Section 2: Overview

The Elements of Storytelling

We will consider the question, “What are the elements used to make a good story?” and be introduced to ideas about storytelling from animators at Pixar Studios. We will begin to more formally study examples of the storyteller’s art by reading, analyzing, and discussing three classic short stories by American authors of recognized literary merit: Shirley Jackson, William Faulkner, and Thomas Wolfe. We will learn how the elements of setting and atmosphere, plot and story structure, narrative point of view, characterization, dialogue, description, and theme contribute to the crafting of a good story. We will practice and develop our own storytelling skills by retelling one of the stories we have studied from a different point of view.

• Lesson 1:

  We will discuss our responses to the question “What are the elements used to make a good story?” and will be introduced to the concepts of narrative structure and plot. We will then watch a short Pixar video about story structure.

• Lesson 2:

  We will continue to learn elements of a story’s narrative structure and plot, including the concepts of atmosphere, climax, and foreshadowing. We will use guiding questions and the Attending to Details Tool to read, analyze, and discuss Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.”

• Lesson 3:

  We will be introduced to literary concepts related to characterization and to the idea that some stories come alive through their vivid or memorable characters and character relationships. We will watch another short video about the internal and external features of characters, then will read, analyze, and discuss William Faulkner’s Gothic short story, “A Rose for Emily.” As a class, in reading teams, and then individually, we will practice the skills of close reading and analysis with a key passage from the story.

• Lesson 4:

  As we continue to analyze “A Rose for Emily,” we will discuss what we have learned about specific sections of the story and its key sentences. We will use the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to analyze characterization and form a claim about Emily Grierson, which we will then develop into a short expository paragraph.

• Lesson 5:

  We will learn about the literary concept of theme and discuss ways in which themes emerge through authors’ development of plot, setting, atmosphere, and characterization in the stories we have read. Then we will use guiding questions and an Analyzing Relationships Tool to read, analyze, and discuss Thomas Wolfe’s “The Far and the Near.” We will analyze Wolfe’s use of description to develop mood in key passages and sentences and will form a claim about the choices he has made to communicate a thematic message in the story.

• Lesson 6:

  We will examine descriptive paragraphs from “The Far and the Near” more closely, focusing on the grammatical use of modifiers—adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases—to develop descriptions and create mood.

• Lesson 7:

  We will develop a narrative response to the question, “How might you retell a classic story?” We will identify and discuss the story we intend to rewrite, determine which parts of the story to use, and begin writing a section of the story from the first-person point of view of a key character.

• Lesson 8:

  We will finish rewriting “The Lottery,” “The Far and the Near,” or “A Rose for Emily” from the first-person point of view of one of the characters. We will then present our rewritten narratives to a group of other students.

• Lesson 9:

  We will review feedback on the Section Diagnostic and use it to make revisions to our work.

• Lesson 10:

  We will share the understanding we have gained through our independent reading and continue reading our texts.