Thursday, November 12, 2015

What's Your Story?


Dear Abby Online

The Cookie Thief

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

 
Name Dance

Animal Alphabet

People Machine

Object Rhymes With
"I am thinking of something in the room that rhymes with . . .”The others then raise hands to ask questions to figure out what it might be. The one that guesses it correctly goes next. (Expand the boundaries as needed.)

I'm Going to the Moon
The first person starts the game by saying, "I'm going to the moon and I'm taking..." and names an object that begins with the letter "A" – (or an object that starts with the first letter of their name). The second person repeats the first part of the sentence, repeats what the first person is bringing, and then adds something starting with the letter "B".

Yes, and So
In a circle, explain that the group is going to develop a collective story. Each person is going to say one sentence to add to the story. There are two rules about their offerings: 1) Every sentence MUST begin with the words -- "yes and so" -- building on what the person before has said. 2) It has to include some number or mathematical information.

Please Be Seated
All the players stand in the circle and all have to sit down – but only one person can sit at a time, without discussing who will go next; if two people or more sit down at once then everyone has to stand up and the process has to start again from scratch.

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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Elements of a Narrative

A narrative is any story --
fiction or nonfiction -- expressed in a text.

  • Character - imaginary person represented in a narrative fiction
    protagonist, antagonist, hero/heroine are the people that move the plot along and the reason that many readers stay with a story
  • Plot - basic situation of a narrative
    these are the events in the story from the beginning until the end
  • Setting - environment and context in which a story is placed
    this is where a story takes place in time and location
  • Conflict - opposition between characters or forces in a story
    this important part of a story often prevents the characters from achieving their goals but allows them to grow from the experiences and then continue onward in their journey
  • Theme - central idea or insight about life
    the central idea of the narrative, which is often abstract (e.g. greed, love, coming of age)
    Mood - the atmosphere and feeling of a text

    Tone - an author's attitude toward the subject or characters