Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 5
Building on the previous activity in this series of lesson seeds, this plan focuses on the use of dialect in Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay. Class members examine specific lines of text, use their reading journals to respond to the...
Wake County Public Schools
Language
Have your class doing everything from reading literature, analyzing literary devices, identifying independent and dependent clauses, discussing, and writing creatively with the rich resource found here. After a mini lesson on independent...
Curated OER
Make Up Your Story
Putting together an interesting story can be hard, but this set of worksheets will guide your writers into the depths of their own creativity as they characterize both their main character and villain. Using humor to keep learners...
Listening Library
The Sign of the Beaver
Extend a class reading of the novel The Sign of the Beaver across all subject areas with this literature unit guide. From basic discussion questions and writing prompts, to a research project about tracking animals, this...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Narrative
What is the difference between a news story and a personal narrative? This plan has learners write a personal narrative using the topic of service projects in their community. Consider completing a cross-curricular extension by bringing...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How to Write Descriptively
The point of fiction is to cast a spell, a momentary illusion that you are living in the world of the story. But how do writers suck readers into stories in this way? Nalo Hopkinson shares some tips for how to use language to make your...
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.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Interactives: Elements of a Story
Explore the elements of a story using the well-known Cinderella story as source material. Learn about setting, character, sequence, exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution.
Other
Building Characters With Adversity
Extensive and very interesting article advising the reader on how to develop characters through adversity.
Peace Corps
Peace Corps: Narrative Cartoons
Using the communicative means of cartooning, students examine essays from various Peace Corps volunteers and recount them by writing their own cartoons.
Other
Storyboard That
Create your own storyboard with this interactive tool. The storyboard framework is a graphic organizer that helps structure students work into a linear and concise story. Although it feels easy at first, breaking down ones thoughts into...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Explain Influence of Setting on Plot Development in Literary Text
In this lesson, students will review two elements of fiction, setting and plot, and learn how the setting influences the plot in stories.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Explain Influence of Setting on Plot Development in Literary Text
This lesson is about the relationship between setting and plot. The setting enhances the story by folding the plot into a place and time that fits perfectly with what is going on; in fact, it is often the setting that makes the action...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Analyze Development of Plot Through Characters in Literary Text
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Often characters are a driving force behind the plot. In this lesson, students will learn how complex, multilayered characters contribute to the development of a story's plot...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Developing Characters and Experiences With Sensory Language
Adding sensory languages makes your writing so good you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch it. This lesson will show you how to use descriptive sensory language in order to develop and capture the experiences and characters in a...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Storytelling With Words and Pictures
In this interactive lesson, students learn the basics of how stories are structured, gain vocabulary about storytelling elements, and explore how the arts, specifically drawing, can be a valuable way for students to tell stories.By the...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Storytelling: Writers' Workshop
Students draw on their understanding of different types of narratives to inspire and enrich their own storytelling. This is one of four storytelling lessons.
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...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Short Adventure Stories
Inspired by the interactive plot ideas here, writers will create an original three-paragraph adventure story. First, each writer will create an original adventurer. Next, each writer will place the adventurer in a brief, organized...
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...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Fracturing Tales Through Titles
Students read The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman and then write their own fractured fairy tales using first-person point of view and dialogue. Teacher and student instructions are provided along with student writing samples, an...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Serendipitous Character Descriptions
In this lesson, students create a unique character and develop a descriptive paragraph utilizing strong word choice.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Dialogue Adventures
In this lesson students will learn how to write dialogue in a particular voice.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Action Words Bring Life to Setting Details [Pdf]
Students learn how to develop their ideas through description and action words through a story scavenger hunt. [PDF]