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Lesson 2

We will continue to plan our narratives by thinking about the sequence of events that will make up its plot. We will develop a storyboard to represent our story plan and discuss ideas with a writing partner.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I identify and communicate where my story is going and outline its general shape and progression?

  • Can I provide and utilize constructive peer feedback in the process of developing a narrative?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will learn about the Storyboard Planning Tool and consider how we might use it in planning our narratives.

As suggested by the Pixar animators, most storytellers sketch out a general plan for their stories before they begin to craft them, knowing that the plan will change and evolve as they develop the story. There are many ways to sketch out a plan for a narrative; one is a storyboard, a visual organizer that represents the elements and possible sequence of events in a story.

Follow along as your teacher explains and models how to use the Storyboard Planning Tool. Note that the tool can be used to represent your plan in words or in pictures, like a cartoon strip.

Review and discuss the plot structure terminology that organizes the Storyboard Planning Tool on its left side (first column).

  • Exposition (Introduction)

  • Complication (Rising Action)

  • Climax (Turning Point)

  • Resolution (Falling Action, Denouement)

Think about each of these phases of your story, and in general, what might happen. Write notes in your Learning Log.

Now discuss and think about the three planning questions that organize the Storyboard Planning Tool in its top row.

  • Who? Which characters will be involved? What will we learn about them?

  • What? What events will happen? How will the characters react?

  • Why? What conflicts will occur? How will they complicate the story?

Think about how these planning questions play out in each of the four phases of the story you are going to tell.

Activity 2: Write

We will plan our narratives, using a Storyboard Planning Tool to help us think about the who, what, and why of our stories as they unfold from exposition to resolution.

Sketch out the events, interactions, conflicts, and complications that will form the plot of your story.

Determine how your story will unfold in time.

  1. Plot sequence: Will you tell the story chronologically from start to finish? Or will you use techniques such as flashbacks or foreshadowing to make it unfold in a nonlinear way? Will the plot be more episodic—a sequence of separate events or vignettes that add up to a whole story?

  2. Story plot: What might be your story’s plot (the series of major events and complications)?

Build a storyboard (or story outline) for your narrative that includes details about what will happen and who will be involved in the exposition, complication, climax, and resolution phases of the story.

If helpful, review the Narratives Reference Guide and the stories you have read to help you think about the phases of story development.

If you use a Storyboard Planning Tool to plan out the plot structure for your narrative, you might start with the center column and first think about what, in general, will happen in each of the four phases of your story.

Then, you can think about who will be involved, and why what will happen will be important in developing your story.

If you prefer to think visually, you might want to do some simple drawings first, then add words to represent your story’s plan.

Get as much of your story planned as possible, then get ready to review your plan with a partner and submit your storyboard to your teacher for feedback.

Activity 3: Discuss

We will review our story plans and Storyboard Planning Tools with a writing partner.

With a partner, review and compare your storyboards or outlines. Provide constructive feedback, considering the following questions:

  1. Does the initial storyline seem interesting? Does it outline a story that readers will want to read?

  2. Does the story seem to have a promising shape? Does it move from start to finish in an intriguing way?

  3. Do the relationships among the who, what, and why—the characters, events, and complications—make sense?

  4. Does the story look like it will be full in its scope and well-balanced in its pace? Are all phases equally well-developed?