Who's Winning the Story Mapping Match?

As I read the chapters of Jason Ohler's book on DST I can't help but think of how I can apply his ideas to my classroom. I work in lower elementary levels and find that as much as I believe my students can do anything I set out for them, there are times when I have to stop a lesson completely and work from the lesson's most basic foundation because I have over estimated the previous understanding my students may have on a topic. In teacher terms we call this "scaffolding." As a result, many of the ideas I take away from Ohler's book I am already devising in my mind a plan for making it accessible to early education learners.

An example of a concept that I could conceive scaffolding for younger minds was when Ohler referred to story maps as a way to play Ping Pong with an audience's emotions (loc. 1598). Younger minds often see getting from point A to point B as a one way direction with no obstacles in their way. However, describing a journey between these two points as a game of Ping Pong may help students create a more dynamic plot line to their stories. The ball could be their character and each time the ball hits the paddle a new element or conflict is introduced. Only when the ball is hit hard enough to get past its adversary is the journey concluded. Even the net could be included as another obstacle to overcome with a "do-over" theme to the character's actions. In this way, an elementary student can create a story map that has a basic element of understanding in it through a game that most children are familiar with. Additionally, students will see that stories are more than just describing an event that could take place in real-life, but more similar to a game where a story can show a character that overcomes more than just one obstacle to become a winner.