Plot Structure

A plot is the sequence of events that make up a story. Aristotle stated in his book The Poetics that plot structure had "a beginning, a middle and an end". It is much more than the telling of events one after another. A plot needs a motivating purpose to drive the story to its resolution, and a connection between these events.

Elements of plot structure

Gustav Freytag (1816 - 1895) was a German dramatist and novelist. He came up with the structure for the way stories are told in ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. This analysis is known as Freytag's analysis. His analysis consisted of dividing a play into FIVE parts:

1. exposition

2. rising action

3. climax

4. falling action

5. resolution/denouement

These five elements of plot structure can differ slightly, but for the most part you will see the gradual build-up of events, the climax, followed by a resolution. Here's some information on each element and some student examples. The students used the plot structure and explained the elements using their own book.

Conflict

STUDENT OBJECTIVES

• Identify elements of setting development within multiple texts.
• Recognize picture books as model texts that exemplify multiple literary elements.
• Identify four types of conflict in literature (character vs. character, character vs. self, character vs. nature, and character vs. society).
• Apply the elements of plot development and conflict resolution to revisions of their own writing.

The students read Red Riding Hood and identified the different types of conflict in the reading.

Here are some student examples:-

Blabberize

                                                

Objective:

In this lesson, the students were given the opportunity to be imaginative and expressive through the writing of a monologue or dialogue for a book they were reading or have recently read. The objective is to promote a book they are reading using Blabberize, a program that allows people to animate photos and add audio to bring them to life. This project was used to assess their understanding of the book being read, as well as a way to promote the book.

Directions:-

Using an image of the main character from the book or the author, you will create: 1) a brief video ‘diary’ about how the character feels about an event or events from the story (no spoilers), or 2) a video from the point of view of the author thinking as he/she wrote the book.

Rubric

Here are some examples:-

Rin and Miyu

Woon Ji

Character and Key Details

As we teach traits the students are taught to understand the difference between character traits and feelings. They were taught to use words to describe the qualities of characters in the book they have read.
The author may tell us these traits directly, but mostly they will show us these traits in action. The job as readers is to draw a conclusion about the character's traits (to infer them) from what the character says, thinks, and does.
An inference could be made from something a character does only once, or conclusions might be drawn from a series of things the character says and does.
The students worked on a activity which furthered their understanding of identifying character traits.

The students learned about character traits and used them to explain their character. After reading their book, they went through a process of listing the traits on a graphic organizer followed by creating a poster. On this they wrote the physical and personality traits. Here is an example of the of the students' work.