That was the question I began today's lesson on story structure with. I thought it was a simple question that all students would be able to answer. I pretty much figured this discussion would take about 5-10 minutes. I mean, this is something all the children know. They've only been learning about story structure since kindergarten. Well...let's just say the children NEVER cease to amaze me. After some of the responses I was willing to play 'Red Rover, Red Rover' during rush hour traffic in the middle of the busiest highway! A 5-10 minute anticipatory set turned into me wanting to pull my hair out from the roots and shove sharpened bamboo shoots underneath my fingernails.
After I presented the opening question, I asked the students to 'turn and talk' with their neighbors and discuss what were the most important ingredients for my story. I asked if there were any questions. I made sure no one was confused about what I was asking. All the children said they were fine and did not need any further clarification. I should have known better.
I gave the children some time to discuss and called them to the carpet so we could discuss it in a more intimate setting. I even sat in the middle of the rug with a makeshift cauldron and pretended to be brewing a story. The lesson so did NOT go my way. Here we go...
Me: Alright boys and girls! I'm writing a story. What are some of the most important ingredients in my recipe? (all this is said with such enthusiasm, which fizzled after the first two responses)
Let us begin with Annie (this child can't seem to take her mind off of baked goods) who says, "When you bake a cake, you are gonna need milk, eggs, and cake mix!"
Me: Huh? Bake a cake? Annie, what are you talking about? I asked about a recipe for a story. I wanted you to tell me about the most important ingredients for a story.
At this point, Annie cocks her head to the side, opens her mouth, gives me the blank stare and says, "OH!" I remember that stare quite well. I used to give the same stare in Pre-Calculus during my senior year of high school. I was EXTRA special in Math. But I digress...
Surprisingly, I held it together. I figured...she likes baked goods, she heard the word recipe, maybe she lost sight of what I was asking. Of course, the rest of the class laughed hysterically. After about 2 minutes of calming them down, we were ready to continue with our discussion.
I asked the question again and called on another student. His response was, "Illustrations?" I expected that response. We discussed how some stories have illustrations. However, not all stories have illustrations and I showed him a chapter book. He understood and we moved on. As we continued our discussion, some students were able to give me what I was looking for (characters, setting, plot, and/or beginning, middle, and end).
Then Kevin raised his hand. I figured he was going to give me an example of a story he read. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for what he was about to say. Kevin proudly says, "When you're writing a story, you must have pages and words." At first I thought he was trying to be funny. Not exactly...he was serious. I sat there dumbfounded for a few seconds and the children erupted into laughter.
Between the cake recipe response and Kevin's about pages and words, I just wanted to crawl under a rock. I laugh about it now. I'm glad I can laugh about it after the fact. This blog helps me laugh about it too. If I didn't laugh about it, I would go crazy.
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