RECOGNIZING STORY GRAMMAR / PLOT COMPONENTS
Gail Boushey and Joan Moser present story grammar - or plot structure elements - as one of the strategies for "comprehension" on their CAFE Menu. All fiction stories are share common characteristics: problem, resolution, climax, setting, and characters. Since they work together to form the story, the ability to identify these common elements gives students a "process for storing information to remember and to comprehend what the story is about." Therefore, specific strategies - from the elementary to the secondary level - are provided below to equip teachers with ways to teach students to identify plot elements (a.k.a. the important information in works of fiction, like novels and short stories). Boushey, G. & Moser, J. (2009). Ready reference form: Strategy - Recognize literary elements (genre, plot, character, setting, problem/resolution, theme). In The CAFE book: Engaging all students in daily literacy assessment & instruction (p. 167). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
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S.W.B.S.T ACRONYM
As a quick way to assess whether students comprehended what they read (either for homework or in-class), SWBST is an acronym for "Somebody," "Wanted," "But," "So," "Then" that students write at the top of a five column chart on a sheet of loose-leaf paper. In the "Somebody" column, students write the name of the main character. What the character wants goes in the next column (either a concrete or abstract desire). The "But" column introduces the conflict and "So" asks what the main character will do to transcend that problem. Lastly, the "Then" column presents the ultimate solution in the story. SWBST could also be used in students' story retelling, rather than as a written assignment. Using the information in the five columns, students should write a brief summary. To practice identifying the most important information and using it in a summary, teachers can have students complete the five-column chart of SWBST after they complete every chapter of a book. Lesesne, T. S. (2006). Chapter 5: What can we do to follow up reading? A baker's dozen of un-book report ideas. In Naked reading: Uncovering what tweens need to become lifelong readers (pp. 83-84). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
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PICTURE IT! S.T.O.R.Y. MNEMONIC DEVICE The "Picture It!" reading comprehension strategy can be applied to both primary and secondary readers. It revolves around the idea that "two major components of comprehension are visualization and knowledge of story elements." To begin, students are introduced to the mnemonic device, S.T.O.R.Y. Each letter represents one of the five story elements: setting, talking characters, oops! a problem, attempts to resolve, yes, the problem is solved, respectively. The teacher illustrates each of elements on the acronym itself: S is picture framed, T is a stick figure, O is a frowning face, R has a light bulb over it, and Y is a stick figure with its arms raised in triumph. After reading, students then brainstorm the pictures they would use to represent each letter (each story element) in S.T.O.R.Y. Lastly, students synthesize their individual pictures into one complete, all-encompassing, interactive picture. This allows them, upon completion, to see how all the story's elements work together to compose the plot. Students can also include vocabulary on their illustrations if they tie it to one of the five elements. That way the text's difficult terminology will be linked in memory with an image and a specific part of the plot. Naughton, V. M. (2008). Picture it! The Reading Teacher, 62(1), 65-68.
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STORY MAPPING
Story mapping revolves around a graphic organizer structure that lists out - with spaces to fill in - the main elements of a story in a flow chart-like form. When students are able to "map" out a story by its most important information, the students are able to see the flow and plot of the story in its most basic and literal form. Below are two examples of Story Maps. The one to the left is a basic version that can lead students - scaffold students - to the more complex version to the right.
THE STORY FACE (ADAPTATION of the STORY MAP) As a twist on traditional story mapping, "The Story Face" graphic organizer presents readers with a familiar shape around which to organize story elements and from which to recall story elements. To construct the "Story Face," two circles represent setting and main characters (eyes) with upward extending lines for details and secondary characters (eyelashes). Under the circles, a square indicates the problem (nose). Lastly, the mouth is drawn by connecting a series of circles in which to chronologically chart events. Depending on whether the story's ending is happy or sad, the mouth of the graphic organizer can either be smiling or frowning. Its flexibility also comes from student ability to improvise and add hair or ears, etc. Introducing students to the traditional story mapping approach and then providing this variation (without informing them of the switch beforehand) allows self-discovery and a meaning learning context. This strategy was used with first to fifth graders; however, the author suggests its value with "older and more capable readers" as well. Staal, L. A. (2000). The story face: An adaptation of story mapping that incorporates visualization and discovery learning to enhance reading and writing. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 26-31.
