WHAT IT IS:

From The Writing Strategies Book (Serravalo, 2017), Uh-oh. UH-OH! phew! is a narrative writing strategy to help students plan a compelling story arc.

HOW IT WORKS:

This strategy instructs students in one of the more common narrative story arcs: problem-problem-solution. In this approach, authors attempt to

• Establish a problem
• Demonstrate how characters attempt to solve the problem
• Worsen the problem
• Demonstrate another solution, this time effective
• Resolve the problem

To help students conceptualize the approach, use the more familiar phrasing “Uh-oh.” to indicate the problem, “UH-OH!” to indicate the worsening problem, and “phew!” to indicate the resolution. Provide students with a simple graphic organizer for planning their story arcs. Consider the example graphic organizer below.