Interactive Plot Diagram

Students will create a plot diagram incorporating exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of a story; either read or to be written.

1. After reading any written prose, or before writing a narrative, use the ReadWriteThink Plot Diagram to develop the parts of a plot.  
2. On independent computer work stations, have students display the ReadWriteThink Plot Diagram tool.  Student can work independently, in pairs, or in collaborative groups to create their plot, depending on your desired outcome.
3. On the homepage, students will put in their name and a title.  Then they should choose their desired triangle labels.
4. To begin, students should look under the "Tips" tab.  Under "Tips" students can read the history of the plot diagram and storytelling. Then using the purple tabs at the top students can refresh their memories about the parts of a plot.     
5. Students enter the plot event and then a description of that event.  The plot event should be a highlight or short blurb, and the description can be a paragraph explaining. An example for Exposition from the novel The Giver would be Plot Event:"Jonas" with Description: "Eleven, protagonist, careful about language".   
6. Teachers can give a predetermined number of events for a story plot, or let students decide how many events to put on the diagram.  
7. Depending on the plot of the story student can use the scroll bar at the bottom to change the orientation of the diagram.  
8. Remember to use "Help" or "Edit" as needed  during the creation process.
9. When all events are placed on the diagram it is time to print.  You can print to a local printer on your computer or print to PDFCreator and create a PDF document.  With a PDF document you can then save it, upload it to a dropbox (like on Moodle), or upload it to Google docs to keep or share.