A Collage of Plot
Kalina Ouellette
Do you sometimes get distracted when you tell a
story? You can be talking about something important,
when suddenly you get reminded by something that you
need to share immediately of you will explode! It is
possible that Christopher feels this way when he is
writing his detective novel. Christopher has a very
important story to tell, but first, he must tell you how much he hates France and the colour
yellow.
Story and Plot are key elements to any text. The story is a series of events written in
chronological order, while the plot is how they are deliberately arranged and represented in the
novel. While Haddon’s novel is written in a linear way, the diversions of Christopher to talk
about his interests interrupt and intersect throughout the story.
For this activity, you will have the option to use your visual/ spatial abilities to display
the plotting of Haddon’s novel through creative means. This assignment will create a visual
parallel to the story-telling style of Christopher and will allow you to see into the workings of
Christopher’s mind using the medium of collage.
To complete this assignment, you will identify events throughout the novel and
understand the importance and significance behind plotting and how it affects storytelling.
These events will be placed onto paper in an identifiable linear fashion. You will then look at the
many “diversions” of Christopher throughout the novel (ex: prime numbers, the Monty Hall
problem, understanding expressions, etc.) and display them through visuals in a collage format
alongside the linear plot.
Materials:
 Large piece of paper, preferably Bristol board or poster size.
 Glue and scissors
 Pencil and colouring tools (markers, crayons, pencil crayons)
 If students prefer to create this project online they may do so!
Directions:
 Identify events in the story (now would be a great time for a mini-lesson from the
teacher on the elements of plot including introduction, inciting event, rising action,
climax, falling action, and denouement). You should choose at least 6 events to
represent each element, but more are always encouraged.
 Decide on a way to linearly represent your chosen major events through visual means.
This can be through drawing, symbols, cut outs. Be creative!




Look through the novel again for Christopher’s “diversions” and select at least five that
you would like to display in your collage.
Represent these “diversions” through visuals and place them around the linear story in
a collage format.
Discuss and share your creation!
Write out a description for how you represented your “plotting”, or explain it verbally,
as well as the significance behind the use of collage in comparison to Christopher’s
storytelling.
ELA Outcomes:
 (Reading and Viewing) GCO 4— Students will be expected to select, read, and view with
understanding a range of literature, information, media and visual texts.
o SCO— Demonstrate an understanding of the impact literary devices and media
techniques have on shaping the understanding of a text.
 (Writing and Representing) GCO 8—Students will be expected to use writing and other
ways of representing to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings,
experiences, and learning; and to use their imagination.
o SCO—use note-making, illustrations, and other ways of representing to
reconstruct knowledge
 GCO 9—Students will be expected to create texts collaboratively and independently,
using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
o SCO—create an organizing structure appropriate to the purpose, audience, and
context of texts.
This activity focuses on representing literary techniques in new ways. Students can be
creative in how they show their understanding of plotting throughout the curious incident of
the dog in the nighttime. Students will use illustration, or other forms of visuals, to reconstruct
their knowledge of story and plot through a new, fun, and exciting way. This assignment will
teach them about the importance of organization in a story, and how it can change and affect
the reading of the text.
A Collage of Plot Rubric
Category
Amount of
Visual
Representation
Effort and Focus
Detail and
Organization
Understanding
of Plot and Story
Paragraph
1
Student only
chose one or
two items to
represent.
Student was
very distracted
in class,
distracted
others, and
spent no time
outside of class
on assignment.
The collage is
messy and
arranged with
no thought and
no consideration
to the
assignment.
2
Student chose 3
plot elements
and 2 diversions.
3
Student chose 5
plot elements
and 4 diversions.
Student put in
little effort but
product is messy
and doesn’t look
complete.
Effort is seen in
final product
with maybe
small mistakes
here and there.
The collage is
neatly arranged,
but confusion on
instruction can
be seen.
The collage is
arranged in a
logical way that
shows thought
was given in
regards to story
and plot.
Paragraph is
incomplete,
unedited, and
unprepared with
no connection
to meaning
behind collage
and plot.
Paragraph is
complete with
some errors.
Connection
between collage
and plot is
attempted.
Paragraph is
written with
maybe one or
two mistakes
but shows
connection
between collage
and plot.
4
Student chose at
least 6 plots
elements and 5
diversions
Student was
very focused
and it is clearly
shown in final
product and
explanation.
The collage is
structured in a
way that
perfectly
captures the
representation
of story and
plot.
Paragraph is
well written/
spoken and
shows careful
consideration
and insight into
the meaning of
collage and plot
being analyzed
Facial Feature Fluency
Interpersonal Intelligence
Kalina Ouellette
Reading people’s emotions can be
difficult for anyone. People don’t always say
how they are feeling. Sometimes people will say
something but mean the opposite. How can we
know one-hundred percent what people are
trying to say, or how they are feeling?
Christopher had Siobhan draw a bunch
of different faces and write down what the
expressions meant to help him understand
what people are feeling. Understanding emotions
such as sad and happy aren’t too difficult to pick up
on, but people have such a wide array of emotions
and a near unlimited way on how to express them. Christopher would carry around a piece of
paper with faces on it to try to help him understand how people are feeling, but this wasn’t
always the most convenient option, and Christopher would still get confused. Having a difficult
time relating? Think about emails or text messages. Have you ever misread something that
someone typed to you because you read it the wrong way? Tone becomes erased when
messages are typed out, and you have no way to see or hear each other, so sentences can
become misinterpreted. How is Christopher’s method any different from you using emojis in
texts?
First, Act it Out:
Find a partner and try expressing your emotions using only facial expressions and body
language, like an emotional charades. Try simple expressions to start while exaggerating your
facial features (Happy, sad, angry). Can you tell which emotion your partner is expressing? Now
try expressing more difficult emotions (boredom, sarcastic, love, self-conscious, guilt). Feel free
to get up and move if that helps you express better. Are you still able to figure out which
emotion your partner is trying to convey?
Now let’s try the reverse. Speak to each other without any emotional cues. You may
create premade sentences if it that makes it easier for you. Try and talk about something that
normally requires emotion like asking for help on something, voicing a concern, congratulating
or complimenting. How difficult is it to get meaning across? Discuss together the difficulty of
understanding what the other was feeling.
Write and Discuss:
Come together and write down clues that you used to figure out what the other person
was feeling. How could you, or someone else, use these clues in a real-life situation? Take
detailed notes as you will be handing in a good copy for your final assignment. Christopher
explains that it was difficult to understand what people are feeling because their facial
expressions change too quickly. What are some ideas that you could share with Christopher to
better understand how people are feeling?
What you need to create and hand in:





