Plot Patterns

Presented by

Lancashire Leading Literacy Teachers

Aim

To use well known plots to structure and develop children’s writing.

Learning Styles

• Visual Learners, 29% of class - remember images, shapes and colours

• Auditory Learners, 34% of class - remember voices, sounds and music

• Kinaesthetic, 37% of class - remember by doing, moving and touching

Which Story?

• A character boasts about another character’s talents. These do not exist.

• A passer by offers employment to the ‘talented’ character.• A third party assists the ‘talented’ character to achieve the

outcome of the false talent in return for gifts.• The character promises the gifts but forgets this promise.• Later, a demand is made to honour the promise.• This can only be cancelled if the character meets a

challenge.• The challenge is met and the promise is cancelled.

Rumpelstiltskin

Pie Corbett

… you cannot create out of nothing! Children who know no stories will not be

able to create their own …The bigger the resource to draw upon, the more

creative children can be.

Rationale

• Speaking and listening

• To give children a ‘story’

• To develop vocabulary

• To strengthen memory

• To give the children an understanding of story structure

• To give the children a model to mimic

Why use Traditional Stories and Rhymes?

• Predictable story structures and repetitive language make them memorable for the teller and listener.

• A small range of basic plots but characters and language details make each story different and memorable.

Key Skills to Story Making

• Immersion

• Imitation

• Innovation • Invention

Immersion in the Story

Talking the Text Type

• ‘Hearing it’ and ‘saying it’

• ‘Loitering’ long enough

• Building a storehouse

• Internalising language patterns

Imitation

Group task:

• Extracting the basic plot

Learning the Story

Teacher as teller/child as listener

Teacher as prompt/child as co-teller

Teacher as listener/child as teller

• Avoid dominating• Tell and re-tell• Have fun!!

Story Map

Little Red Hen

Pie Corbett DVD

Activity

Use plot pattern to create actions to story.

Moving On: Innovate

• Re-telling the story

• Verbal innovation– Embellishing– Adding dialogue– New character– New incident– New genre

Embellishing

Add more description… The little goat paused. The bridge

looked rickety and he wasn’t sure if it would hold his weight. Carefully, he began to trot across but the planks of wood creaked and groaned. Halfway across he had the shock of his life because…..

Add Dialogue

“Who goes trip trap, trip trap over my bridge?” asked the Troll. “Why it’s that skinny goat from over the hill. So what do you want young ‘un?”

New Character

Goldilocks turned to Josie and told

her to try the small bowl of porridge because there was plenty left…

New Incidents or Modernising the Tale

Goldilocks flicked on the TV and settled down to watch Neighbours.

Activity

Modernising Cinderella

Cinderella by Roald Dahl

She bellowed “Help!” and “Let me out!”The Magic fairy heard her shout.Appearing in a blaze of light,She said, “My dear, are you all right?”“ All right?” cried Cindy. “Can’t you seeI feel as rotten as can be!”She beat her fists against the wall,And shouted, “Get me to the ball!”There is a disco at the palace!The rest have gone and I am jealous!

Cinderella

I want a dress! I want a coach!And earrings and a diamond brooch!And silver slippers, two of those!And lovely nylon panty-hose!Done up like that I’ll guaranteeThe handsome prince will fall for me!”The fairy said “Hang on a tick,”She gave her wand a mighty flickAnd quickly in no time at all,Cindy was at the palace ball

Cinderella

It made the Ugly Sisters winceTo see her dancing with the Prince.She held him very tight and pressedHerself against his manly chest.The Prince was turned to pulp,All he could do was gasp and gulp.

Invention

The ability to invent or make up a story

“Let’s create together schools, which have stories at their heart – for without

them, we have heartless schools. It is worth remembering that at the heart of every culture lies song, dance, art,

religion….and stories.”

Pie Corbett

The End