Wehrley Lessons

Here are some lessons about creating stronger Characters, Settings, Plots, Themes, and Conflicts

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Lessons

The resources below include a series of lessons about character, setting, plot, theme, and conflict. These topics represent some of the universal narrative elements that can be found in text-based stories, narrative-centered video games, and just about any other narrative-based medium.

As you help students to develop these elements in their own virtual worlds that they are creating, you can guide the students to express these same elements over and over again through different mediums. Many students will start to realize the strengths and weaknesses of each medium, and how a story can shift and change depending on how it is told. By having students playtest each other's games and reflect on their own process, you can help students to develop a greater awareness of how stories are constructed and of their own role in the process as a creator.

Although the lessons and slideshows do follow a specific sequence and refer to a specific novel, they can be tweaked to be used in a different order and with a different text.

Lesson 1: Virtual Reality for Your Brain

This lesson slideshow is used to introduce the concept that your brain is the primary hardware required to create virtual worlds.

Concepts include:

The role of the brain in creating virtual worlds
Novels, comic books, video games, movies, virtual reality programs, and plays all existing on a STORYTELLING SPECTRUM
These are all simulations of reality that run in your brain

Related media:

Handouts - Reflection Questions: Creating a Scene with The Bell Jar
Activities include: Reflecting on recreating a scene from the novel using real objects around the house.

Lesson 02: How to Understand Characters

This lesson slideshow is used to introduce the concepts 1) that a character is driven by their wants and needs and 2) that we can analyze characters based on what they say, think, do, and how they appear.

Concepts include:

Character Wants Vs. Needs
What a character Says, Thinks, Does, and How They Appear

Related media:

Handouts - Character Analysis: The Bell Jar
Activities include: Breaking down what a character Says, Thinks, Does, and How They Appear. Connecting the character to 3 other people or characters from the student's background.

Lesson 03: How to Understand Setting

This lesson slideshow is used to introduce the concept that every setting creates possibilities and limitations for what the character can and can't do in that particular setting.

Concepts include:

Possibilities and Limitations of a Setting
What the character Can and Can't Do
The Role that a setting can play in the plot

Related media:

Handouts - Setting Analysis: The Bell Jar
Activities include: Using an excerpt from the text to break down what a character can and cannot do in different settings/locations.

Lesson 04: How to Understand Plot, Theme, and Conflict

This lesson slideshow is used to explain how the structure of a story can drive a character to fail or succeed at getting what they want/need, which can ultimately reveal the theme of the story.

Concepts include:

Try/Fail & Try/Succeed Cycles
Topic Vs. Theme
Internal and External Conflicts
Characters getting or not getting what they Want/Need
Characters learning and growing

Related media:

Handouts - Plot/Theme/Conflict Analysis: The Bell Jar
Activities include: Asking and answering specific questions to break down the Conflict, Plot, and Theme from the novel.

Project End Products

Phase 1 End Product: Brainstorming Slides

Students used the following slides to create a brainstorming document for Phase 1 of the project. Each student filled out 1 Character Slide and 1 Conflict, Plot, Setting, and Theme slide. For my class, the students filled out their slides on the same class slideshow. However, you can always add or delete slides as you see fit.

Phase 2 End Product: Text-Only Narrative

Students drew upon the character, setting, plot, theme, and conflict from their brainstorming slides to create a 1-2 page text-only narrative.

Phase 3 End Product: Interactive Narrative Game

Students drew upon the character, setting, plot, theme, and conflict from their brainstorming slides to create an interactive narrative game in Google Slides. I've included an EXTREMELY basic, bare bones template here that students can use to get started.

Related media:

Handouts - Breakdown: Video Game Narrative
Activities include: Students break down a video game on their own to start becoming familiar with how Visuals, Audio, Text, Controls, and Organizational Structure can be used in a game.
Handouts - Story Map Example
Activities include: Students create a map to help them visualize the different story pathways that they will include in their game.
Handouts - Game Assets List
Activities include: Making a list of the essential images, sounds, text, and other elements that the student will need to find or create to make their game.

Calendar of Class Activities

Here is the Class Activities Calendar that we followed for reading The Bell Jar and completing the interactive narrative games project. This schedule was used in the spring of 2021 during hybrid, distance, and pandemic teaching. During this time, students were only attending class 3 days per week (M/Th and a half-day on W, or T/Fr and a half-day on W), so this schedule may need to be modified for use during a more conventional school year.

How-Tos

References

Assessment

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