READING AND WRITING
STORIES
Chapter 9
Essential Questions
How do students develop concept of
story?
 What kinds of reading activities are
available for students?
 What kinds of writing activities are
available for students?
 How do students read and write stories
as part of the four instructional patterns?

How Students Learn to
Write Stories
Reading
stories
Talking about stories
By story writing
Elements of Story Structure
 Plot
 Students can complete
 Beginning-Middle-End Cluster
 Plot Profile
 Characters / Character Traits
 Students can complete
 Character Traits Chart
 Open-Mind Portraits
Elements of Story Structure
 Setting
 Four
dimensions
 Location
 Weather
 Time
period
 Time
 Students
 Setting
can complete
Map
Elements of Story Structure
 Point of View
 First-person
 Omniscient
 Limited omniscient
 Objective
 Students can
 Contrast
different viewpoints
 Retell or rewrite a familiar story from
different viewpoint
Elements of Story Structure
 Theme
 Underlying
meaning
 Explicit or implicit
 Usually more than one theme
 Students can complete
 Sketch-to-Stretch
 Story
Quilt
Theme
 Sketch-to-Stretch
1. Read a story.
2. Discuss the story.
3. Draw sketches.
4. Share the sketches.
5. Share some sketches with the class.
Story Genres

Types or stories
Folklore – fables, folk and fairy tales, myths,
legends (Aesop’s Fables; Sleeping Beauty)
 Fantasy – modern literary tales, fantastic
stories, science fiction, high fantasy
(Charlotte’s Web; Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets)
 Realism – contemporary, historical fiction
(The Watsons Go to Birmingham)

Teaching Students About Stories

Teach by
reading and writing stories
 talking about stories
 completing graphic organizers, diagrams,
charts
 minilessons on story structure, genres,
literary devices

Writing Stories
– shaping of texts'
meanings by other texts
 Intertextuality
 students
read and discuss stories
 they take ideas from stories they read
to incorporate into their stories
 others hear the stories and incorporate
some of the ideas into their writing
Intertextual Links
 Use
specific story ideas or
specific genres
 Copy the plot
 Write a new story about a
character from a previously read
story
Intertextual Links
Write
a retelling of the story
Incorporate content from an
information book into a story
Combine stories to make a
new story
1. Writing Retellings
 Rewriting
a story in one’s own
words
 Can be collaborative or individual
 Can be dictated or written
independently
 Can be written from another point of
view
2. Innovations on Texts
Using
the repetitive pattern or
refrain of a known text to
create a new text
2. Innovations on Texts
Read
a story
Discuss the repetitive pattern
or refrain of the text
Model using the repetitive
pattern or refrain
Write own text using pattern
3. Writing Sequels
 Writing
additional adventures for
a known story
 Discuss
and graph story
 Use graph to plan another
adventure (model)
 Independent planning & writing
4. Genre Writing
 Using
the characteristics of a
particular literary genre to write
stories:
 Read
a story of a particular genre
 Teach the characteristics of the
genre
 Model planning/writing a genre story
 Independent planning/writing
Writing Original Stories
Students begin to write original stories
after writing personal narratives and
retellings
 Students learn to write more effective
stories by examining elements of story
structure, reading lots of stories
 Writing stories themselves

Assessing Students’ Stories
 Teachers
consider four components
in assessing students’ stories
 Students’
knowledge of the elements
of story structure
 Their applications of the elements in
writing
 Their use of the writing process
 Quality of the finished stories
Assessing Students’ Stories

In regard to learning about the story
elements, teachers should consider
whether the student
Defined or identified the characteristics of
the element
 Explained how the element was used in a
particular way
 Applied the element in the story that he or
she wrote

Assessing Students’ Stories

Teachers observe students as they write
to answer the questions
Did the student write a rough draft?
 Did the student participate in a writing
group?
 Did the student revise the story according to
feedback received from writing group?

Assessing Students’ Stories
Did the student complete a revision
checklist?
 Did the student proofread the story and
correct as many mechanical errors as
possible?
 Did the student share the story?

Assessing Students’ Stories

To assess the quality of the story,
teachers should ask
Is the story interesting?
 Is the story well organized?