Write down your emotion guess with an explanation to why you chose it. Analyze your
partners facial expression and body language carefully and write down what you see for
the first exercise. For the second, listen to any vocabulary clues that may help you in
understanding the emotion.
Your partner will then right the “true” emotion that they were trying to express next to
the guess.
Write down methods and clues to help someone like Christopher decipher how people
are feeling.
Create a project to help people like Christopher understand other people’s emotions
through logic, visuals, or other forms of understanding. (Example: Take pictures of
simple and complex facial expressions with labels similar to Siobhan’s method, create inperson emojis to help show feeling, use sign language to convey feeling, write down
words to listen for to help understand emotions, or come up with your own idea to help
people understand emotions). This can be done through a poster, brochure, note-book,
or come to me to propose your own idea!
Write down how your method works and how it could help someone like Christopher, or
anyone who may have difficulty deciphering emotions.
ELA Outcomes

(Speaking and Listening) GCO 3: Students will be expected to interact with sensitivity
and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose.
o Demonstrate active listening and respect for the needs, rights, and feelings of
others (analyze the positions of others).
o Demonstrate an awareness of varieties of language and communication styles.

(Reading and Viewing) GCO 5: Students will be expected to interpret, select, and
combine information, using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
o Integrate the chosen information, in a way that effectively meets the
requirements of a learning task and/ or solves personally defined problems

(Writing and Representing) GCO 8: Students will be expected to use writing and other
ways of representing to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings,
experiences, and learning; to use their imagination.
o Use writing and other ways of representing to – describe and evaluate their
learning processes and strategies
o Use note-making, illustrations, and other ways of representing to reconstruct
knowledge
The activity above allows for exploration in all three major areas of the English Language
Arts curriculum. When discussing this activity, students need to keep in mind, and respect, the
difficulties and sensitivities of others. They will be attempting to analyze the position of others
like Christopher and how they feel navigating the social world. Students will use a variety of
communication styles to aid in their understanding as they view and listen to each other.
Students will use their prior knowledge, in accompaniment with their knowledge of Christopher
taken from the text, and adapt it by interpreting what someone like Christopher may need to
better understand meaning. Students will then take this newly constructed knowledge and
write it out as an aid, with help from their detailed note-taking throughout the assignment.
Body Expression Rubric
Category
Engagement
1
Students did
not participate
in task at hand.
Reflective
Journal Notes
The students
did not take
any notes in
conjunction
with the
assignment.
Student did not
write any
methods or
clues.
Methods and
Clues
Project for
Christopher
Student did not
submit an
emotional
understanding
aid.
2
Students put in
minimal efforts
to complete
tasks.
Notes are
vague and not
given much
thought.
Students wrote
at least one
method and
one clue.
Students
handed in an
emotional
understanding
aid, but it
doesn’t appear
complete or
clear.
3
Students met
expectations
and did task
accordingly.
Good notes
were taken and
thought is
given.
4
Students went
above and
beyond what
was expected.
Notes are
detailed and
thorough and
show
considerable
reflection.
Students did
Students did an
well at picking
excellent job
up on
reading each
emotional cues other and
and shared
noticed small
their methods. details, and
thought about
methods to
helping others.
Students did
Students did a
well on
fantastic job on
emotional
emotional
understanding understanding
aid and shows
aid, showing
understanding clear
of Christopher’s consideration
condition and
for those
how to
struggling on
potentially
the ASD
help. Final
spectrum. Final
product is clean product is
and shows
cleanly
understanding. organized,
detailed and
professional.