Creating and Evaluating Stories

Students will learn to apply critical thinking skills by asking two key questions about any story: "Is it a good story?" and "Could we make it better?" The first question will lead us to discuss what makes a good story and why we like certain stories but not others. This question will lead students to compare and contrast stories.  The second question will lead us to discuss how we could change existing stories the stories students write. The second question will lead students to analyze the role of the characters, setting, and plot in a story by thinking of ways they could be different. The key question stem for these discussions is "What if?" For example, when we discuss the characters in an existing story we might ask questions about the character's identity such as what if a character was a different age? gender? etc. We might also ask "What if?" questions about a character's beliefs, goals, motivations, decisions. We might question what a character says and does or doesn't say and doesn't do in the story.

The teacher will frame and guide the discussions, as needed, by introducing and modeling types of questions, but students will always be encouraged to ask their own questions. The teacher might prompt student thinking by saying, "What other questions can you think of? What could we change about the setting? How could we make that part more interesting?" These types of prompts will show how their observations and opinions about a story can lead to new story ideas.

The teaching style for this class is as much student led as possible. Students will be encouraged to choose the stories they want to discuss and the stories they want to write. The philosophy behind this approach is that students will be highly motivated to think critically and creatively about the stories, if they feel strongly about them.

Students will be encouraged to share the stories they want to talk about by showing or reading from them as well as retelling them. The teacher will make suggestions at times, such as inviting students to come to class in costume, to bring different types of props to class, to complete similes, metaphors, or analogies about characters and conflicts, etc. to provide variety to our discussions. The teacher will always have a story ready to tell as additional content to what the students bring. 

Students will benefit from this class if they have a wide range of knowledge and experience with stories to draw on, including stories they have read, written, created, or heard. The background knowledge of stories they bring to class will be the treasure they begin with.

Class 1: Introducing the two key questions: Is this a good story? Could we make it better? We will apply these questions to a variety of stories that students already know and new stories that they create.

Class 2: Using the two key questions: We will choose a well known story and explore different ways to change it to make it better. 

Class 3: Students will begin to write a good story. They will share their ideas for the characters, setting, and plot. 

Class 4: We will discuss examples of how stories begin. Students will reflect on the beginning of the stories they are writing by asking: Is this a good beginning? Could I make it better? Students will revise their beginnings and continue their stories.

Class 5: We will discuss examples of how stories end. We will generate a list of stories with good endings and stories with endings that could be better. We will choose one story with an ending we think could be better and make suggestions for improving it.

Class 6: We will choose a story we agree is a good story and ask if it could be even better. We will consider how specific changes to the characters would change the story. Students will continue to work on their own stories and reflect on changes they could make to their characters.

Class 7:  We will consider how specific changes to the setting would change a story. Students will continue to work on their own stories and reflect on changes they could make to their settings.

Class 8: We will consider how changes to the structure would change a story. Students will continue to work on their own stories and reflect on changes they could make to their story structure (for example, a change in narrator, amount of dialog, length or titles of chapters, pictures).

Class 9: Students will read aloud part or all of their stories. They will receive and give feedback based on the types of changes we have explored in the previous weeks. 

Class 10: Students will share their finished stories and reflections on what they have learned in the course and how they can use what they have learned it in the future.