The structure of a short story or novel follows a pattern with a beginning, middle, and end. Here the author hooks the reader by introducing the main characters and their goals, the setting, and the main conflict. the mood and tone are set at the beginning, and should be consistent throughout the story. The tension will fluctuate, but overall the tone should be suspenseful, romantic, or whatever, from start to finish. Here a series of events or complications occur, leading to an increase in the tension. This is also where the characters change and grow as they deal with the conflicts they face. Some of the minor crises are temporarily resolved, but the story continues in the direction of a major crisis, or climax.

Tension falls quickly, and a good ending leaves the readers satisfied even if they aren’t happy with the way things turned out. This pattern is called the story arc it can be visualized as an inverted check mark, with tension building to the climax, then abruptly declining. Depending on the type of story, the rise may be gradual or sharp, but the ending almost always comes shortly after the main climax. After all, the desire to see how the story ends is what keeps a reader turning the pages. Here are a couple of sites that go into more detail on how to structure a story: edit february 17, 2010: i ran across a great post by justine lee musk on writing opening hooks. do you prefer stories that keep you on the edge of your seat right from the start, or ones that gradually increase the tension and conflict? when first teaching early literacy skills, teachers often introduce the words ldquo beginning rdquo , ldquo middle rdquo and ldquo end rdquo. The teacher may start with a picture of an animal or vehicle divided into 3 segments and ask the students to point to the beginning or front of the picture, the middle, and the end.

From there they are able to expand to beginning, middle, and end of 3 4 letter words, stories being read, and class writing projects. Lessonpix provides a great material called appropriately ldquo beginning/middle/end rdquo that splits your pictures into three equal sized vertical slices. These are great tools for working with your class or children in many different ways ndash here are some ideas to get you started: build a collection based on a theme, a storybook, holiday, or beginning letter sound and create a beginning/middle/end material using the create material button.

Take the pages from the generated pdf file and bind them into a class book comb bind, spiral bound, velobind. Build a beginning/middle/end material as above and print on heavy card stock or index paper. Have the student put together the parts of the picture while saying, beginning, middle, and end. Build a collection with approximately 1/3 the number of pictures as you have students and build a beginning/middle/end material. Distribute the cards to students one segment each and have the students form their groups by finding classmates with connecting picture pieces. This activity promotes cooperative learning, social skills and sequencing while providing a fun mystery game for the kids. Create a beginning/middle/end material for each of two or more different collections.

You could also create collections related to beginning letter sounds, rhyming words, or literature read in class. Place the pieces in random order around a designated area such as the playground. Create a beginning/middle/end material from one of your collections and glue the generated pdf on the front of a file folder. Cut the front of the file folder following the dotted line on the picture making 3 flaps that open to reveal the inside of the file folder. Each flap lifts separately to reveals a concept related to beginning, middle, and end. Here are some file folder ideas: isolated lette rs with a picture of a dog on the front, place a ldquo d rdquo under the picture of the dog 39 s head. Place an ldquo o rdquo under the dog 39 s belly, and place a ldquo g rdquo under the dog 39 s tail.

Int 2 English Critical Essay Marking

A tea cher may make sets of word families like: dog, fog, frog, log, hog. segmentation with a picture of an umbrella on the front, place the letters ldquo um rdquo under the first flap for the beginning, ldquo brell rdquo under the middle flap, and ldquo a rdquo under the ending or last flap. sequencing using a setting of a story as the front picture, such as a gingerbread house.