This lesson plan delves into setting—a fundamental component of storytelling. Every narrative requires a stage, and the setting frames the story, shapes characters, and engrosses the audience. Through SoCreate, this lesson invites students to explore the art of crafting vivid settings, enriching their understanding of its impact on successful storytelling.

Objective

By the end of this lesson, students will understand the roles of setting in a story and will be able to select and describe meaningful settings for their films using SoCreate.

Materials

A computer with internet access for each student/group, SoCreate accounts for each student/group, projector for teacher demonstrations.

Duration

1-2 class periods

Warm-Up

15 minutes

Begin the lesson by discussing the importance of setting in films and TV shows. Ask students to share some of their favorite settings from movies or shows and why they found them memorable.

Explain the various functions of a setting: providing context, establishing mood, influencing character behavior, and impacting the plot.

Illustrate these points with examples from familiar films or TV shows, highlighting how the setting contributes to the overall story.

Introduction to Setting Selection and Description with SoCreate (20 minutes):

Re-introduce SoCreate, emphasizing how it can be used to choose images representing locations and write engaging descriptions of settings.

Display on the projector how to use SoCreate's image selection feature to choose images representing each scene's setting, and explain why visual representation can help in understanding the story's context and mood.

Discuss the use of sensory language for vivid setting descriptions, and demonstrate how to write these descriptions in an Action stream item on SoCreate.

Student Work: Selecting and Describing Settings with SoCreate

60 minutes

Ask students, in their previously formed groups if using previous lesson plans on plot, character development, and dialogue , to select and describe settings for their short films using SoCreate. They should choose images that represent their locations and create locations in there SoCreate projects.

Encourage students to write vivid descriptions of their settings in the Action stream item immediately beneath their location heading, using sensory and active language to create an immersive atmosphere that describes not only what someone would be seeing, but what is happening in that location and how the main characters exist in that space as well.

Remind students to consider how their settings influence their characters, advance their plot, and contribute to the overall mood of their film.

Wrap-Up: Sharing and Discussion

15 minutes

Invite a few groups to share their settings with the class, presenting their selected images and reading their setting descriptions from SoCreate.

Engage the class in a discussion about how these settings contribute to the story. Do they provide context, establish mood, influence character behavior, or impact the plot? How does the setting description enhance the understanding and appreciation of the setting?