Nemo & Freytag’s Plot Development Activity

1. Focus: Learning plot development by looking at Freytag’s pyramid in relation to a movie trailer (pop culture).
Materials: Worksheet,"Reel Teaching = Real Learning: Motivating Reluctant Students Through Film Studies," "Improving Story Complexity and Cohesion," “Stop Pretending and Think about Plot,” “Creativity Through Multimodality,” “Finding Nemo” Trailer from YouTube

2. Objectives: After having completed this activity, students will understand how to apply plot development to their own writing as well as analyze pop culture and the media around them.

3.  “Hook”: First, introduce the topic of plot development and explain what to be looking for from Freytag’s pyramid. Then show the “Finding Nemo” trailer.

4. Presentation Precursors: Do research on the Common Core Standards and create a rationale. Create a worksheet. Formative and summative assessments will take place. We need to check to see the presentation of the movie trailer works correctly, i.e., sound, visual, etc. Introduction: First, pass out worksheets for students to fill out and look at. Introduce the objectives of this activity by telling students what they will be doing. Play trailer of Finding Nemo and tell them to be looking out for Freytag’s plot elements within the trailer.

5. Guided Practice: After the trailer, ask them to raise their hands in response to what the rising action and climax of the trailer are, etc.

6. Independent Practice: Have the class work in groups to create their own movie trailer. They will fill in the blanks for “exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.” Have them make up a title for their trailer/paper. They should understand that this will be a sort of outline for a paper that will be due later. As they are working on this together, go around the classroom to listen to conversations/ideas and be available for questions (formative assessment).

7.  Review: Ask if a group wants to share their ideas.
Formative Assessment: While the students are putting together their own plots, circle the classroom, study the students’ ideas and progress, and be available to assist the students. This will give you the opportunity to know what weaknesses to address in future lessons. After five minutes of group work, ask a group(s) to present. Summative Assessment: Students will be assigned to write a 4 to 5 page narrative that stems from the original movie plot exercise. They should be graded based on the students’ improvement from before and after the exercise. As you grade, be looking for a narrative with a flowing plot line, detailed scenery, and an overall well organized story.