Pre-Lesson Preparation

There is one main program and several mini-programs in the teacher guide, which are quick to build.

The main program is for the start of the story. The mini-programs are possible next steps that Marty could take in the narrative. Each mini-program links up with a short text that are what learners may write to continue their story.

Warm-Up

Share with learners the objectives and success criteria for the day's lesson, from slide 2 of the presentation in the resource section; perhaps display this before the lesson starts and keep it displayed until another slide is needed.

Tell learners that they are going to listen to a familiar story, like a fairy tale or nursery rhyme that you have available in the classroom. They are going to suggest possible next steps in the text so you will need to pause every page or two to ask about possible next steps. It is likely that some learners will know the story but some may not. Ask a range of learners about the possible next steps and take time to discuss their thinking.

The goal is to have learners thinking about what makes sense to happen next for the character, given the plot so far. Terms like plot, genre, characters needn't be discussed but may be if you have already explored them.

Get Learning

Present Marty to the class and have the first program ready for them to perform. Tell learners that you are going to have Marty as an actor for a story you have started, which begins on slide 3 and ends on slide 10. (The code in the main program is designed to work with the story.) When you get to the end of the text on a slide, ask what they think Marty might do next. Discuss with learners why the option makes sense to them. If learners choose one of the options, feel free to run the code and continue the story. If learners suggest something that doesn't align easily with the story so far, discuss why they think Marty should do this: it is important that learners get a chance to explain their thoughts. Follow each of the suggestions of the learners. Some stories will end earlier than others because they don't make sense for the situation, discuss this with learners and feel free to choose a different path if you want.

Run the code, that is explained in the teacher guide, for Marty each an appropriate action occurs in the text.

Time for Practice

For this part of the lesson, you could either have learners in groups for collaborative writing or learners could work individually. Share with learners another start for a story, from slide 11. The text will have a main character, a setting and an event. Learners need to continue the story beyond what is written. There is no need to finish the story, learners just need to make sure what they write makes sense for the start of the text.

Cool Down

Bring learners back together to discuss how feel they feel they did with the descriptions.

Suggested questions you might ask:

• How did you decide what happened next in the story?
• Did anyone go anywhere different with their story?
• Who wants to share what happened in their story?

If you use a formative assessment strategy, like thumbs up or thumbs down, use that here to get a feel for learner confidence with the topic.

Carry out any end of lesson routines.