This four part lesson teaches students about plot as a literary concept and shows them how to use it as a framework when they are creating a story of their own. They will write their own story, sketch illustrations, color them in Photoshop and put everything together into a digital storyshow.This unit is engaging and hands on and will capture a student's attention through the use of visual imagery they create through simple technology tools.

Plot can be explained in many ways. You could go through the plot diagram and list the beginning, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. However, I like to break it down into simpler terms in the beginning before laying on more detailed literary vocabulary.

I explain plot as the structure of a story that an author uses as a roadmap for his/her characters, setting and actions.

I begin by explaining that most stories start with setting and character description. Next these characters go through some beginning actions or events where a problem occurs. Once students can identify the problem or conflict, they will be able to simply identify the climax - the single action where the problem is solved. The falling action is what happens as a result of the climax and the resolution is how the story ends. Of course some stories may have a drawn-out rising action segment of the plot diagram, but this explanation will allow students to identify the parts of the plot with great accuracy.

Below you will find all the resources you need to help your students create their own, original digital story shows. Please begin by clicking through the slide show movie that will take you through the entire four-part unit. On the right, you can download individual segments of the slide show, as well as the worksheets and samples of student work. When my students are finished with their final projects, I will upload them as well.

Click to watch in a new window or right-click and save it to your computer. Once the movie opens, you will need to click through it to move to the next slide.

Unit slide show without video instruction

Cell-shading instructional video

Audio narration instructional video

Putting it all together instructional video

Plot worksheet

cell-shading sample before

cell-shading sample after

Right-click on the links above to save the resources to your computer.