Go back See all

    The Plot Thickens!

    from

    Subject: ELA (English Language Arts)

    Lesson Length: 45 mins - 1 hour

    Topic: Story Arc

    Grade Level: 6

    Standards / Framework:

    Brief Description: Students will examine a story to determine how the plot unfolds and how the characters change based on the plot.

    Know Before You Start: Students need to understand the concept of plot and how fictional texts are written with a story arc. An example is provided, but you may want to supplement with additional visuals to demonstrate this concept. Students need a fictional text to read and evaluate for this lesson.

    Hook:

    • Have students look at the sample comic.
      • Discuss the development of plot in a story and its importance.
      • Share examples of common stories and have students identify the components of the plot.
      • Have students consider how the characters change in each of the stories based on the plot.

    Activity:

    • Provide a fictional text for students to read.
    • Have students discuss the plot and how the characters change based on the plot.
    • Ask students to create a  comic showing the story arc.
      • Panel 1: Caption Exposition. Introduce the main characters.
      • Panel 2: Caption Rising Action. Depict an important event related to the story's conflict.
      • Panel 3: Caption Climax. Depict the most exciting or tense part of the story, e.g., Luke fighting Darth Vader in Star Wars.
      • Panel 4: Caption Falling Action. Show how the conflict was resolved or how the characters changed during the story.

    Closure:

    • Display the completed comics in a gallery walk.
    • Discuss the plot diagrams. 

    Differentiation:

    • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.

    • Provide sentence starters as needed.

    • Preteach necessary vocabulary for ELL students.

    • Allow students to work with a peer model.

    • Provide a variety of texts with a range of reading levels.

    • Allow students to sketch their ideas before creating their comic.

    • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

    Resources:

    • Comic to print or display: Comic.

    • Additional examples of a plot diagram or story arc.

    • Fictional text material for students to read.

    Suggested Content Packs:

    Suggested Story Starters:

    Related Ideas

    What's the Point of View?

    Students will analyze how an author develops and contrasts points of views of characters in a text.

    Responsibility: What Would You Do?

    Students will explore responsibility and reflect on how they would handle authentic moral dilemmas they may face in school or in life.