LESSON 1
Teaching NARRATIVE WRITING With Musical Mac
Plot
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE LESSON Read Musical Mac to students the day before the lesson, showing the pictures as you go. If possible, project the text using a document camera. After reading, answer students’ questions about the book and discuss comments they make. Explain that they will be taking a look at the author’s use of problem and solution in the narrative’s sequence of events.
MATERIALS
• Musical Mac by
Brendan Kearney • Student-Friendly Scoring Guide: Narrative Writing (website) • Go-Along Page 1 (website) • Write-On Page 1 (website) • Teacher-Friendly Scoring Guide: Narrative Writing (website and page 16) • Teacher-Friendly
Students Will • Learn about the key quality of the narrative mode: plot.
• Identify the different elements of plot and the problem/solution. • Apply what they have learned about plot to their own writing.
TEACHING THE LESSON
Follow these steps or modify as necessary.
Introduce 1. Share with student writers that stories have plot lines: a series of events that usually center on a problem and the way it gets resolved. Share that in this lesson they will be exploring in detail how a story’s plot develops. 2. Project the Student-Friendly Scoring Guide: Narrative Writing and direct students to the “I’ve Got It!” section. Read aloud the bullet point “My story has an original plot with a solid sequence of events. It has a conflict that is resolved.” (Note: That point aligns with how the key quality of plot is described in the “Exceptional/Strong” section of the Teacher-Friendly Scoring Guide: Narrative Writing. Use that guide for language and content during the lesson.) 3. Together, review a well-known story, such as “Little Red Riding Hood.” Note the conflict/problem and the solution to it. For example: “Little Red Riding Hood goes to visit Grandma, but the Big Bad Wolf disguises himself as Grandma to trick Little Red and gobble her up. Little Red realizes the Wolf’s trickery and saves herself and Grandma with the huntsman’s help.” 4. Discuss that the conflict is revealed when the reader realizes that there is danger. Then the story builds to the most suspenseful moment: when Little Red realizes it, too. All further events relate to how she solves the problem. 5. Introduce that the parts of a plot have names: the introduction (including background info), the rising action (events that build suspense), the climax (the most suspenseful moment), the falling action (what happens after the climax), and the resolution of the problem (where things work out). Let students know you will explore these more together.
Scoring Guides: Traits of Writing (website)
Student-Friendly Scoring Guide
Literature and Lessons for Narrative , Informational , and Opinion Writing
Purpose: To tell a story Narrative Writing I’ve Got It! My story has an original plot with a solid sequence of events. It has a conflict that is resolved. I have come up with several fresh and original characters who grow, change, and learn throughout the piece.
My setting is rich with visual details.
On My Way! My story has a predictable plot and sequence of events. There is a conflict but not much of a resolution.
My characters are generic; they don’t stand out.
My setting is pretty ho-hum. It’s hard to visualize.
Just Starting My developing plot lacks a conflict. The sequence of events is confusing.
I’ve only included the shell of characters.
Oops! I forgot to include a setting.
Accomplished Writers
Website
Explore 1. Page back through Musical Mac, and at the whiteboard, ask students to help you make a list of the main plot points that happen during the story, such as: a. Mac is a millipede with lots of arms and legs and wants to play music with a group. (introduction/background) b. He was too shy to enter the Soggy Bog Talent Show alone, but Mac realized if he joined a band, he could be in the talent show in a group. (introduction/background) c. Mac was too big for the orchestra, and it was full. Also, they had no spare jackets. (story plot point #1) (filled in on Go-Along Page 1) 2. Using Go-Along Page 1, ask students to fill in the rising action plot points, the climax, what happens after the climax (falling action), and the resolution in their own words. Then ask them to match up the letters for each part of the story on the plot graphic. 3. Share their results and discuss the importance of problem and solution in narrative writing. d. He found a band of cats and began to play along, but they didn’t want him because there weren’t any trumpet parts and he was too small. (story plot point #2) e. He tried playing with frogs, dogs, bears, and hares. None of them wanted him, even though everyone said he was very talented. (story plot point #3) f. Mac tried one last time with a choir of birds but ran off when he realized he was bird food. (story plot point #4) g. After he escaped the birds, he realized he had landed on the stage, by himself, on the stage at the Soggy Bog Talent Show. (climax) h. Everyone in the audience knew how talented he was and urged him to play and sing. (what happens after the climax) i. He became a very popular one-man band and realized he wasn’t that scared after all. (resolution)
One-Man Band 1. As your teacher pages back through the story, Musical Mac , fill in events as they happen. The first two are introduction/background points. Then the first plot point (c.) is identified for you. Go-Along Page 1
Literature and Lessons for Narrative , Informational , and Opinion Writing
a. Mac is a millipede with lots of arms and legs and wants to play music with a group. (introduction/background)
b. He was too shy to enter the Soggy Bog Talent Show alone, but Mac realized that if he joined a band, he could be in the talent show in a group. (introduction/background)
c. Mac was too big for the bug orchestra, and it was full. Also, they had no spare jackets. (story plot point #1)
