ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Plot Structure: A Literary Elements Mini Lesson
Contains plans for two lessons that ask students to apply Freytag's Pyramid (also known as Freytag's Triangle) to pieces of writing, oral storytelling, and television shows. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional...
Caro Clarke
Caro Clarke: Pacing Anxiety, or How to Stop Padding and Plot!
This is the seventh installment of a series giving advice to the author who is new to writing novels. This article focuses on how to take your characters and use them and their conflicts to develop the plot of your story. W.9-10.3b...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Empowered Fiction Writers: Generating and Organizing Ideas
Do your young scholars' minds go blank when they confront a blank piece of paper? Speedwriting can help them get started with writing as well as come up with topics to write about. They can then incorporate their key ideas and phrases...
Yale University
Yale University: Elements of the Short Story
This unit from the Yale University on elements of the short story is designed to develop student comprehension skills, particularly making inferences and generalizing. It also involves students in reading a number of short stories to...
TES Global
Blendspace: Story Elements
A twelve-part learning module with links to videos, images, and websites to use while learning about story elements and the development of a plot.
TES Global
Blendspace: Understanding the Elements of a Story
A six-part learning module with links to images with information and graphic organizers and a quiz on story elements.
Tom Richey
Slide Share: Plot Structure
A slide show with twenty-one slides explaining elements of plot including: characters, setting, exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Comics in the Classroom: Introduction to Narrative Structure
Contains plans for four lessons that teach students about narrative plot structures by using "The Three Little Pigs" fairy tale or a similar story. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites...
TES Global
Blendspace: What Makes Stories Scary?
A learning module that includes fourteen links to websites, videos, and activities on writing scary stories. Lessons focus on vocabulary, plot and character development, elements of gothic stories, tone and mood, suspense, and more.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Rolling With the Animals
After reading Duck on a Bike by David Shannon, the writer will plan an original story where an animal (other than a duck) finds itself in a human mode of transportation (other than a bike). Three other animals will react to the unusual...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: What Got Stolen?
After reading Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement, the writer will plan a scene from a story where a character confronts another character about something that has been stolen. Descriptive details need to take precedence in this scene, as...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Complication
Notes that introduce complication in plot and show examples of how the conflict becomes more complicated throughout the rising action of a story. Examples are provided from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and Virginia Woolf's "The Duchess and...
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Structure Within a Story
Learn why structure is important when organizing a story then read an excerpt from the story "Three over Four" to practice how structure helps to develop the story's theme, setting, and plot.
Other
Story Arts: Storytelling Activities & Plot Structure Scenarios
This collection of storytelling activities-developed by storyteller/author Heather Forest for her storytelling workshops with students, teachers, and librarians-can be expanded by educators into language arts lesson plans to support...
Other
National Writing Project: Collaborating to Write Dialogue
In this lesson, writing partners work together to develop a plot and characters. The lesson emphasizes the use of dialogue to develop the characters and plot of the story.
Other
Online Statistics Education: Graphing Distributions [Pdf]
This is the second chapter of a statistics e-text developed collaboratively by Rice University, University of Houston Clear Lake, and Tufts University. It looks at many different types of data displays and the advantages and...
Other
Building Characters With Adversity
Extensive and very interesting article advising the reader on how to develop characters through adversity.
British Council
British Council: Learn English Kids: Voyage of the Animal Orchestra
Use this story of the shipwrecked animals in the orchestra to focus on plot, characters, and sequence of a story. Included are assessment activities and flash cards.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Story Maps
Story Maps are used for teaching students to work with story structure for better comprehension. This technique uses visual representations to help students organize important elements of a story. Students learn to summarize the main...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Word Game for Kids: The Colored Wheels Game
What kind of interesting things could happen to a vehicle that's an unusual color? In this student-created lesson, young writers click the color and the wheel button until they find a colored vehicle they want to write about. Then they...
Caro Clarke
Historical Fiction: Who Rules?
This is the fifteenth article in a series designed to help the new novel author. This article focuses on the genre of historical fiction and the role of the author. Is the author a researcher or a story-teller?
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Narrative Pyramid
A printable narrative pyramid where students can record information about a story including the character, setting, problem, main events, and solution. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organize as well as lists of teaching...
Caro Clarke
Caro Clarke: What Is Conflict?
This is the sixth in a series of articles designed to help the new writer with their novel. This article focuses on conflict and how it effects the characters and the plot of the story. W.11-12.3a Narratives
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Books: Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg
This comprehensive teacher's guide for the book "Zathura" by Chris Van Allsburg provides us with an opportunity to examine how writers blend scientific information with a fictional story.