Using Story Innovation to Teach Fluency, Vocabulary, and Structure

Student Objectives

Session 1: Preparing for Story Innovation

Session 2: Creating the Story Innovation

Session 3: Compare and Contrast/Evaluate

Extensions

Student Assessment/Reflections

 

STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will

• Create a story innovation by changing the setting, characters and vocabulary words
  
  
• Develop fluency and an understanding of text structure by reading aloud their created story innovations
  
  
• Demonstrate differences in setting, characters, and vocabulary by comparing and contrasting story elements
  
  
• Examine their understanding by self-evaluating with a rubric and participating in a whole-class setting

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Session 1: Preparing for Story Innovation

1. Ask students to think about their favorite places. Where do they like to spend time with their families? What places are special to them? Ask them to picture the places in their minds. Ask students to keep this in mind as story is read.
   
   
2. Read the story aloud to students, modeling fluent reading and think-aloud strategies. Share with students what this book makes you think of; including your favorite place.
   
   
3. Discuss how the author shared the character’s favorite places with the audience.
   
   
4. Ask students to help you to complete a simple story map on chart paper with three categories: setting, characters, and events in the story.
   
   
5. Explain the idea of story innovation to students. Story innovation changes the characters, setting, and some vocabulary to become specific to their favorite places. The plot in the story remains the same.
   
   
6. Give students a copy of the text. Ask them to highlight any characters or words specific to the farm in the book that will need to be changed. Read the story aloud again.
   
   
7. Hand out copies of the character map and setting map from the interactive Story Map. Ask students to think of their favorite place and to fill in these printouts for their story, including specific characters from their families and specific places from their lives.

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Session 2: Creating the Story Innovation

1. Review the story and story maps from last session. Share your story innovation with the students based on the book and your favorite place. Emphasize how the characters, setting, and vocabulary words have changed in your story, but the story structure remains the same.
   
   
2. Model for students in a whole-class setting how to use the T-Chart using your favorite place.
   
   
3. Using students’ character map and setting map printouts from the story as a reference, complete the T-Chart with “farm” words on the left and their words on the right, specific to the setting and characters they choose.
   
   
4. Give students the copy of the text where the “farm” vocabulary and setting have been taken out. Ask students to begin working on their story by changing the setting, vocabulary, and characters. Students should substitute their own words in the text.
   
   
5. Ask volunteers to read completed story aloud to the group. Students will then read their story innovation to a partner.

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Session 3: Compare and Contrast/Evaluate

1. Review story innovations and how students have created their own stories by changing characters, setting, and specific vocabulary words.
   
   
2. Ask the students to use the interactive Venn Diagram to compare and contrast their story to the original text, focusing on the differences and similarities between the characters, setting, and vocabulary words.
   
   
3. Once students have completed their Venn Diagrams, they should print the final work and share it with a partner.
   
   
4. Ask students to self-evaluate by using the Venn Diagram Rubric. Collect the printed Venn Diagrams.

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EXTENSIONS

• Students can create a Stapleless Book with or without illustrations of their story.
  
  
• Have students change the dialogue within the story, which can alter the plot even more.
  
  
• Create a story innovation for content areas. For example, in social studies, students choose a time period and place in history, such as Colonial New England. Or for science, students choose a specific biome for the setting and use vocabulary and characters specific to that biome, such as rainforest animals and vocabulary.

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STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

• Review students’ Story Map printouts and T-Chart.
  
  
• Evaluate completed story innovations and shared readings by using the Story Innovation Rubric.
  
  
• Use Venn Diagram Rubric to evaluate students’ ability to compare and contrast story elements.
  
  
• Review students’ self-evaluations and their individual Whole-Class Participation Checklists.

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