With special thanks to Khadijeh (who asked the original question about narrative strategies and who also gave me the information I needed to create the flow chart above)!
This is a great comprehension tool that students can use when reading stories. It helps them remember characters, their characteristics, and also helps them keep track and understand character development. Most importantly though, it helps them articulate these concepts in language!
This map if from the story "The Door", and it is a single character map for the main character, The King. A student begins the map by putting the character in the middle (this can be drawn or done by computer) of the paper. This can be started as soon as she starts to read the story and is getting information about the character. She then thinks of several adjectives that describe the character, and puts those words around the character (she may just start with one or two, but will add them as she reads). Then, for each characteristic, she must find an example or instance (or more) that demonstrates the adjective, then puts those around the adjective. As the story develops, she may add more adjectives and evidence, and she may even reconsider some of these adjectives as the character evolves. The student can make a map for each main character or even keep them together in one larger map.
This is a simple map above, but it is such a powerful tool! If your student had made this map, then she could tell you about the character very efficiently:
"In the story, The Door, the King is a very intelligent, wise, fair and sensible, and is a very good thinker. He is intelligent because he knew to keep the door open to watch the three scientists. He is wise because he really wants his kingdom to be strong. He showed he is a good thinker by coming up with all the possible ways the scientists might figure out to open the door. Finally, he showed he was fair and sensible by choosing the best scientist without any bias."
As I said, this is a simple map and it could more complex. It provides strong visual and logical organizational strategies for the student to formulate then express her thoughts. Play around with this technique, and let your students have fun with it too! Feel free to be CREATIVE too, there are many ways this could be done I suppose. It can be done on paper or on computer (in Power Point, or even Inspiration). Inspiration is a wonderful software (even has a version, Kidspiration on as well) that is designed just to do flow charts - you can use all kinds of images from the web, it imports into MS Office applications, and you may even be able to download a free 30-day version (I am not sure if this works in Jordan though). It also switches back and forth from flow chart to outline. If you want to try to download it, google Inspiration Free Trial and go from there.
I am anxious to see what you think of this technique, and thanks again to Khadijeh!
I have seen this technique implemented using a " smart board" it's quite effective and fun to run.
ReplyDeleteit allows pupil's to touch feel hear and live the story to the maximum. since we don't have this technology in our schools, we could circumvent it by using less costing ones; such as ipad, office applications and ordinary light projectors or even cut-ups. the power of such strategy is simplicity and flexibility of memorizing and storing characters and events. Thanks 4 sharing ... would diffidently consider in my classroom!
it is really wonderful
ReplyDeletebut the chart is not clear
can u send us via email
thanks
Tahani
Thanks Michael for this is very creative and simple as well. It helps creat connections and association between the events and even the characters. It is very useful in reading for pleasure, too :) even we as teachers can use it but in our minds!!)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good strategy Michael .I think it can help students not only summarize stories , but also memorize any reading text
ReplyDeleteThank you, I have used it with young students and college students as well, and some really like to get creative with it.
ReplyDeleteI love it! Mapping or clustering is one of my favorite strategies to use in prewriting in my developmental English class at New River. Mapping gets your ideas on paper, like brain storming does, only it is more organized. I really like the idea of using it for one character. This would be great to use when students are creating their own stories, with their own characters.
ReplyDelete