d. Story plot point #2
e. Story plot point #3
f. Story plot point #4
g. Climax
h. What happens after the climax
i. Resolution
2. Write in the letters for each part of the story on the plot line graphic.
g
f
e
h
d
c
a b
i
Modes in Focus • Grade 3 • Teaching Narrative Writing With Musical Mac • Ruth Culham and Libby Jachles
MIF_GO_G3_GoAlong1_MusicalMac.indd 1
06/10/20 9:23 AM
Website
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LESSON 1
Teaching NARRATIVE WRITING With Musical Mac
WRITING INSPIRED BY THE MENTOR TEXT
1. Give each student a copy of Write-On Page 1: Musical Me! 2. Then read them this R.A.F.T.S. prompt:
R.A.F.T.S. PROMPT
You are Mac, the super-talented millipede. After such a thrilling day, you are still keyed up as you try to fall asleep. Think about your day and the moments you remember most clearly because they surprised or shocked you the most. Muse (think to yourself) in thought bubbles about what you learned from those experiences as you begin to drift off.
Role: Mac Audience: Himself Format: Thought bubbles
Topic: What you learned about yourself Strong Verb: muse (wonder to yourself)
3. Time permitting, have students share their writing and discuss the advantages or challenges of needing to create short, concise pieces of writing that will fit in a thought bubble. Ask students if it was easier or harder than writing a longer piece and why.
Musical Me! You are Mac. After such a thrilling day, you are still keyed up as you try to fall asleep. Think about your day and the moments you remember most clearly. Muse (think to yourself) in thought bubbles about what you learned from those experiences as you begin to drift off. Write-On Page 1
Literature and Lessons for Narrative , Informational , and Opinion Writing
Modes in Focus • Grade 3 • Teaching Narrative Writing With Musical Mac • Ruth Culham and Libby Jachles
MIF_GO_G3_WriteOn1_MusicalMac.indd 1
06/10/20 10:26 AM
Website
CONNECTING MODES AND TRAITS
REVISE FOR WORD CHOICE: Selecting Striking Words and Phrases • Ask students to work in peer groups of 3 or 4 and share which words in each other’s writing helped to focus the reader on the message of the writer. • After students finish sharing, have them go back to their thought bubbles and revise their word choice for the use of striking words and phrases. EDIT FOR CONVENTIONS: Singular and Plural Possessives • Tell students to go back to their stories and find any words that are possessive and to check their correct use of the apostrophe. • If they don’t have any examples, ask them to revise the text so they can show this skill in action in at least one place. Example: Change “the orchestra that Mac joined” to “Mac’s orchestra.” ASSESSMENT Use the Teacher-Friendly Scoring Guide to assess the writing for the mode. If you wish, use the Teacher-Friendly Traits Scoring Guides to give students feedback on the traits as well. You can assess all the traits or just those you focused on in this lesson. For more guidance on assessment, refer to Teach Writing Well , Part I: Read the Writing. WRAP-UP Discuss how thinking about the mentor text helped students understand how the plot works in narrative writing. Discuss the use of a problem and a solution, and how a plotline helps readers and writers see how the story develops.
Grades 3 & Up Teacher-Friendly Scoring Guide for Narrative Writing
Narrative writing captures a real or imagined experience. It usually contains three primary elements: characters, setting, and plot. The writer grabs and holds the reader’s attention by developing believable characters and putting them in interesting situations, establishing a clear sense of time and place, weaving in vivid details and plot twists, and creating a central conflict or problem that is resolved in a compelling way. To accomplish that, the writer must apply the key qualities of the mode with skill and confidence.
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EXCEPTIONAL
A. Plot : The writer moves the story forward with fresh, original, and logically sequenced events. There is a compelling conflict or problem that is solved thoughtfully and credibly. The writer intrigues, delights, surprises, entertains, and/or informs the reader. B. Characters : The writer creates believable real or imagined characters who are fresh and original. The writer provides direct evidence throughout the piece of how the characters grow, change, and learn. C. Setting : The writer makes time and place work in harmony. He or she creates a visual setting for the reader by establishing the mood or atmosphere using unique and rich details.
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STRONG
4
REFINING
A. Plot : The writer mingles significant events with trivial ones, and sometimes strays from the main story line, distracting the reader from the major conflict or problem and its solution. B. Characters : The writer uses predictable and ordinary details and anecdotes that don’t bring the characters to life in a memorable way. There is little attention to how their thinking changes or grows. C. Setting : The writer describes time and place but without much imagination or clarity. The details do not stand out as original.
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DEVELOPING
2
EMERGING
A. Plot : The writer offers simple, incomplete events that don’t relate to one another and/or add up to much. The writer creates no clear conflict or problem to be solved. B. Characters : The writer creates characters that don’t feel real or possible; they are stereotypes or cardboard cutouts. The writer has not developed the characters. C. Setting : The writer does not clearly describe the setting or completely omits it.
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RUDIMENTARY
Website and page 16
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