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NARRATIVE PYRAMID
Narrative Pyramids give students a rigid structure in which to go through and write the story elements out for a text. Resembling a poem that enlarges as it descends, Narrative Pyramids restrict the amount of words students can use to describe each of the story elements. For example, students must identify a character in one word (the top of the pyramid), state the problem in four words (middle of the pyramid), and write the solution in eight words. The word limitations prompts students to choose their words wisely and to practice summarizing a story element concisely but effectively. Due to the bigger word limit with each descending line, the students' final Narrative Pyramid should be longer on the bottom than it is on the top. To the left is an example of a Narrative Pyramid for Chapters 1-4 of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
McLaughlin, M., & Allen, M.B. (2002). Narrative Pyramid. In Guided comprehension: A teaching model for grades 3-8 (pp. 118-122). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
SUMMARY CUBES Although adaptable and able to guide students to the important information in informational texts also, Summary Cubes provide students with a hands-on, interactive approach to pinpointing and remembering the story grammar in a text. The six sides of the cube are inscribed with six of the main story elements - title, characters, setting, problem, solution, and theme. Or, as in "Reporter's Notes," the five W's and an H, which also helps students identify the main information in a fictional text. Just like in the "Tossed Term" strategy, students group together in small, tight circles and gently toss the cube to one another. Whichever side that lands face up, the catcher must define in terms of the specified story. Or, as an alternative, students complete the rolling independently, and write on the cube itself each element for the specified story. Summary Cubes can be made easily assembled with glue, squares of construction paper (a different color for each side) and rinsed out, empty, small milk cartons. Fisher, D., Brozo, W.G., Frey, N, & Ivey, G. (2011). 44: Tossed Terms. In 50 Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy (pp. 132-134). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. McLaughlin, M., & Allen, M.B. (2002). Summary cubes. In Guided comprehension: A teaching model for grades 3-8 (pp. 228-229). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. |
FIVE FINGER RETELL
Five-Finger Retell is an activity that can concretely marks each story element - setting, characters, problem, events, conclusion - on a finger, so that students can use their hand to aid their retelling of the important information in fiction texts. Usually implemented with elementary students, Five-Finger Retell can be done on a graphic organizer (as pictured at the bottom right) or through a hands-on activity with a winter glove (as captured in the bottom left picture). As an alternate to the Retell Rope, this activity allows students to use a tool - their own hands! - that they will always have with them, rather than relying on an external memory jogger.
McKnight, K. S. (2010). 17: Topic generation: Hand model. In The teacher's big book of graphic organizers: Grades 5-12 (p 38). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
THINK-TAC-TOE Resembling the 9 square Tic-Tac-Toe board from almost all students' youth, the "Think-Tac-Toe" reading comprehension strategy motivates students, provides choices, and offers a game-like alternative to mundane worksheets. Students must complete three of the nine activities on the "Think-Tac-Toe" sheet. The activities invisibly differentiate, meaning that they cater to different learning styles (i.e. visual, kinesthetic, auditory, artistic, etc.), different interests, and different ability levels without students being aware. The motivating power of choice is the dominant factor at play in this strategy. Two examples are provided in the article. One "Think-Tac-Toe" board covers story grammar - character, setting, and plot - which is recreated to the left. And the other focuses on summarizing and main ideas. Both are sheets that could be implemented to foster literal comprehension of a text. Although grade levels were unspecified in the article, it seems like the strategy could span across primary and secondary, since the difficulty of the tasks is dependent on the teacher. Samblis, K. (2006). Think-Tac-Toe: A motivating method of increasing comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 59(7), 691-694.
