Organization: Adventure Learning Foundation
Description: In this lesson, students will look closely at the unrehearsed stories that people tell each other every day ("natural narratives") and discover their underlying organization. Using the model for natural narratives created by linguist William Labov, students will break down a story told on film by a Finnish man, as well as natural narratives of their own, in order to identify the structure common to well-developed narratives. For more information on sociolinguistics and narrative analysis, please see the Resources section of this lesson.
Age group or class level: Grades 9-12, college
Steam of Life (PDF)