Sequencing

What are the critical thinking skills that story writing demands of students? One is Sequencing. This is always the challenge with k-2. This happened, then this, then this, then that. Frequently, the episodes of a story at this level have nothing to do with one another. The dragon got a splinter in his toe. Then he lost his homework and went to school and found it and---we never hear about that splinter again. When I stoop by the child’s desk to ask what the dragon did about that splinter, I get a blank stare.

The answer? His mother took it out. Or he went to the hospital and the doctor fixed it. Or—just the blank stare. More frequently, though, the child can tell me what happened with the splinter, but somehow that part of the story never got written. Thinking it, dreaming it, was enough for the child, an episode of magical thinking. Or maybe the child is imagining the answer as I’m there asking the question. For the teacher, it doesn’t matter really. What does matter is that we guide the child toward understanding where the dragon’s splinter fix fits in the story and that it actually be written. With a little help most kids will find a good place for it.