Reading Literary Text 3 (RL 3):
Anchor Standard: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of
a text.
Grade 6: Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the
characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
Grade 7: Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters
and plot)
Grade 8: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal
aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: Character Development
Students explain how a character changes as a result of the story’s plot. Then they provide evidence to support
their analysis of the character’s development.
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: Plot Development
Students track the development of the plot by completing a plot triangle including the exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, and resolution.
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: Character and Plot
For this organizer, students will analyze the plot according to a character’s reactions feelings to the events.
Students will describe the character at the beginning of the story as well as at the end.
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: the Effect of Setting
Students will begin this organizer by describing the story’s setting. The rest of the organizer asks students to
describe the impact of setting on mood, characters, and conflict.
Additional Items:
Plot Organizer
Plot Diagram: Three Pigs Example
Character Map
Character Traits and Evidence
Trait Chart
Vocabulary for Describing Characters
Story Map 1
Story Map 2
Setting Creates Conflict Poster
Setting Shapes Character Poster
Setting Creates Mood Poster
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: Character Development
DIRECTIONS: Use the following organizer to analyze how a character develops in response to conflict in a
story or drama. Provide excerpts from the text to support your analysis.
Title: ______________________________________________________________
Character: ______________________________________________
Your Words
Conflict the
Character
Faces
How the
Character
Changes
Meaning of
the Change
Evidence from the Text
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: Plot Development
Directions: A plot diagram helps you see how stories and dramas are organized. Use it to analyze the main
parts of a plot.
Name of Story or Drama: _______________________________________________________
Main Conflict: Explain the story’s main problem here____________________________________________
Climax:
Rising Action
Falling Action
Exposition:
Resolution:
RL 3:
Analyzing Story Elements: Character
Character and Plot
DIRECTIONS: Use the following organizer to analyze how a character develops in response to events in the
story or drama.
RL 3: Analyzing Story Elements: the Effect of Setting
Directions: In many stories, the setting greatly impacts the characters and events. Use the graphic organizer
below to analyze how the setting influences or impacts each of the other story elements. Use evidence from the
text to support your ideas.
Setting:
Mood:
Character:
Conflict:
Character Map
Character Traits and Textual Evidence
Trait Chart
Vocabulary for Describing Characters
able
active
adventurous
affectionate
afraid
alert
ambitious
angry
annoyed
anxious
apologetic
arrogant
attentive
average
awkward
boastful
bold
bored
bossy
brainy
brave
bright
brilliant
busy
calm
careful
careless
cautious
charming
cheerful
childish
clever
clumsy
complex
concerned
confident
confused
considerate
cooperative
courageous
cowardly
creative
cruel
curious
dangerous
daring
dark
decisive
demanding
dependable
depressed
determined
discouraged
dishonest
disrespectful
doubtful
dull
dutiful
eager
easygoing
efficient
embarrassed
encouraging
energetic
evil
excited
expert
fair
faithful
fearless
fierce
foolish
fortunate
forgiving
fresh
friendly
frustrated
funny
generous
gentle
giving
glamorous
gloomy
graceful
grateful
greedy
grouchy
grumpy
guilty
happy
harsh
hateful
healthy
helpful
honest
hopeful
hopeless
humorous
ignorant
imaginative
impatient
impolite
inconsiderate
independent
industrious
innocent
intelligent
jealous
kindly
lazy
leader
lively
lonely
loving
loyal
lucky
mature
melancholy
messy
miserable
mysterious
naughty
nerdy
nervous
noisy
obedient
obnoxious
old
peaceful
picky
pleasant
polite
poor
popular
positive
precise
proper
proud
quick
quiet
rational
reliable
religious
responsible
restless
rich
rough
rowdy
rude
sarcastic
safe
satisfied
scared
secretive
selfish
serious
sharp
short
shy
silly
skillful
sly
smart
sneaky
sorry
spoiled
stingy
strange
strict
stubborn
studious
talented
tender
thankful
thoughtful
thoughtless
tired
tolerant
touchy
trusting
trustworthy
unfriendly
unhappy
upset
useful
warm
weak
wicked
wise
witty
worried
young
Story Map 1
Story Map 2
from “All Summer in a Day”
“It had been raining for
seven years; thousands
upon thousands
thousands of days
compounded and filled
from one end to the other
with rain, with the drum
and gush of water, with
the sweet crystal fall
fall of
showers and the
concussion of storms so
heavy they were tidal
waves come over the
islands. A thousand forests
had been crushed under the
rain and grown up a thousand
times to be crushed again.
And this was the way life was
forever on the plane
planet Venus
and this was the schoolroom of
the children of the rocket men
and women who had come to a
raining world to set up
civilization and live out their
lives.”
“Margot stood apart from them,
from these children who could never
remember a time when there wasn’t
rain and rain and rain. They were all
nine years old, and if there had been a
day, seven years ago, when the sun
came out for an hour and showed
showed its
face to the stunned world, they could
not recall.”
from “Rattlesnake Hunt”
“The sun was bright overhead, the sky a translucent
blue, and it seemed to me that it was warm enough for
any snake to do as it willed. The sweat poured down my
back. Ross dropped the rattler in a crocus sack and
Will carried it. By noon, he had caught four. I felt
faint and ill. We stopped by a pond and went swimming.
The region was flat, the horizon limitless, and as I came
out of the cool blue water I expected to find myself
surrounded by a ring of rattlers.”
Setting
from Travels with Charley
“The night, far from being frightful, was lovely
beyond thought, for the stars were close, and although
there was no moon the starlight made a silver glow in the
sky. The air cut the nostrils with dry frost. And for pure
pleasure I collected a pile of dry dead cedar branches and
built a small fire just to smell the perfume of the burning
wood and to hear the excited crackle of the branches. My
fire made a dome of yellow light over me…”