Planning outstanding narratives
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can plan an interesting narrative.
Key learning points
- When writing a short story, we can condense the traditional narrative arc.
- We need to craft for a believable unfolding of events for a short story.
- In short stories, we may need to plant seeds of conflict from the very beginning.
- We can also manipulate time in a short story to hook the reader,
- We can begin our story with the climax, a flashback or a moment after the events of the narrative have taken place.
Keywords
Chronological - following the order in which a series of events occurred
Manipulate - to change or control something in a skilful manner
Ignominy - public shame or disgrace
Common misconception
All narratives have to follow the traditional story arc and have a chronological order for them to make sense.
Short stories often have to manipulate the traditional story structure to be engaging from the very beginning.
Teacher tip
Take one of your pupils' story ideas and put it under the visualiser/on the board. As a class, discuss ways that you could plan each section this narrative. This will help with pupil confidence but also show pupils that there is not just one set way to plan their story.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.'Chronological' describes a narrative in which ...
Q2.Starting with the first, put each section of the narrative arc in chronological order.
Q3.What is a flashback?
Q4.Which of these is not a manipulation of time in a narrative?
Q5.What is a climax in a narrative?
Q6.Which of these events is the most appropriate for a climax?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.'Exposition, rising action, , falling action, resolution'.
Which is the technical term for the part of the narrative arc that is missing from the sequence?
Q2.For short narratives, what might an exposition need?
Q3.Which of these sequences does not manipulate time?
Q4.Which of these would be most likely to lead to ignominy?
Q5.When writing a short story, what is the least important thing to do?
Q6.In order to begin with the climax in a short story, which order could these narrative events be described in?
To help you plan your 11 English lesson on: Planning outstanding narratives, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 English lesson on: Planning outstanding narratives, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 English lessons from the Fiction: inner musings unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.