“Improv”ing a Good Story - Developed by the Red Line EdTech Gurus PLN
1 Hook
Ask your students a hypothetical question such as, “What if the shoe didn’t fit Cinderella?” or “What if Goldilocks didn’t run into the 3 bears?”. In a popcorn-style format, have students throw out potential plot lines.
Students will respond to teachers questions verbally and, perhaps, even with actions or movements - improv style
2 Direct Instruction
Introduce the concept of the plot triangle so students understand how to create a triangle ( rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion) for their story.. Divide students into 4 collaborative groups which will discuss and decide collaboratively what their group will contribute to the development of the story that they will be writing in class.
Each of the 4 small collaborative groups will have to generate and submit one choice for each of the following story elements: theme, setting, number of characters, conflict and plot.
Working with your collaborative group, discuss and decide on your group’s best ideas for the story elements to be used in our class story. When all groups have submitted their ideas for each of the story elements (theme, setting, number of characters, conflict and plot), each student will then use their plicker card to vote on which option he/she would like best to construct the story that the whole class will work on constructing.
The choices with the most votes will be the elements the entire class will use for their narrative.
3 Guided Practice
Plickers
Teacher needs to go to www.plickers.com and sign up for an account (This will give teacher access to creating questions and printing out Plicker cards for student use). Plicker cards need to be printed, assigned to students, and distributed. The Plicker cards will be used by the students to vote on their choices of story elements..( You may choose to laminate them and assign numbers to students; the Plicker cards can then be used again and again for multiple purposes)
During the small groups’ discussions, create options for each story element to be used for poll with students who will share their choice via Plickers.(on web or with Plickers app)
Teacher will use their iPad or phone (Android or iPhone) to scan student response cards .(Students will be voting on the element choices contributed by each small group).
Use Plickers( app or web) and a projector (interactive whiteboard, Apple TV, reflector app, etc…) to display student responses - will show how class has voted on the elements of the story. If a projector is not available, teacher should write the results of the poll on the board so that students will know which option they will use for their writing assignment.
When your group has come to a consensus on your contribution to each of the story elements, inform your teacher so that he/she can input that information into the interactive poll.
When all groups have contributed to the various polls, use your individual Plicker card to vote on your favorite selection for each of the story elements. The results and “winner” for each story element will be displayed for you so that you can utilize that information for your writing project.
4 Independent Practice
Working in your collaborative groups, create an original story using the new elements that were selected from the poll.
Each collaborative group member should contribute to writing their group’s story using the story elements selected. Students may add pictures or artwork to their story to enhance their finished project.
5 Wrap-Up
Kidblog
Publish the stories to a blog (Edublog, Kidblog) or class LMS page.
Read and comment on another groups’ writing assignment. How is their story different than yours? How is their story the same? What was your favorite part of their story?