Plot Graphing

1. The Plot Thickens...The excitement of stories as the plot unfolds and characters are swept into action is what keeps the pages turning. Plot is undeniably a vital part of our discussions with students as they read.One way to appeal to students who have a prominent Clipboard style -- or to help non-Clipboarders develop their "inner Clipboard"! -- is to present plot events visually. Teachers sometimes draw the "plot mountain" representing the events in a plot -- the stages of... exposition,

2. rising action (complications)

3. crisis,

4. climax,

5. falling action,

6. resolution or denoument.

Often, in stories with a prominent or exciting plot, I'll have students put events from the story into the plot mountain. It's a worthwhile exercise, especially when they come up with the events in a group process (think Puppy verbal process and Microscope in terms of digging through the text). I encourage them to add details to build a rich context. Then we discuss the events and collectively agree upon 6 major events. The next day, as part of a reading quiz, I have students do an exercise matching those 6 major events with those 6 plot stages. I do a series of these so it becomes routine thinking on their part.

I like to take this a bit further by adding a technology piece to this for those precise Clipboarders...

1. As before, I have students in groups identify a series of events from a story or a significant section of a novel. They get to discuss (Puppy) what are the most salient events or situations. Text in hand, they research (Microscope) the novel and develop clarity in their grasp of the storyline. I encourage them to add details to build a rich context. For these activities, I've used many texts; featured here are ones from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Justin Denzel's Boy of the Painted Cave.

2. These proposed most important events are collected and reviewed, and distilled into the "official version" that we will all use and manipulate further in the next class. Here, below, are two groups of ten events:

Plot Events in Boy of the Painted Cave

Directions for Part 1: Number the events 1-10 in the story, Boy of the Painted Cave.

_____ We are introduced to Tao, the hunters, and the clan.

_____ Volt tells Tao to leave until he returns with a rabbit.

_____ Tao wrestles the wounded wolf-dog, removes a bone splinter from its jaw.

_____ Tao and Ram learn to hunt together for food, such as owl eggs and rabbits.

_____ Tao hears Kala’s story of his mother, decides to live apart from the clan.

_____ Graybeard meets Tao, gets angry with Tao’s cave paintings.

_____ Graybeard agrees to teach Tao his shamanic and painting skills.

_____ Tao and Ram almost get trampled by the mammoths; Ram saves Tao.

_____ Tao kills a boar for paint oils, and brings food to the clan. Volt is pleased.

_____ Graybeard teaches Tao to use the oils; he compliments Tao, who is happy.

Directions for Part 2: Number the events 11-20 in the novel, Boy of the Painted Cave.

_____ Things are fine, but one day Tao lets Ram go for a deer; hunters are angry.

_____ Tao and Ram flee hunters; Tao pushes Ram across the river, climbs a tree.

_____ Mountain People have Ram, catch Tao, and ask Graybeard about the dog.

_____ Graybeard tells Tao he will be the next cave painter; gives him instructions.

_____ Tao gets lost on his way to the Secret Cavern.

_____ Tao finds the Secret Cavern, begins painting antelope.

_____ Hunters come in, are angered, tie Tao up, and Volt says he will face Saxon.

_____ Tao fights Saxon, gets hurt, but uses mirror stone to confuse him, survives.

_____ Saxon starts a stampede, Volt gets hurt, Ram saves Volt.

_____ Volt says the curse is lifted. Graybeard is buried; Tao is the Cave Painter.

3. Students then, on paper, sequence those in chronological order. We review this in class. Then, on computers, we bring up the same series, and they manipulate the events (dragging the 'bullets' in an AppleWorks document) so they are in visual sequence, 1-10.

4. Then a bit of a spreadsheet is connected to the activity. I have them put a number in a spreadsheet cell (next to each event) that ranks it in terms of tension: 1 is low tension, 10 is extreme tension. (See "Column A" -- the only column in the not-so-spread-out spreadsheet on the left below.) I show them how to present these numbers in a graph, which makes this whole activity visual. Seeing this emerging visual, students realize that a chapter can have several crises and high points, even plateaus of sustained tension, even though the story might have only one climax. This is the plot mountain graph in "real time" applied to a story. Students wrangle over numbers and compare their interpretations of how tense a scene or what makes it tense, and in the process have thoughtful discussions. See the visuals below -- two different displays. Because the graph functions as an image, colors can be added to the background by bringing up the "Toolbox." These documents were done in AppleWorks, but I bet it could be done in Microsoft Word as well. Click on either of these images to see them larger.

-- John Chamberlain