Project based learning roussos
- 3. Story Elements Project This project is intended for elementary age students from grades 2-6. The variance in the grades will be accounted for by the depth in which the students cover story elements and the length of their writing. In this project, students will produce their own elements of a story (characters, setting, events/conflict, resolution). At the conclusion of the project students will put together their own story.
- 4. Story Elements Project cont. Aspects students will first be able to identify: Characters: person (or people) that are in the story Setting: where and when the story is taking place Events: what happens throughout the story Conflict: problems that the characters encounter Resolution: how the conflict ends
- 5. Character Development Upon being introduced to the concept of story elements, students will be asked to identify these aspects while reading various works. After this skill is grasped, students will begin developing their own characters and create backstories for these characters. Length of the writings will depend on the grade level of the students.
- 6. Establishing a Setting Once Characters have been developed, the students will repeat the same process with the concept of a story’s setting. The students will brainstorm where they would like their story to take place and ,with that, start to develop the events within the story.
- 7. The Events/Conflicts This part of the project will be the most time consuming Students will essentially be writing the bulk of their story in this section During this process, have the students be conscious of how their charcaters may be changing due to what is taking place Also introduce the main problems in the story
- 8. Resolution and Ending In this section the students will write about how they want the problems to get resolved as well as how they want their story to end. To repeat an earlier point, the depth of the content being discussed will vary depending on the grade level of the participating students. This section would be a good place to introduce such concepts as plot twists and surprise endings.
- 9. Transitions At this point the story is all but written In order to complete the story, the students must be taught about transitions in order to blend all the pieces together. Also, the teacher may decide to allow their students to simply write a series of small entries instead of a larger book. This could extend the timeline for the entire project and leave room for more development within the students’ writing. This is the step where the stories are organized, proofread, edited, and proofread again for the last time.
- 10. Book Fair After the students books/short stories/portfolios are finished and have a clear system of organization, the students will then write a short biographgy on themselves to include in their work. At the conclusion of this project, the students will have the opportunity to share their work with the rest of the class as well as read their peers’ stories. This step will allow the students to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in their work.
- 11. References Bright Hub Inc. (2011, April 15). Teaching story elements to elementary school children. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from Bright Hub Education, http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-elementary- school/114072-ideas-for-teaching-story-elements-to-young-students/ Buck Institute of Education. (2016). Project based learning. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://www.bie.org/about/what_pbl Lesson plan #1737. Elements of a story. (2015). Retrieved October 14, 2016, from Teachers Net, http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1737.html