Plot Teacher Resources

Young scholars examine plot and setting of Cinderella, and how it changes as it is translated into different cultures, discuss universal literary elements of the Cinderella story, and write narratives with original settings and plots...

Examine story development and historical disaster with your class. Learners view a video depicting the incidents surrounding The Triangle Shirtwaist Disaster. They use graphic organizers and the Internet to gather enough information to...

Tenth graders analyze the use of literary elements in W.W. Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw." Literary analysis is accomplished by a review of the plot and order of events in the story. Learners work in pairs to match the events from the story...

November is National Novel Writing Month, so if your young authors are embarking on this journey, be sure they understand plot elements. This collaborative instructional activity fits into the context of the larger NaNoWriMo project;...

Cinderella wants to go to the ball and marry the prince. At the end of the story, she does! But how does the plot move from the exposition to the resolution? Teach language arts learners and fairy tale fans about the basics of plot...

Sixth graders analyze plot conflict with science fiction and TV programs. After discussing the conflict, they identify solutions for the programs selected. They examine Only You Can Save Mankind for conflict, and consider ways the...

Visualize a plot rollercoaster using this graphic organizer for budding authors. Don't think you're getting the typical five-part plot structure here, though; there are nine spaces for writers to fill in plot elements, assuring they have...

Before a writer can create a well-composed piece, he/she needs to know the ropes. Review parts of speech, plot, and elements of poetry with this set of questions presented as a PowerPoint. The text, being white, is kind of difficult to...

After reading a version of "The Tortoise and the Hare," scholars complete a plot diagram. They pinpoint the tale's beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and ending. 

How do a character’s feelings and actions influence the plot of a story? The interaction between character and plot is explored in this instructional activity that uses When Charlie McButton Lost Power to launch the discussion. Charlie’s...

Use comic strips to teach sequencing in narrative poetry. As homework, each class member selects a comic strip with 4-8 frames, cuts the frames apart, places the pieces in an envelope, and brings the envelope to class. Class members swap...

Help your pupils track the plot of a short story with this SMART Board activity. Using the short story "The Dinner Party" by Mona Gardner (though the lesson would work with any other short story), they define the exposition, rising...

The second interactive in a series of 10 introduces young scholars to character archetypes, archetypal plot patterns, and archetypal motifs, including the use of color. Learners read passages explaining the term and study examples from...

And the plot thickens! The third interactive in this series introduces young scholars to the cause-and-effect nature of a fictional story plot. They learn about the characteristics of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action,...

The stories in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street form the basis for a lesson on plot elements. The class examines introduction, sequence, problem, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution and identifies these...