A common use for Storyboard That is to help students create a plot diagram of the events from a novel. Not only is this a great way to teach the parts of the plot, but it reinforces major events and help students develop greater understanding of literary structures.
Students can create a storyboard capturing the narrative arc in a novel with a six-cell storyboard containing the major parts of the plot diagram. For each cell, have students create a scene that follows the story in sequence using: Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a visual plot diagram of "The Lady or the Tiger".
Introduce the concept of themes to students and explain to them that themes are the backbone of any story and represent the common ideas or lessons the author wants readers to reflect on. Give some simple examples of themes from stories that students are already familiar with and provide them with practice texts to recognize themes.
Once the students are familiar with the concept help them identify themes in “The Lady or the Tiger”. Students can read the story several times and try to highlight any important point or lesson they think is at the core of the story. For instance, justice, love, ambiguity, and fate can be considered the key themes present in the story.
Recognize that the ideas and symbols of the narrative may lend themselves to a variety of legitimate interpretations. Promote debate and investigation of different viewpoints. Students can take some time to highlight their perspective on themes and symbolism and then participate in group discussions to understand the interpretation of their class fellows.
Think about the connections that "The Lady or the Tiger"'s themes and symbols could have to larger human experiences, ethical quandaries, or social conventions. Students can also connect with other literary concepts and investigate different interpretations.
The environment, the people, and the main conflict are all introduced in the exposition. In "The Lady or the Tiger," the princess and her lover are introduced, along with the semi-barbaric king's judicial system. Readers can find out a little about the personalities and traits of some of the characters and possibly predict what direction the story will take.
Whether the princess will lead her lover to the lady or the tiger behind the two doors in the arena is the main source of strife. However, this conflict is not resolved and the author leaves it up to interpretation of the readers.