Plot/Storytelling Arc for Interactive Notebooks

As I've mentioned before, I'm using Laura Randazzo's FABULOUS "FULL YEAR of English Class Vocabulary, Grammar, and Literary Terms, Devices" available on Teachers Pay Teachers. Today's "Lit Term Tuesday" was all about Plot, or as Laura's products call it, "Storytelling Arc." I want my kids to be familiar with both terms so I've tweaked my Plot Interactive Notebook pages to add the new term. The process is still the same as I had on the blog with THIS POST but I just re-created the front page. 

DISCLAIMER...Sorry for the crummy pictures. Low lighting in a hurry does not mix! :(

THIS IS WHAT MY EXAMPLE LOOKED LIKE TWO YEARS AGO. DON'T MIND THE DATES...

Links to the foldables and better pictures of the anchor charts may be found on the original posting located HERE.

Bildungsroman

It's been a while since I've updated my posts. It's crazy how busy this year has become!

My Honors English 8 classes have just finished reading The Outsiders in class and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry as their assigned "at-home" reading. We've had some AMAZING discussions about both books and made terrific text-to-self connections. I'm astounded at how insightful these kids are! :)

In one of the lesson plan packages I purchased from Secondary Solutions, I found an explanation of the literary genre, Bildungsroman. Both novels fit the genre criteria of being a "coming of age" novel. So...for their Interactive Notebooks, I created a half page header they could cut out and glue in which gives the definition of the genre and the four points of criteria a novel must meet in order to fit. We then had a class discussion where we outlined the characteristics of Ponyboy (The Outsiders' protagonist) and Cassie (Roll of Thunder's protagonist) at the beginning of the novel and the end. I wrote their descriptions on the board. Then, I had them divide the bottom half of the page in half again vertically and write a paragraph explaining how each of the novels (one per side) fits the Bildungsroman criteria. It was really powerful! They saw how the experiences the characters went through over a period of time helped to mature and develop them.

(NOTE: My 9th graders have finished The Wednesday Wars; we did the same thing with Holling on the full bottom half of their page.)

Plot

I love teaching the Elements of Literature! I think it's vital to students understanding what it takes to make a good story (long or short) so they are able to add it to their own stories. Today we expanded from Monday's foldable for PLOT. See the EofLit foldable.

We created a page for the basic steps of PLOT:

• PLOT: sequence of events, cause/effect, conflict, relationships. *the storyline*

1. EXPOSITION: meet the characters; learn about the setting (time & place; where/when); conflict/problem is introduced
2. RISING ACTION: conflict(s) develop; suspense builds
3. CLIMAX: turning point; character faces conflict; main character's attitude changes
4. FALLING ACTION: loose ends are tied up; conflict(s) are being solved
5. RESOLUTION: reasonable ending; conflict is "resolved" (taken care of

Using the idea for Dinah Zike's "Layered Notebook Foldable, I created a 4"x6" box with a 1/2" border at the top. I was able to fit two on each page then photo-copied them onto six different colors (I chose "fall" colors...you can choose anything!). Each page supplied two students with boxes; I had them cut them out on the solid black lines. Then, I had them write the above terms and definitions on their papers (one on each paper for a total of six.) NOTE: I created an "Anchor Chart" of the basic page and had that on my whiteboard. I made copies of each page on an 8-1/2"x11" sheet of paper in the colors I wanted them to use and showed them how to layer them using magnets. I LOVED the Anchor Chart idea! {it was fun writing REALLY big! :) }Then we glued them in the Interactive Notebook, dated and titled it, then added it to the Table of Contents. All in all, I'd say it went well. It took about 30 minutes to complete (less if they focuses...more if they talked...). 

Anchor Chart and notes at the beginning of class.

What it looked like by the end of class.

Sample in the Interactive Notebook.

Sample page layout.

One-tab Layered Masters

Elements of Literature

I used a combination of ideas from "The Mouth," Dinah Zike's Foldables, and my own experience to create the foldables which cover Elements of Literature. I had the luxury of using a color printer and Word clip-art to create mine; I gave the students a copy of the two pages and gave them instructions to cut them out, fold the edges, glue the outside edges in the notebook, cut up the center line as well as the two horizontal lines (making sure they don't cut into the solid horizontal line). Then, they drew pictures (I let them copy mine) and colored them...illustrations and coloring are MANDATORY! That took one day...

 After they are cut, you'll have four little windows/doors. I created anchor charts on 11" x 17" paper of what should be written under the windows/doors. I taped the anchor charts up around the room and had them move from chart to chart writing the information. (NOTE: I tried to upload a PDF of these documents but couldn't figure out how...:( )

Blah...blah...blah...title...blah...date...blah...Table of Contents. You know the drill...

UPDATE: After some research, I think I've figured out how to upload a PDF of the files! Click on the links below:
Elements of Literature foldables
Elements of Literature Anchor Chart