Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Timeline of Key Events”

After considering the key events of the novel from their own perspective, students map out those events in the form of a timeline explaining their importance.

Consider the novel’s key events. At which points in the novel does something or someone changes drastically? At which points do important truths emerge?

• Either independently or with a partner, identify at least 5 events.
• Consider how you might represent those events on a timeline, either using a medium such as PowerPoint or Canva, or by hand.
• Label each event on your timeline and provide a 1-2 sentence explanation as to why each event is important.

Teaching Suggestion: Before students begin brainstorming, you may find it helpful to review basic plot structure as a class—e.g., discuss what constitutes an inciting incident or climax, coming up with examples from other works. You can also remind students that key events in a story can vary in form and encourage them to select a variety of events and characters to feature in their timeline.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with processing challenges, consider providing a template for this assignment that includes 5 blank spaces to “plot” narrative developments and sentence frames/starters prompting students on those events’ importance (e.