Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway:writing an Engaging Story With Literary Strategies to Enhance Plot
A learning module that teaches students about writing a short story with a strong plot in seven mini-lessons: Introduction, Choose the Point of View, Figure Out What to Say, Suspend Readers in Midair, Write about a Central Theme, Read A...
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.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Story Writing With Arthur
This series of 12 downloadable activities teach students some basics of story writing, using books or videos from the PBS "Arthur" series as a springboard. Activities include creating story maps, asking questions about characters and...
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...
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...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Writing a Short Story With Well Developed Conflict and Resolution
A learning module that teaches students about writing a short story in six mini-lessons: Introduction, Understanding the Essence, Getting an Idea, Structuring Plot, Building Conflict, and Outlining Your Own Story.
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...
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...
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
Caro Clarke
Not Stopping the Reader: How to Avoid Stumbling Blocks
This is the eighth article in a series that focuses on helping the new novel author. This article looks at how the author can avoid creating stumbling blocks that disrupt the flow of the novel.
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?
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.
Books in the Classroom
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
This site is a discussion of some of Phyllis Naylor's works and contains information about the author and evaluates the themes and ideas that she expresses in her writing. It also contains some plot summaries of some of her books.