Reading research has demonstrated the importance of text structure in written communication, and in the application of specific cognitive strategies to enhance understanding of text (Boyle, 1996; Calfee, Chambliss, & Beretz, 1991). Attention to text structure can orient students towards an awareness of the "building blocks" that writers use in creating the text, and thus facilitate an understanding of it for comprehending and composing. This conceptual approach to teaching reading comprehension and composition is pertinent to both narrative and expository texts, but it lends itself particularly well to application with narratives because of the commonality and predictability of elements that authors must use in designing a good story (Lukens, 1999).
Research has shown that an understanding of text structure is critical in aiding reading comprehension (Pearson & Camperell, 1985). In addition, schema theory has highlighted the fact that there is often more than one possible interpretation of text depending on specific cultural and other related factors that emerge from the reader's background (Anderson, 1985). These kinds of insights should inform the knowledge base for teachers in K-12 classrooms engaged in teaching students to appreciate narratives. On the contrary, however, research studies indicate that methods in the teaching of both narrative and expository reading comprehension have evolved from a simplistic "reading-to-learn" perspective (Fisher, Cox, & Paille 1996; p. 410), instead of an approach grounded in the fundamentals of text design.
In an effort to stem the kind of disjointed and piecemeal approach to the teaching of literature texts practiced in many classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Rickford 2002), the California State Department of Education has produced a blueprint for the teaching of reading comprehension, endorsing research-based approaches. The California Language Arts Framework (1999) cites "text structure (p.20) as one of the key components in teaching narratives and reading comprehension, and states that it is important for students to learn "the structural features of narrative text" (p. 25) and also understand the "commonalities in narrative text" (p. 25) when studying stories. Similarly, the Blue-Page English-Language Arts Content Standards for first through eighth grade consistently recommend attention to "structural features" and/or "literary elements", and "narrative analysis of grade-level appropriate text" (p. 78) in the study of narratives at every step from Kindergarten through Grade 12 (1999; pp. 62, 78, 93, 115, 129-30, 146-47, 162 & 177). The document also asserts that "the elements of 'story grammar'"--a constituent of structure--can be used as a framework for beginning to teach higher-level comprehension skills (p. 34).
The recommendation to promote the structural analysis of narratives as an avenue for teaching comprehension is a move in the right direction. As Bruner observed almost half a century ago, "Knowledge one has acquired without sufficient structure to tie it together is knowledge that is likely to be forgotten...an unconnected set of facts has a pitiably short half-life in memory (Bruner, 1960; p. 31). And as Wiggins & Mc Tighe pointed out more recently, understanding must of necessity take place "by design" (Wiggins & Mc Tighe 1998). In the unit that follows, I will propose that the explicit attention to the concrete structural components of narratives, and to authors' manipulation of them in designing stories, can provide essential scaffolding to aid in students' understanding of narrative text, and in its critique and analysis. These components are identified in this module as the primary elements of character, theme, plot, and setting, in addition to the secondary (yet important) sub-elements such as problems, solutions, actions, and emotions.

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS FOR NARRATIVE APPRECIATION
(These concepts are highlighted in the following discussion)

Physical structure
Mental structure or Schema
What happens when Variation occurs
Culturally Congruent Literature
Importance of "The Canon"
Comprehension as Reconstruction
More Similarities than differences--Life Cycles and Cosmic Rhythms
Rickford's Narrative Map
Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834): The Willing Suspension of Disbelief

