Write a Narrative: Plan Plot | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G7:M1:U3:L6

Write a Narrative: Plan Plot

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.7.4, W.7.3a, W.7.3e, W.7.5

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • W.7.4, W.7.10, L.7.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can determine the meaning and impact of figurative language. (RL.7.4)
  • I can plan the plot of my narrative to mirror the story of a Lost Boy or Girl of Sudan. (W.7.3a, W.7.3e)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6 (W.7.3a)
  • Work Time C: Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer (W.7.3.a, W.7.3e, W.7.4)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - W.7.3a (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 - RL.7.4 (10 minutes)

B. Explore Model Plot - W.7.3 (10 minutes)

C. Plan Plot - W.7.3 (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Pair Share - W.7.5 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

B. Create Illustrations: In art class or at home, students follow the instructions on Homework: Create Illustrations to continue creating illustrations for their narrative children's ebook.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • Repeated routines occur in the following:
    • W.7.3a – Opening A: In the entrance ticket activity, students review the importance of creating accurate settings for their narratives.
    • Opening A: Students review learning targets.
    • RL.7.4 – Work Time A: Students analyze the structure and meaning of a sentence from Nasreen’s Secret School in a Language Dive to support students in analyzing the use of figurative language and what makes a sentence a part of an effective narrative conclusion.
  • New skills are introduced in the following:
    • W.7.3 – Work Time B: Students explore the model narrative to understand the parts of a narrative and their graphic organizers.
    • W.7.3 – Work Time C: Students use the model narrative and their notes and research related to A Long Walk to Water to plan the plot of their own narratives about a Lost Boy or Girl of Sudan.
    • W.7.5 – Closing and Assessment A: Students share their plot plans with a partner to develop and strengthen their writing with peer support.
  • The Think-Pair-Share protocol is used in this lesson. Protocols are an important feature of our curriculum because they are one of the best ways we know to engage students in discussion, inquiry, critical thinking, and sophisticated communication. A protocol consists of agreed-upon, detailed guidelines for reading, recording, discussing, or reporting that ensure equal participation and accountability in learning.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to contribute to a better world, using their strengths when working with a partner to give and receive feedback on their plans.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • In Work Time C, encourage those students who finish planning their plot more quickly to return to their character profiles and see if there is anything they’d like to add to them now that they have a sense of where their story is going. Also encourage students to create profiles for additional characters to assist them in their planning and writing.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students planned the character(s) and setting(s) for their own narratives. They continue planning the plot of their narratives in this lesson.

Support All Students

  • Provide extra modeling and guidance for those students struggling to fill out the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer. Students may benefit from working in pairs or small groups to discuss and plan their plots. Students may also benefit from more examples for each of the boxes. For example, students may struggle to understand why the climax of the story is not the end of the story. ▲ Point out how the climax often resolves the major problem or conflict and that the reflection and ending describe what happens to the characters after those problems are resolved. ▲
  • Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this lesson that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually.

Assessment Guidance

  • In Work Time B, monitor student discussion around filling out the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer to ensure comprehension, and answer any questions students may have.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will continue to plan their narratives, focusing on narrative techniques such as pacing, dialogue, and description.

In Advance

  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6 at each student's workspace.
  • Preview the Language Dive Guide, and consider how to invite conversation among students to address the language goals suggested under each sentence strip chunk (see Supporting Materials). Select from the questions and goals provided to best meet students' needs.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time B: Ebook Nasreen's Secret School and projector to display it

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 7.I.B.6, 7.II.B.4, 7.II.C.6, and 7.II.C.7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson leads students through an activity in which they model the plot of Nasreen's Secret School before they plan the plot of their own narratives. Using a model to inform students' own work is particularly useful to ELLs who may need clearer, more transparent examples of the narrative language and structures we intend them to emulate, because they may be less familiar with these structures in English than native speakers are.
  • ELLs may find the process of filling out the plot section of the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer challenging because they may not know some of the language commonly used to express plot elements in English. Therefore, additional supports such as the ones below may be useful when introducing the plot section of the graphic organizer

Vocabulary

  • mirror (A)
  • plot (DS)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Domain-specific word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Nasreen's Secret School (ebook to display and read aloud) (from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Device with which to display the ebook
  • Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 3, Lesson 5, Work Time B)
  • Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 3, Lesson 5, Work Time B)
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • A Long Walk to Water (text; one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Notes and articles from independent research reading and other nonfiction texts from this module (begun in Unit 1)
  • Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer (one per student; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Narrative Writing checklist (one per student; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Homework: Create Illustrations (one per student; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Homework A)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Guide: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 (for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 note-catcher (for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6 (one per student)
  • Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 sentence chunk strips (one per pair of students)
  • Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 note-catcher (one per student and one for display)
  • Nasreen's Secret School plot map (one per student and one for display)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - W.7.3a (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6. Students will review their responses to the entrance ticket in Work Time B.
  • Repeated routine: follow the same routine as in previous lessons to review the learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any similarities between these learning targets and those from previous lessons.
  • With student support, record the meanings of the words plot (the story or sequence of events in a narrative) and mirror (to follow or use as a model) on the domain-specific word wall and academic word wall, with translations in students' home languages. Write synonyms, or sketch a visual above each key term to scaffold students' understanding. Have students record these words in their vocabulary logs.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 - RL.7.4 (10 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to facilitate a Language Dive with the following sentence:

"Now she can see blue sky beyond those dark clouds."

