ELED 481

Unit of Study: Story Creation with Technology

Date: 05/16/2019 Title of Mini-lesson: Developing a Plot

Teaching Point: “A plot allows readers to follow the path of your story and understand the messages of the
author.” OR “Plot allows reader to climb up and down a mountain with the main character, experiencing all of
the important events in their story.”

CCSS: RL.3.3 - Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their
actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Student Friendly Language: I know that a story plot is the storyline or series of events in the story. I know
that story plot includes Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and a Resolution.

Connect/PURPOSE (What, Why, When) (1-2 minutes)

What: Fictional stories (like narratives) have a lot of elements that come together to keep the audience
engaged. Some of these elements include interesting characters, detailed settings and an exciting plot. Today,
we will be learning all about how to develop a plot or “storyline” in our own fictional stories. Story plots
consist of all of the events in a story that help the reader understand what is happening to the character(s).
Plots have an Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Resolution.

Why: When a story has a strong, clear plot, the reader will leave the story they have read about or watched
with a sense of completion or an understanding of how and why everything in the story happened.

When: When we have a clear understanding of what an Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action
and Resolution look like in other stories, we will be able to reveal an entire story to our audience in our own
story – continuing our work with setting and character development from previous weeks.

Model/Demonstrate/Teach/Provide Information (How) (3-5 minutes) (I do)

Before we begin developing our own plots, I wanted to clearly illustrate what all of the elements of a plot are
and when they can happen in a story. First, let’s review some vocabulary: (written on an Anchor Chart)
 Episodes or Events: An event in a story usually changes something either in the plot or in the way
we, the audience or readers, perceive the characters. If an event has changed nothing, we will
probably find it boring.
 Exposition or Introduction: The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is
revealed.
 Rising action: This is where the events in the story become complicated and the conflict in the story
is revealed (events between the introduction and climax).
 Conflict: The point in the story at which the author catches the reader's attention by presenting
interesting problems or situations
 Climax: This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story. The reader wonders
what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?
 Falling action: The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The reader knows what
has happened next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between climax and resolution).
 Resolution: The Part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the
outcome of the conflict.

Adapted from Calkins

 ELED 481

Show and explain plot diagram.

Engage/Guided Practice (2-3 minutes) (we do)

Now that we have an understanding of all of elements of a plot, let’s look at how Exposition, Rising Action,
Climax, Falling Action and Resolution look in a popular Pixar Short Film called Dug’s Special Mission by:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNL945i6qA8

Teachers will pause the film at various point to demonstrate to students the plot elements. The following
outline will be used and filled out by the teacher as students watch the short film:

Link to Independent Work (1-2 minutes)

Now we want you to think back to your work so far in this class. Consider the setting that you created last
week and the characters you have been working with.

How can you make a plot with these elements to create a story that will help your readers connect with and
fully understand the chain of events in your story? We have come up with an example for you to use as an
example while your writing.

After we have finished creating our plots, we will create a short film of our own using Stop Motion.

Adapted from Calkins

 ELED 481
Independent work (30-60 minutes) (you do, I watch) Workshop Time – Students Working/Teacher
Conferring or Working with Small Groups.

Students will fill out Appendix A from below to fill out the sequence of major events from their own story
using their setting and characters developed from previous weeks lessons. Students will also continue
thinking about how they can show their audience what is happening in the plot rather than telling them.
10 Minutes on Appendix A
5 Minutes Extra (find needed)
Remaining Time on Technology

Now that we’ve created our plots, we will use Stop Motion to help out stories come to life in a short film of
our own. We will use an app feature to create this, and each of you will film one point from your story. It can
any part of your story, but it must illustrate what you write about in your Exposition, Rising Action, Climax,
Falling Action or Resolution.

Sharing (2-4 minutes)

After the students have finished writing their plots and creating their short films, each student will take turns
sharing. Those who are not sharing will determine which part of the plot their peer has chosen to capture on
film using the Stop Motion technology.

Close (1-2 minutes)

We will remind students how important plot is and ask them to think about the elements of plot that they
notice as they go about their reading and writing in the future. We will end by reminding students that
without plot, our characters’ experiences cannot be made clear to readers and readers cannot join their
characters as they climb up and down the mountain of their lives.

Teacher Reflection –

Adapted from Calkins

 ELED 481

Appendix A: Plot Mapping

 Exposition – How will your story begin? (1-2 sentences)

 Rising Action – How will start to create a conflict for your character(s)? (2 sentences)

 Climax – What will be the big event and turning point in your story? (1-2 sentences)

 Falling Action – How will the problems your character faces be solved? (2 sentences)

 Resolution – How will the story end / what will happen to you character(s)? (1 sentence)

Adapted from Calkins