As mentioned in the preceding introduction, the physical structure or grammar of a story is important to understanding how an author puts a story together, an insight which in turn helps a student when composing or critiquing a story. The reader's mental structure or schema is the material in our heads and hearts that has originated from our experience in the world. As we live, we interact with people and with the world, and it is our reactions to these experiences, and our interpretations of them that are organized and stored, and become our schemata that influence the way we interact with and comprehend literature. The concept of "physical structure" is therefore text-based, while the concept of "mental structure" is reader-based. But both phenomena impact our comprehension and composition of narrative text, and contribute to variation in the way we interpret text. In addition, our cultural propensities also affect text interpretation and analysis. Therefore students enjoy reading culturally congruent literature texts that contain themes, ideas, characters, and events which reflect their own life experiences, and with which they can readily relate. Thus, although traditional works of the literary canon such as Shakespeare and Hemingway are important, teachers should also ensure balance in students' literary diet by including culture-based narratives.
Comprehension and composition are so inter-related that one researcher suggests that we might more accurately refer to comprehension as reconstruction (The Book, Calfee/Stanford, 1992). A writer fashions a passage according to a plan reflecting his or her particular purpose, knowledge and imagination. Then the reader's task is to recreate a mental image that captures the writer's efforts. The two images will seldom be identical, he contends, because reader and writer interpret the same information somewhat differently. In general, however, the aim is to achieve a fairly close correspondence between the writer's thoughts and the reader's understanding. At its core, therefore, the act of comprehension is a process of communication, of "mind touching" in which two individuals share a structure of ideas sculpted by art and craft. Comprehension is therefore closely linked to composition. The student who learns strategies for comprehending narratives will similarly grasp the techniques required for composition. Like communication, it is a two-way street.
Because novels, narratives, and short stories share more similarities than differences, we can devise some common cognitive strategies for their comprehension and composition (see the concept of Narrative Map, an heuristic for narrative segmentation and analysis in Rickford, 1999). For example, most stories are built around our life cycles--birth, challenges and problems, death, rebirth and regeneration--and cosmic rhythms--day and night, the seasons of the year, natural phenomena, and so on. And because the imagination plays an important role in the creation of stories, our appreciation of narratives often involves "the willing suspension of belief," a concept that emerged with the nineteenth century writer and poet Samuel T. Coleridge. In what follows, students will be introduced to four cognitive structures that serve as a scaffold for comprehending and composing narratives: the Conceptual Map, the Character Weave, the Story Graph, and the Episodic Analysis Chart. Each of these structures provides a blueprint for students to use in appreciating, analyzing, comprehending, and composing narratives. They are based on Robert Calfee's work with teachers and students at Stanford University more than a decade ago. Three of these structures--the Conceptual Map, the Character Weave, and the Episodic Analysis Chart--are presented below for demonstration purposes. They have been built from a short story entitled "The Woman and the Tree Children" by Julius Lester, which is also included below for purposes of clarity in demonstrating the function and usefulness of the strategies.
The Story Graph is not demonstrated, but students will be able to create one using their own intuitions, and building on the other structures presented. It can be created by using two lines, a vertical line with a range from "high" to "low" that measures level of emotion or action in the story, and an intersecting horizontal line, with a range from the " beginning" to the "end" of the story that measures the progression of time in the story as the actions occur.

THE WOMAN AND THE TREE CHILDREN
(Abridged Version)
Once there was a woman who had grown old and whose days had been filled with trouble. "Why have I had so many problems and troubles in my life?" she said to herself.
She thought and thought. "Perhaps it is because I did not have a husband and did not have children."
She decided to go to the medicine man and ask him to give her a husband and children. [End Episode 1]
The medicine man lived deep in the forest beneath a giant tree and it took the woman many hours to reach him.
"I have had a very unhappy life," she explained to the medicine man. "I think it is because I did not have a husband and children. So I have come to ask you to give me a husband and some children."
"I cannot give you both," he answered. "You must choose one or the other."
The woman thought for a long time. Finally she said, "Children."
"This is what you must do. Take some of your cooking pots into the forest until you find a fruit-bearing sycamore tree. Fill the pots with the fruit, leave the fruit-filled pots in your house and go for a walk."
"That is all?" the woman wanted to know.
"That is all," the medicine man said. [End Episode 2]
The woman did exactly as the medicine man had told her. She cleaned her pots until they shone like stars. Then she carried as many as her arms could hold into the woods until she came to a fruit-bearing sycamore tree. She climbed the tree and picked the fruit and filled her pots. The pots were very heavy but she carried them to her house and set them inside. Then she went for a walk until the sun began to set.
She returned to her house. As she came close, she heard voices, children's voices. She hurried along the path and there, the yard of her house was filled with happy children playing with one another.
When she walked into her house, she saw that the children had swept and cleaned the floor, washed and dried all the dishes, made the bed and brought the cattle in from the field. The woman was very happy. [End Ep. 3]
Many months passed and the woman and the children lived peacefully together. Then, one day, something happened. It does not matter what. It was nothing important. Perhaps the woman had not slept well the night before, and was feeling tired and irritable that day. Perhaps something she had eaten was hurting her stomach.
In any event, one of the children did something—laughed too loudly for the woman's ears, dropped a dish or a glass and broke it, or something else. The woman yelled at the child.
"It is no wonder you did that. You are nothing but a child of the tree. You are all nothing but children of the tree! One can't expect any better from children born out of a tree."
The children became very quiet and still and did not say a word to the woman. Later that day the woman went to visit a friend. That evening when she came home, the children were not there. The house felt empty and lonely, and the woman cried and cried and cried.
The next day the woman went to the medicine man and asked him what she should do. He said he did not know.
"Should I go back to the fruit-bearing sycamore tree?" she wanted to know. The medicine man shrugged and said he did not know what she could do.
The woman returned to her home and washed all the pots and carried them to the fruit-bearing sycamore tree. She climbed the tree and reached to pick the fruit.
But the skin of the fruit parted and revealed eyes, the eyes of the children. They stared at the woman and their eyes were filled with tears. They stared and stared until the woman climbed down from the tree and returned to her home.
And she lived in sadness for the rest of her life. [End Episode 4]