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"KIDSPIRATION" SOFTWARE: K-5
(COMPUTER-BASED STORY MAPPING)
"Kidspiration" is a computer software program created for elementary level students - specifically kindergarten through fifth grade. Through the software, students self-generate electronic graphic organizers. Kidspiration is one of the main software programs behind "computer-based story mapping." During a small study with students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) who had a "reading comprehension goal" listed on their IEP (Individualized Education Plan), researchers sought to determine if story mapping the nine elements of a story (title, characters, setting, time, problem, solution, outcome, reaction, and theme) through Kidspiration positively impacted readers' ability to recall the story elements of a specific story afterward. All three participants showed improved scores of recall after using Kidspiration. With text-to-speech and pictures, Kidspiration caters to visual and auditory learners. Additionally, technology is a general motivator for students, so integrating Kidspiration in place of the traditional pen-and-paper story mapping approach is likely to engage readers.
Wade, E., Boon. R. T., & Spencer, G. V. (2010). Use of Kidspriation© software to enhance the reading comprehension of story grammar components for elementary-age students with specific learing disabilities. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 8(2), 31-41.
THE WITCH'S HAT PLOT DIAGRAM
(a.k.a. STORY MOUNTAIN)
Creator of the "Witch's Hat" Plot Diagram, Patricia Call, invented the design based on an observation about the Gaussian Curve: a bell curve look-alike version of her organizer. Addressing the higher vocabulary of plot structure - exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution - the "Witch's Hat" is often introduced into secondary English classrooms. The "Witch's Hat" Plot Diagram is a "simple visual aid" that makes the original less dry and more esthetically pleasing, benefiting student motivation and interest. It merely replaces the curved climax point with a steeper, pointed climax - almost substituting a mountain for a hill without changing the overall meaning of the diagram. The structure is most often drawn with a witch hat underneath the climax point, so the triangular shape of the graphic organizer is directly linked with how it resembles a witch's hat. As an extension of implementation, Melina Porto developed the "Problem-Solving Pattern" and the "Dialogue Projection Technique." The first strategy acknowledges that fact that there may be cycles of rising actions in a story. Through the identification of situation, problem, response, and evaluation (SPRE) - which is transformed to question form in the latter strategy - students recognize solved problems that lead to a cumulative climax. Refer to the second citation for more information. This image setup is also known as Freytag's Pyramid.
Call, P. E. (1996). The witch's hat: Something new from something old. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 39(6), 497-499.
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Porto, M. (1999). Taking the witch's hat a step further: A way to develop reading and writing skills. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 42(4), 269-273.
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PLOT NOTES (GRAPHIC ORGANIZER) As a graphic organizer version of the "Witch Hat Plot Diagram," "Plot Notes" provides a more structured and roomy work space in which to record notes. Using the same advanced terminology for the components of story structure as the "Witch Hat Plot Diagram," this graphic organizer would be ideal for secondary students who have learned such ELA jargon. By adding separate boxes in which students can record the most important information for the beginning, middle, and end of the story, "Plot Notes" extends the "Witch Hat Plot Diagram" by encouraging students to refine and condense their general notes for each of the five plot categories into boxes that chunk the reading into three parts. Additionally, as a nudge toward higher-level thinking about and beyond the text, the last box - an admittedly more slender box, as literal comprehension of the plot is the graphic organizer's main purpose - challenges readers to brainstorm possible themes and notes about the author's writing style. Burke, J. (2007). Plot Notes. In Tools & Texts for 50 Essential Lessons (p. 61). Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand Heinemann.
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OTHER GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Below are four examples of graphic organizers that students could use to either zoom in on specific story elements - like the specific chronology of events that compose the rising action or the dynamics at play between the conflict and the solution - or to map out the general, most important story events in a text.
CLIMAX LADDER
McKnight, K. S. (2010). 87: Climax ladder. In The teacher's big book of graphic organizers: Grades 5-12 (pp. 188-189). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
STORY TRAILS OR HISTORY TRAILS
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CONFLICT AND SOLUTION ORGANIZER
McKnight, K. S. (2010). 96: Conflict and solution organizer. In The teacher's big book of graphic organizers: Grades 5-12 (pp. 204-205). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
STORY BOARD NOTES: SIX FRAME
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McKnight, K. S. (2010). 62: Story trails and history trails. In The teacher's big book of graphic organizers: Grades 5-12 (pp. 136-137). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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McKnight, K. S. (2010). 41: Story board notes: Six frame. In The teacher's big book of graphic organizers: Grades 5-12 (pp. 90-91). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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