able to…
· Understand the essential parts of a story’s plot.
Lesson Plan
Time: / Procedure: / Materials Needed:
10 minutes / Warm-up Exercise:
Display slide 2. With students, read the passage and the question that follows. Have students discuss what they think is missing from the story. Discuss ways that you could revise the story to make it better.
Ask students what elements are important to a story and write their ideas on the board. (for example, climax, something changes, the characters learn something) / Computer connected to a projector; PowerPoint presentation, slide 2
5 minutes / Motivation (Real-world Applications):
Tell students that when they tell a friend a story about what happened on a field trip or at summer camp, they are telling the plot. The plot consists of the events make a story a story.
Explain that thinking about the important elements of plot will help them to craft better stories. Understanding plot will also help them analyze stories they read.
15 minutes / Presentation of New Material/Guided Practice:
Display slide 3. Remind students that stories include a series of events, or plot. Usually there is a main problem, or conflict in the story that helps drive the plot. The problem continues to build tension in a story until a big event, or climax, occurs. After the climax, the problem in the story is usually resolved.
Together, read the story “Raven Steals the Light” on slides 4-5 and identify the plot elements: character, problem, climax, and resolution. Have students work in partners to answer the questions on slide 6. Reference the answers on slide 7 as needed. / Computer connected to a projector; PowerPoint presentation, slides 3–7
30 minutes / Closing Activity:
Work with the whole class to write a story. Write the first line of a story on the board, then go around the room and have each student develop a line of the story. Go around the room as many times as needed to complete the story. When the story is complete, discuss the plot of the story and how the plot developed.
Homework: If your day today were a story, write its plot.
Differentiation: Have students needing extra support work in small groups to draw a comic strip. Explain that the comic strip shows the events, or the plot, of a story. Ask students who need an extra challenge to read a short story and then work individually to change the events and thus the plot. For example, if two people met and becomes friends, students would rewrite the story so that the two people don’t met or meet at a different time. Have them share their stories with other students.
Teacher Reflection:
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