  • Use the accompanying materials to facilitate the Language Dive:
    • Language Dive Guide: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 (for teacher reference)
    • Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 sentence chunk strips
    • Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 note-catcher
    • Language Dive: Nasreen's Secret School, Page 22 note-catcher (for teacher reference)
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • N/A

B. Explore Model Plot – W.7.3 (10 minutes) 

  • Display and invite students to retrieve their Narrative Writing checklist. Point out the following criterion:
    • W.7.3a: I organize events in a sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
  • Inform students that today they will plan the plot of their narratives. Explain that they will be using what they know about the journey of the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan as an example for the plots of their stories. First, they will examine the plot of Nasreen’s Secret School to prepare for planning their own plots.
  • Display the model narrative Nasreen’s Secret School on the device as well as the Nasreen’s Secret School plot map. If time allows, use a blank version of the plot map (in the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer), and invite students to help fill in the boxes on the plot map. Otherwise, ask students to Turn and Talk:

“What are the different parts of a narrative or story? Where do you see these in Nasreen’s Secret School?” (The different parts of a story are background, climax, reflection, and ending. In Nasreen’s Secret School, the background is given in the beginning when the author tells us about Nasreen, her parents, and her school. The climax happens near the end when Nasreen returns to school and speaks to her friend. The reflection is when the author tells how Nasreen’s skies are more blue, which is also the ending.)

  • Discuss with students the background, events, climax, reflection, and ending from Nasreen’s Secret School, using the examples in the plot map to define the terms. Explain to students that they will be using the same kind of plot map to plan their narratives. ▲
  • Remind students that just as with Nasreen’s Secret School, they will be writing for an elementary school audience and should keep the plot simple and appropriate for that age group. Ask students to examine the Nasreen’s Secret School plot map and Think-Pair-Share:

“How did the author of Nasreen’s Secret School use difficult events to tell the story without making it too complicated or difficult for elementary school students?” (Even though there were difficult and sad parts of the story, the story itself was simple. Also, even though not everything is happy at the end, Nasreen and her grandmother find hope.)

  • Ask students to consider their responsibility in presenting the story in a certain way to elementary school students. Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

“How will your audience affect the plot events you choose?” (We don’t want to make the plot too complicated. We don’t want to include too many sad events. We want to end with hope.)

  • Remind students that an important purpose of their stories will be sharing the habits of characters that the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan used. Ask students to Turn and Talk:

“What are Nasreen’s habits of character? How were Nasreen’s habits of character developed by the plot?” (Nasreen shows bravery and perseverance. The plot shows these habits because Nasreen had to persevere and be brave in order to learn things in school and share them with her grandmother.)

For Lighter Support

  • In Work Time B, before having students fill out the plot section of the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer, allow them to orally rehearse their potential plots with partners. This oral rehearsal helps ELLs by allowing them to develop the language they will need to write their plots through collaborative oral discussion with peers in which they are likely to have opportunities to learn relevant new vocabulary and to practice extending their own ideas in more complex forms.

For Heavier Support

  • In Work Time B, before introducing the plot outline for Nasreen's Secret School, click through each of the images of the story, and have partners briefly retell the plot of the story to each other. This scaffolded retelling of the plot with visuals and partners helps ELLs by giving them an opportunity to collaboratively rehearse the kind of narrative language they will have to use independently in their writing, and also gives them a chance to practice discussing the plot in concrete terms before discussing it in abstract terms when looking at the plot outline.

C. Plan Plot - W.7.3 (15 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can plan the plot of my narrative to mirror the story of a Lost Boy or Girl of Sudan."

  • Invite students to retrieve their notes and articles from independent research reading and other nonfiction texts related to A Long Walk to Water. Ask students to Think-Write-Pair-Share to list some of the major events described in the novel and in the informational texts. Note these on the board in front of the classroom. Explain to students that as they select the events for their own plots, they should be thinking about how the character will react in those situations, and how the plot will help develop the habits of character that helped their character survive.
  • Instruct students to take out their Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer and work individually filling out their plot maps. Remind students of the time they spent for homework and in the entrance ticket activity thinking about a plot, and ask them to retrieve any notes or outlines they made based on their thinking. Circulate to ensure comprehension and to answer any questions.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.
  • N/A

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Pair Share - W.7.5 (5 minutes)

  • Inform students that they will now share their plot plans with a partner.
  • Focus students on the Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart. Remind them that, as it says at the top of the chart, students learn to improve their communities.
  • Read aloud the habit of character recorded:

"I use my strengths to help others grow."

  • Invite students to Turn and Talk to an elbow partner:

"Using the anchor chart as a guide, what does this habit of character mean in your own words?" (helping others in our school or community or helping protect the environment)

  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

"What does this habit look like? What might you see when someone is showing this habit?" See Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (example for teacher reference).

"What does this habit sound like? What might you hear when someone is showing this habit?" See Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (example for teacher reference).

"How do you think sharing your ideas in pairs helps you work on this habit?" (Possible response: By being a good listener and offering constructive feedback to my peer, I am helping him or her grow.)

  • Display and focus students on their Narrative Writing checklist.
  • Invite students to provide feedback to their partner based on the Narrative Writing checklist, focusing on providing constructive (helpful and actionable) feedback to help their partner grow.
  • Circulate to support students as they work together to give feedback to one another. Emphasize that students should record their peer's suggestions on their graphic organizer to incorporate when they draft their narratives.
  • Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

Homework

Homework

A. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

B. Create Illustrations

  • In art class or at home, students follow the instructions on Homework: Create Illustrations to continue creating illustrations for their narrative children's ebook.

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