Creating a plot diagram not only helps students learn 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 work with a six-cell storyboard containing the major parts of the plot diagram. In this activity, students will create a visual plot diagram of major events in The Wild Robot. Students should identify major turning points in the novel such as the Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.
Exposition: A newly manufactured robot named Roz finds herself alone and stranded on an island. She learns to adapt to her new environment, becomes a mother figure, and makes friends with all of the animals around her, changing their lives for the better.
Rising Action: Roz finds an egg that hatches, and begins taking care of a baby gosling. When she turns to the geese for help, they help her to name him Brightbill. When winter comes, Brightbill flies south with the other geese, and Roz helps the other animals survive the cold.
Climax: When Brightbill returns, he tells Roz that he found the factory where she was manufactured. Soon after, the combat robots, or RECOS, arrive on an airship to find Roz and take her away.
Falling Action: All of the animals help keep Roz safe and prevent her from being taken. Together they are able to get rid of all of the combat robots, but Roz loses her limbs and is very hurt.
Resolution: Roz realizes that the RECOS will return and that she is putting all of her loved ones in danger. She tells the animals to help her get on the ship. She will return to the factory, get the necessary repairs, and return to them as soon as she can.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Due Date:
Objective: Create a visual plot diagram of The Wild Robot.
Student Instructions:
To incorporate the skill of summarizing into the curriculum, it is first helpful to read a story with your students so that you are all on the same page (pun intended). You can point out any difficult concepts or ideas as you go so they can further understand the story.
Spend some time summarizing together, so that students understand the skill. They need to reduce the amount of information and put it in their own words in an easily understood explanation.
A picture really does say a thousand words, and creating a diagram to explain the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution is an easy way for students to understand the plot more fully. Drawing out the plotline is a helpful visual, with the climax at the top.
The plot line of a story is the way a story is organized. The exposition explains the characters and setting, the rising action shows how things start happening in the story, and the climax is the turning point of the story. After that, the falling action starts to wrap up the action, and the resolution shows the main characters resolving their issues, whether happy or sad.
The plot is the way the main action is organized. If a student doesn't understand the plot, then they don't understand what happens in the story and they would have a hard time understanding why the characters do what they do or the lessons the author was trying to offer.
Although all parts of the story are important, the climax is the turning point and considered the most important. After this moment, nothing else is ever the same for the characters.