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Purpose/rationale: In this lesson, students in this ninth grade Language Arts class will review
Freytags Pyramid plot diagram, discuss different story shapes, and begin outlining a fictional
short story of their own. The intention of this lesson is to both provide students with a knowledge
base of various plot structures and ideas, and to enable students with a firm foundation for
storytelling and creative writing. This lesson comes after a brief unit on short stories, and begins
a unit on creative writing, which will focus specifically on writing short stories. The lesson will
be taught near the beginning of the school year, to reinforce previously learned concepts like
story-mapping and giving feedback, and to encourage and facilitate student growth in writing.
Creative writing functions to facilitate students enjoyment of an engagement in developing their
own writing skills, which are essential both in the workplace and in academia. As this is a flipped
lesson, the lecture component has been given as homework on the previous class day, and is
composed of two short videos on plot diagramming and story shapes. This is done so that
students can view the lecture material at their own pace at home, and come to class prepared and
ready to practice what they learned in a hands-on environment, with guided support.
Florida Standards:
LAFS.910.RH.2.5
Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.
LAFS.910.WHST.2.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
Objectives:
SWBAT discuss the various shapes of stories and communicate preference regarding them.
SWBAT experiment with the planning of diverse story shapes and ideas.
SWBAT plan and anticipate the personal production of an original short story.
Materials:
Classroom computers, pencils, whiteboard, dry erase markers
Anticipatory set:
Students are to come into class quietly, pull out their Bell-ringer journals, and address the prompt
displayed on the board, which will read as follows: Identify one of the story shapes discussed in
the Kurt Vonnegut video. What is s story youve read or seen in a movie that fits this shape?
Which is your favorite type of story to read? You may use your notes to help with this. Write at
least one paragraph.
Teaching Strategy/Procedure/Activity:
Time
Student is doing
Teacher is doing
7 minutes
5 minutes
15 minutes
3 minutes
5 minutes
Summary/Closure:
Students are to turn in exit tickets to the teacher as they exit.
Assessment:
Informal assessment: Exit tickets should ensure students watched the videos, monitored
group activities should reveal student understanding of the story shapes and storytelling,
and volunteer responses should demonstrate students grasp of the information presented.
Homework/follow-up assignment:
None.
Accommodations/adaptations:
Herbert Millner (M)- ADHD: Seat student front and center, allow extra time if needed. Student
will receive a printed copy of the instructions for each activity, and will be paired with at least
one experienced group member who will be reliable for keeping the group on task.
Paten Vander (F)- Speech impairment: Only call on student if student volunteers, assist with
pronunciation as needed, pair with kind and understanding group members.
Lya Gross (F)- Mild dyslexia: Provide a printout of the bell-ringer prompt printed in white text
on a black background, assist as needed.
Oliver Fore (M)- Mild autism: Allow extra time on assignments, provide a peer buddy to help
facilitate students group discussion, assist as needed.
ELL Students: Provide any additional support and answer questions as needed.
Low-SES Students: Open classroom at least ten minutes before school starts and during lunch for
students to come in and watch the assigned videos as needed.
Attachments/Appendices:
Power in Literature Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvFB6XVbSAY
Kurt Vonnegut Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ
Plan B:
If student groups finish before the fifteen minutes are up, ask them to quietly return to their
individual story ideas and begin deciding which one they would like to further develop, and
begin fleshing it out.