NARRATIVE COMPREHENSION
STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS FOR NARRATIVE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
Assignment #1. Create a Conceptual Map of the story using the narrative elements of Character, Theme, Plot, and Setting. Fill in as much detail as you can in each sub-section of the graphic in order to make the meaning of the various components clear to your students.
Assignment #2. Construct a Character Weave. You may use the same categories as the ones that appear in the sample (character's physical appearance, behavior, feelings about self, and feelings about others), or you may create new ones.
Assignment #3. Draw a Story Graph. Be sure your graph represents the beginning, progression, and end of the story, that it reflects the various levels of emotional intensity that the characters display, and that you indicate what events precipitate the rise and fall of their emotions (not illustrated).
Assignment #4. Design an Episodic Analysis Figure. First, decide how many episodes there are, and where they occur. Fill in the "Challenge, Emotion, Action, and Outcome" cells for each episode of your figure with real text, in order to demonstrate that a narrative episode is a conceptual unit incorporating these four chunks.

EXPLANATION OF NARRATIVE STRUCTURES
The Conceptual Map (Figure 1) represents the gestalt of narrative text structure in that it highlights the primary "design" elements of narratives--that of character, theme, plot, and setting, with accompanying details.
The Character Weave Structure (Figure 2) reflects the horizontal and vertical interlacing pattern of the loom and serves as a metaphor for analyzing characters and laying out their characteristics in a matrix.
The Story Graph (not illustrated) uses undulating lines to represent the levels of action and emotion found in a story from the beginning to the final resolution.
The Episodic Analysis Chart (Figure 4) reflects the concept that each episode in a story has its own internal integrity in that it is composed of a problem or challenge met by the response of an emotion, and followed by an action and a final outcome, only to begin the cycle all over again in the next episode.

Characters Theme(s) Plot Development Setting
Old WomanMedicine ManTree Children Don't take things for grantedEasy come, easy goThe wound from a fool's word cannot be healedEvery action has a positive or negative reactionGuilt and EvilExploitation and UnforgivingnessIndifference(Compare with Hansel and Gretel, Old Woman in the Shoe, Snow White, The Talking Eggs, Toads and Diamonds, etc. Sad old woman goes to Medicine Man seeking a husband and children to make her happyShe chooses childrenMedicine Man tells her to go to the sycamore tree and pick fruitShe does as he says, and children show up in her houseOld woman is happyShe yells at the children, and they disappearShe returns to the Medicine Man for help, but gets noneShe goes back to the tree, and tries to pick the fruit againBut sees the children's tearful eyesShe then lives in sadness forever Old Woman's HouseForestSycamore TreeMedicine Man's House(Magical and Timeless)

Figure 1: Conceptual Map of "The Woman and the Tree Children"

Characters	Theme	Plot Development	Setting
Old Woman	Don't take things for granted	Sad old woman goes to Medicine Man seeking a husband and children to make her happy	Old Woman's House
Medicine Man	Easy come, easy go	She chooses children	Forest
Tree Children	The wound from a fool's word cannot be healed	Medicine Man tells her to go to the sycamore tree and pick fruit	Sycamore Tree
	Every action has a positive or negative reaction	She does as he says, and children show up in her house	Medicine Man's House
	Guilt and Evil	Old woman is happy	(Magical and Timeless)
	Exploitation and Unforgivingness	She yells at the children, and they disappear
	Indifference	She returns to the Medicine Man for help, but gets none
	(Compare with Hansel and Gretel, Old Woman in the Shoe, Snow White, The Talking Eggs, Toads and Diamonds, etc.	She goes back to the tree, and tries to pick the fruit again
		But sees the children's tearful eyes
		She then lives in sadness forever

