November 13, 2009- Unit III- The Story Sequence Chart

This outline format is different from the ones you have learned so far.  In Units I & II you took notes for each sentence in the source text, and in Unit IV you took notes from facts.  In Unit III, you will use The Story Sequence Chart to ask yourself questions about the story.  Put the answers in a three paragraph outline format.

Section I introduces the reader to the main characters and setting. Stories usually begin by introducing their readers to the time and place of the story.  This is called the setting. Also at their beginnings, stories must introduce their readers to the main people (or animals) of the story- the characters.

Section II contains the conflict and plot. For a story to be interesting, it must move into the next crucial element – the conflict. This is the problem, want or need of the main character(s).  Stories without some sort of problem to overcome, or need to be met, are not very interesting.  Most of the action of the story is simply how the conflict is dealt with- what the characters do, say, think or feel with respect to the conflict.  This is the plot.

Section III concludes with the climax, resolution and theme and this is usually the most interesting part of the story.  If there is a conflict or a problem, there must be a way to solve it!  We call the event that leads to the problem being solved the climax.  Then come the results.  The resolution shows what happens after the climax.  By the end of the story, the characters and the reader have learned a lesson.  What is the last line of a fable always named?  Yes, the moral.  Another word for moral is the theme of the story.

Here is the chart about the sequence of stories:

The Story Sequence Chart

I.

Who is in the story?

What are they like?

Where did they live, go?

When did they live?

What was their situation?

II.

What was the problem?

-happened?

-did they think?

-did they say?

-did they do?
III.

Climax

How was the problem solved?

What was the moral or message?
*Title Repeats Key Words of Last Sentence

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