Birth of a story was an exhibition organized for std. VI on 6th of October, 2018 at Sharon English High School. This exhibition was one of its kinds as the exhibits were the work of the std. VI students, showing various steps involved in creating an interesting story.
It is said that behind every successful event, lots of time, hard work, efforts, determination is needed. The students started their work a month ago to make this exhibition a grand success. It all started with the first step – observation guide, wherein with the help of the teacher, students analyzed the front and back cover of a story book. Likewise we proceeded to the next step of – the read aloud. Here students were given the templates having empty blocks which they filled with the favourite lines from the story or they could draw what they have understood while the teacher was reading the story named- ‘THE MAGICAL BOOK’. This was followed by identifying elements of a story and this activity was basically done to introduce the five elements( characters,settings,events,problems and resolution). We did this activity by analyzing the story given in the std. VI textbook on the basis of the elements and placed each element in their respective space provided in the template. Story map – here students analyze the structure of the story with the help of the teacher through a picture talk. After this activity students were able to identify the beginning,middle and ending of the story. Interesting ways to begin and end a story were introduced to students. Character profiles were also discussed. Finally the last step of a story mountain planner was introduced. Students were really excited while doing the last activity as they got an opportunity to select the characters, place of their choice in order to create their own story.
While doing each step students were provided with the templates for each activity. This template on each step helped the students understand each step in a very detailed and sequential manner. Once we finished all the eight activities, I along with few volunteers of std. VI bifurcated all the students’ templates as per the step and made a chart of each step, showing their work. I am really grateful to the class volunteers who helped me out with preparing the charts. Without their support I would not be able to put up such a great display.
As it was decided we called all the students along with their parents for the exhibition because I feel parents should also have an insight to their wards’ efforts. Parents’ presence at the exhibition really means a lot to the students as I could see their beaming faces while they were presenting the charts to them. The most satisfying moment for me was when parents approached me and gave their opinion about the exhibition. Their opinion and reviews about the exhibition and students’ presentation gave me a sense of satisfaction that I have achieved my objective of teaching story writing to the students.
Contributed by Vinita Pal,
English Teacher