The course, Story Writing 103: Step by Step Story Writing, is the last course in the Story Writing series. Story Writing 101 helps students learn to identify and develop characters, settings, plots, and conclusions of stories. Story Writing 102 builds on what the students have learned about the parts of a story to add guided directions for writing in six different genres. Story Writing 103 takes what was learned in 101 and 102 to guide the students in writing an original story in their preferred genre. 
     Checklists, planning guides, writing rubrics, and graphic organizers will be provided to assist students in writing their stories. The instructional focus will be on trait-based writing and developing skills in the writing areas of conventions, voice, ideas, word choice, sentence fluency, and organization. 

Lesson One: Planning Begins
1)	The lesson begins with introductions and an overview of the course agenda.
2)	After introductions, the students will prepare their writing folders with a story checklist, a story plan sheet, and forms to use when writing drafts of the beginning, plot actions 1,2, & 3, and the conclusion of their stories. The students will be instructed to keep all of their writing documents in an organized manner in a writing folder. Students may prefer to use a digital folder. If so, they will be responsible for accessing the forms when needed.
3)	Next, the students will begin the writing process by thinking about the beginning, middle, and ending events of their stories. Using a story plan sheet, the students will identify the title (this may change as the story progresses), the characters, the setting, the plot action, and the conclusion of their stories.  
4)	After completing their story plans, the students will share their plans with the class and submit a copy to the teacher. 

Lesson Two: Writing a Rough Draft of the Beginning
1)	This lesson begins with a discussion of Trait-Based Writing and the scoring rubric that is based on the traits. As the students begin writing their stories, they will be reminded to focus on ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, and conventions. 
2)	Next, the students will review their story plans and share with the class any new ideas or changes they may have decided to make in their plans. 
3)	When the students have all components of their story plans ready, they will begin writing a rough draft of the beginning of their story focusing on the who, where, and when of the story.
4)	Before the students begin writing the rough draft of their story’s beginning, the teacher will provide them with the following directions and provide examples as needed. 
a.	Write a paragraph to introduce the story. 
b.	Think of an exciting, funny, or mysterious way to start the story and grab the reader’s attention.
c.	Include a description of the main character or characters. 
d.	Describe where and when the story takes place.
e.	More paper may be used if needed. 
5)	As students begin writing, the teacher will instruct them to write questions to the teacher in the chat room to avoid disturbing others as they write. 
6)	If the drafts for the story beginnings have not been completed, then students will complete them before the next lesson. If the drafts are completed, then they will be shared and discussed. Special attention will be given to identifying the elements used as outlined in the directions. 

Lesson Three: Writing the Rough Draft of the Plot Action
1)	If the drafts of the story beginnings have not been shared, then the class will begin with the students sharing their work.
2)	After the beginning of the story is complete, the students will begin writing the plot. Beginning with plot action one, the students will tell who did what, when they did it, and why they did it. The teacher will emphasize that this is the first action and where the story gets moving. The student will be given 10 minutes for writing. 
3)	Next, the students continue working by completing a draft of plot action two. This will be where the character is halfway through the story and the problem of the story is identified. The students will be given 10 minutes for writing. 
4)	After writing plot action two, the students will write plot action three which is the climax of the story. The teacher will remind the students that this should be the most exciting part of the story. The students will be given 10 minutes for writing. 
5)	When the three plot action areas are complete, the students will be directed to write a rough draft of their story’s conclusion. The conclusion must relate to the action in the story. It is where the problems are resolved and the story is brought to a satisfactory ending. The students will be given 10 minutes for writing.
6)	After discussing the rough drafts, the students will be given the assignment to complete their rough drafts before the next lesson. 

Lesson Four: Revise the Story Content
1)	The class will begin with the students sharing their rough drafts by reading aloud. As they are reading, they will look for any changes or revisions that they would like to make based on the elements of the scoring rubric for ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice. The other students will be asked to listen for anything that they feel may not be easily understood or needs more clarity. The purpose of this review will be to focus on aligning with the elements of the scoring rubric for a top score. This may take about 20-30 minutes.
2)	After sharing their rough drafts, the students will be directed to make their revisions. They will be given 10 minutes to work on revisions. 
3)	At the end of the revision time, the students will discuss their revisions and the reasons why the revisions were made. 
4)	If the students do not finish their revisions, they will need to finish after class. The finished drafts should be sent to the teacher for the purpose of peer editing in session five. 

Lesson Five: Editing the Story Mechanics
1)	The session begins with the students reading their stories aloud. The teacher will post a digital copy so the rest of the class may follow along in the role of peer editors. The students will be instructed to check each story for correct spelling, punctuation and capitalization, and grammar. 
2)	After the editing is complete, the students will evaluate the title they chose before beginning to write the story. They should determine if the title describes what the story is about. If not, the students will work together to generate titles that are a better fit. 
3)	When the editing process is complete, students will write a final draft with all revisions and edits included. The final draft should be clearly written and easy to read. 
4)	The students will be provided templates that provide a variety of interesting ways to arrange their text on the pages. The templates will also have open spaces for illustrations. 
5)	The teacher will give the students directions on how to use the templates when writing by hand. Directions for typing the story on the computer will also be provided. 
6)	The lesson ends with the teacher providing the students with directions and templates to use to create a title page, a dedication page, and an about the author page. 
7)	The students will complete their stories outside of the classroom. When their story presentations are completed, the students scan the pages of their stories and send them to the teacher. This will make it possible to digitally share individual stories with the class. 

Lesson Six: Presenting the Story
1)	The students will share their stories and discuss what they learned from the story-writing process. They will also discuss the challenges of story writing and if they have plans to write more stories. 
2)	After the students share their final stories, the teacher will share presentation ideas using different types of bookbinding and publishing sources. 
3)	At the end of the lesson, the students will complete an evaluation for the teacher identifying what they liked the best about the course, what they need more of, and the next type of writing class they would like to take.