A Practical Guide to Using Storyline Across the Curriculum: Inspiring Learning with Passion

A Practical Guide to Using Storyline Across the Curriculum provides a comprehensive introduction to the Storyline approach to teaching and learning – an approach that embraces and encourages children’s passion for learning. Putting children at the centre of learning, the book explores how educators and teachers can harness pupils’ innate appetite for stories to make interdisciplinary teaching and learning enjoyable and successful.

Demonstrating how teachers can easily use the Storyline approach within the curriculum, this book offers a step-by-step introduction to learning developed through the use of narrative. Key topics explained include:

• planning individual lessons and sequences of lessons;
• guidance on planning and progress;
• assessment and evaluation of learning;
• links with visible learning and growth mindset approaches.

Filled with detailed examples of storylines that have been tried and tested in the classroom, A Practical Guide to Using Storyline Across the Curriculum offers new and experienced teachers an accessible guide to the Storyline approach, with ready-to-use ideas to enable, inspire and support learners.

Part I: The Theory, Philosophy and Approach Explained

2. Introduction
4. What is storyline?
6. Learning and the curriculum
8. Learning and pedagogy
10. What does Storyline look like in the classroom?

11. Part II: Four Approaches to Planning a Storyline

12. The Street: A WWII Storyline, Plan and Process
14. The Letter: The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark and a Health and Wellbeing Storyline
16. The Challenge: Junior Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice Storylines
18. The Visitor: A Visitor from Space, The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch and a Rabbie Burns Storyline

19. Part III: Assessment and Planning Approaches

20. Choosing your Storyline Approach
22. Storyline and Curriculum Planning
24. Ways of Presenting and Assessing the Learning

Part IV: Appendices: Practitioner Examples, Plans, Case Studies and Templates

2. Storyline in a day
4. Alien writing frame
6. Practitioner example: Alien story
8. Practitioner example: WW11 plan
10. Practitioner example: Highland Clearances (The Street)
12. Practitioner example: Wizard School (The Street)
14. Practitioner example: Mary Queen of Scots
16. Practitioner example: Forest School (The Letter)
18. Practitioner example: Our Railway
20. Practitioner example: Middle Ages (The Challenge)
22. Practitioner example: Egypt:
24. Practitioner example: Wind Farm
26. Practitioner example: New Neighbours and Refugees (The Street)
28. Synopsis Planning pro forma
30. Storyline Planning pro forma
32. Storyline Planning template
34. WW11 complete synopsis
36. WW11 complete plan
38. Rainforest complete synopsis
40. Rainforest complete plan
42. Deforestation example
44. Assessment blank proforma
46. Completed assessment grid

24. Using Templates

Peter Tarrant has been involved in teaching for 36 years and is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Initial Teacher Education at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He has been involved in a number of research projects involving topics such as teacher confidence and behaviour management, developing reflective practice, and using a peer learning approach towards metacognitive practice. He is author of Metacognition in the Primary Classroom (Routledge 2015). Peter regularly does INSET in schools and colleges and can be contacted at ptarrant9@gmail.com.