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Recognizing Story Structure
After reading M & M and the Bad News Babies, Tina and Allison flip back through the book to better understand what happened first, next, and last in the story.
Tina: (Writes the words Beginning, Middle, and Ending onto a sheet of paper.) Allison, let's think back to the beginning of the story. What happened first?
Allison: M and M were fixing up an old fish tank.
Tina: Good, then what happened next?
Allison: The neighbor, I think her name is Mrs. Green, knocked on their door. (Allison turns to the part of the book to confirm the neighbor's name.) Yup, her name is Mrs. Green. Mrs. Green came by and asked M and M to babysit the twins.
Tina: Anything else important happen?
Allison: The babies got into a lot of trouble. They wrecked the plants and comic books. The girls thought the babies wrecked their fish tank, but they didn't.
Tina: What happened at the end of the story?
Allison: The girls used their babysitting money to buy fish. They named the fish after the two twins.
Why it's important. Most narrative stories are organized around a set of elements called story grammar or a story map. Learning about the structure of stories provides readers with a schema they can use when reading or listening to a new story or writing a story on their own. Most children's stories are written using the following elements:
- Setting. The setting of a story tells when and where the story takes place. Some stories have specific settings, while others occur at an indefinite time or place. Sometimes, the setting changes within the story.
- Characters. Characters are the people, animals, and other individuals that populate a story. The main character is sometimes called the protagonist and generally drives the plot. The rival is called the antagonist.
- Plot. The plot of a story tells what happened. It is the action of the story and gives it a beginning, middle, and ending. In general the plot consists of the following:
- A problem that the main character must solve
- The steps the character takes to solve it
- The resolution of the problem
- How the story ends
- Theme. The theme is the big idea that the author wants the reader to understand. Often the conclusion of the story reveals the theme.
How to support your tutee. In addition to talking about and modeling thinking about what happened first, next, and last in the story, use a story map to help children understand the elements of story structure. Download the Story Map for an example.
Conclusion
As we think back on Tina and Allison, we realize that helping students become active, strategic readers requires working with them on key comprehension strategies while fostering a love of reading. The strategies presented in this article encourage children to develop their metacognition, or to think about their own thinking while they read.
Learning to read actively and purposefully helps children become proficient readers and prevents later reading difficulties. Your work with these strategies includes direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, and independent application.
As a tutor, your work also includes modeling a love of reading and reading often. Remember, children need lots of experiences with good books and an environment that supports taking risks as readers.
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