The Crossover Book Summary Activity

Activity Overview

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. In this activity, students will create a storyboard capturing the narrative arc in a work 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: Title, Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. Teachers shouldn't be surprised if students have different views on the actions and the climax; there are a lot of stories within the story.

The Crossover Plot Diagram Example

Exposition: Josh and JB are identical twins who are almost 13 years old. They are both basketball superstars, but are nothing alike. Josh is quiet, has locs down to his neck, and is known for his speed. JB is loud, has a buzz cut, and is known for his jumps. Middle school isn’t easy, but it’s even harder when you have a twin whose shadow can sometimes be hard to get out of.

Rising Action: JB gets a girlfriend and spends less and less time with his brother. After losing a bet, Josh lets JB cut one of his locs, but he ends up cutting too much and Josh has to cut them all off.

Climax: Josh is so upset at being left out of JB’s life that he chucks the ball at JB’s face during a game, nearly breaking his nose. Josh gets suspended from the team. Their relationship is very strained.

Falling Action: Josh and JB’s dad suffers a heart attack while playing at the gym with Josh. He is in a coma for several days, and even when he wakes up, he must stay in the hospital. After complications, their dad passes away.

Resolution: Josh and JB realize how important family is and they make up.

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Template and Class Instructions

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Due Date:

Objective: Create a visual plot diagram of The Crossover.

Student Instructions:

Click "Start Assignment".
Separate the story into the Title, Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.
Create an image that represents an important moment or set of events for each of the story components using appropriate scenes, characters, and items.
Write a short description of each of the examples in the plot diagram.
Save and exit when you're done.

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Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 5-6

Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)

Type of Assignment Individual

Type of Activity: Plot Diagrams and Narrative Arcs

Common Core Standards

[ELA-Literacy/RL/6/3] 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
[ELA-Literacy/RL/5/2] Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

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Rubric

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric.)

Plot Diagram Rubric (Grades 9-12)

Create a plot diagram for the story using Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.

	Proficient 25 Points	Emerging 21 Points	Beginning 17 Points	Try Again 13 Points
Descriptive and Visual Elements	Cells have many descriptive elements, and provide the reader with a vivid representation.	Cells have many descriptive elements, but flow of cells may have been hard to understand.	Cells have few descriptive elements, or have visuals that make the work confusing.	Cells have few or no descriptive elements.
Grammar/Spelling	Textables have three or fewer spelling/grammar errors.	Textables have four or fewer spelling/grammar errors.	Textables have five or fewer spelling/grammar errors.	Textables have six or more spelling/grammar errors.
Evidence of Effort	Work is well written and carefully thought out. Student has done both peer and teacher editing.	Work is well written and carefully thought out. Student has either teacher or peer editing, but not both.	Student has done neither peer, nor teacher editing.	Work shows no evidence of any effort.
Plot	All parts of the plot are included in the diagram.	All parts of the plot are included in the diagram, but one or more is confusing.	Parts of the plot are missing from the diagram, and/or some aspects of the diagram make the plot difficult to follow.	Almost all of the parts of the plot are missing from the diagram, and/or some aspects of the diagram make the plot very difficult to follow.