 

Figure 2: Character Weave of "The woman and the Tree Children"

Character Role	Qualities	Feelings about self	Feelings about others
Woman: Old To find happiness	Assertive, resourceful, trusting, Selfish, impatient, sharp-tongued	Self-pitiful, Lonesome, Sad, Overjoyed, Irritable, Discontented, Regretful, Despondent	Pride and happiness (in her children)anger (with them)frustration (with the Medicine Man)
Tree-Children: Young To be good, dutiful children	Helpful, Cheerful, Sensitive, Victimized	Content, Peaceful, Playful, Responsible, Sad, disappointed	Goodness (towards the old woman)
Medicine Man: AgelessTo help the woman find happiness	Magical, Wise, Instructive, Facilitative, Limited, Stumped	Helpful, matter-of-fact, neutral	Indifference (towards the old woman)

Figure 3: Episodic Analysis of "The Woman and the Tree Children"

 

Challenge	Emotion	Action	Outcome
Episode 1: To find happiness	Sadness	Decides to seek help from Medicine Man	Goes to see Medicine Man
Episode 2: To try and get a husband or children	Happiness, Relief	Does what Medicine Man tells her	Goes to the sycamore tree
Episode 3: To complete tasks from MM in order to get children	Determination	Cleans pots, picks fruit, leaves them under the tree, and goes for a walk	Comes home to children!
Episode 4: To adapt to life with children	Happiness, Contentment, Frustration	Yells at children	Children return to the tree from which they came
Episode 5: To try and get back the children	Franticness	Goes to the sycamore tree	Does not succeed in getting the children back
Episode 6: To live once more without children	Regretfulness, Sadness	Cries and cries	Lives a sad and lonely life forevermore

NARRATIVE COMPOSITION
The four strategies discussed above provide an excellent scaffold for student writing. For example, using the Conceptual Map (Figure 1) as a guide, students could write a short but comprehensive essay about the story. In addition to discussing the characters, theme(s), plot development and setting, they could write about the story's connections to their personal world and their larger world experiences, and to other texts that they have read.
Again, using the Character Weave (Figure 2) as a guide, students could write a detailed critique of the role, function and effect of characters in a narrative. This assignment could help them gain the important insight that as the vehicle for developing theme, characters are one of the enduring facets of a good narrative. More capable students could be allowed to come up with their own categories, or include additional ones, such as "Symbolism." Students could also use the Weave as an instructional aid in the process of composing their own character portraits in creative writing. The Weave encourages students to investigate characters in a narrative more closely than they had done before, and to reflect on their depth and complexity.
The Episodic Analysis structure (Figure 3), could serve as the scaffold for writing a detailed summary of the story. Teachers could use it as an heuristic for helping their students understand that the narrative episode is a conceptual chunk, a series of events that occur as part of a larger sequence between the "initiating problem" and final "resolution" of a story. Students will come to understand that the episode acts as the receptacle for dramatic action and character involvement in a story. This is an important discovery which would later feed into students' own creative writing activities. Teachers should understood, and teach their students, that there is not a fixed number of episodes in any given story. Based on their intuitions and growing knowledge of story structure, students could learn to articulate and defend their own decisions about episodic breaks in a story.
Finally, teachers could use the story graph to help their students track the development of plot, and ultimately to remember the importance of this feature as they create their own stories. The story graph demonstrates the build-up to a climactic peak, and the subsequent denouement that are the hallmarks of successful narratives.

Teacher modeling, direct explanation, peer collaboration, scaffolded instruction, and metacognitive strategies must become not only workplace buzzwords, but functional tools that support real communication, learning, and understanding, especially in classrooms where literacy learning takes place amidst a backdrop of linguistic and cultural diversity. It is a truism of education that students learn better and become more engaged when they feel competent to handle the assignments and tasks set before them. This module has explored simple but powerful ways to help teachers achieve this goal when teaching narrative appreciation, comprehension, and composition. However, the strategies and techniques presented here are not intended to act as a panacea. It is not the case that having used the narrative structures recommended here, students will know all they need to know in order to understand narratives. But it is the case that they will have the requisite tools to help them interact and engage meaningfully with narrative texts, and achieve a measure of conceptual clarity and understanding whether reading on their own for pleasure, or studying and writing about narratives in alternative school settings. When curriculum and instruction can combine to promote conceptual growth and metacognitive development, students begin to feel empowered and achievement becomes an attainable goal.