Changing one thing ….

The elements of a story (Setting, Characters, Narrator, Conflict, Events, and Plot) work together to create a specific story.  Changing even one of those elements alters the whole story.

Think about how the nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill would be different if the setting was an area with no hills. Would the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears be the same if it was told from another point of view?  Altering a story could be used as an activity to develop and encourage creative and critical thinking skills.

You could take a story like Sink or Swim by Valerie Coulman and brainstorm the ways one story element could be changed. For example, have students think of all the things in the story that would change if the setting of this story was not water (that would probably require a change in the title). What if the setting of the story stayed the same but the characters were ants instead of cows?  What if the conflict in the story was not learning how to swim but learning how to fly?

It would be a challenging activity for students to write a version of the story simply changing one of the story elements.  You could even use the Writing Tool on Big Universe Learning for this creation (just remember to be aware of copyright). The comparison of the original story and the “slightly altered” one would be interesting and maybe even fun.  Imagine how powerful students would feel if they could change a whole story just by changing on thing ….