Teachers should be aware that cultures and societies may structure stories in unique ways. For example, some Aboriginal stories do not have a clearly defined ending or conclusion. Frequent modelling, guided practice and discussion of this strategy will be required in all classrooms to enable students to apply a knowledge of story grammars to their reading and writing experiences. Literature Many stories have an obvious structure which frequently includes an identifiable beginning, middle and ending. Awareness of this structure helps to comprehend stories written by others and to organize ideas for writing.
All writers manipulate story elements and language to suit their purposes.
Adaptions and Applications Construct a modified cloze text by deleting one or more parts from a familiar story. Deleted parts will vary in length. Initially, students may wish to discuss what kinds of information and what quantity of detail would complete the story. Students could complete the story collaboratively or individually. Use this strategy with new stories to assess students' sense of story structure.