About this activity
Eight drawing tasks that build a story map: draw the main character and label them with three words; draw the setting — where and when; draw the problem the character runs into; draw what the character tries first; draw what finally solves it; draw the ending, how does the character feel now and how do you know; then cover the words and retell the entire story using only your drawings.
How to use it in a session
Keep the drawings rough and the retell careful. The map is a scaffold for the telling, and a student who spends the session shading has not retold anything. The tries-first card matters more than it looks — a first attempt that fails is what makes a story a story, and students routinely skip straight from problem to solution. The final retell with the words covered is the target.
What to listen for
Watch whether the failed first attempt survives. It is the element that distinguishes a full episode from a problem-solution pair, and it is the one students most often omit. Notice the how-do-you-know question on the ending card, which asks for evidence of a feeling rather than a label — that is inference, and it is the hardest thing on the board.
Carrying it home
Any story read together can be mapped in five boxes on a sheet of paper. Retelling from the drawings afterwards is a two-minute routine with real effect on narrative structure.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Third through sixth, for narrative macrostructure work.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight tasks are free to use here.
- Why draw rather than write the map?
- Because drawing is faster and less demanding, so more of the student's effort goes into the structure. It also produces a scaffold they can retell from without reading, which is the actual goal.