Writing Chooseable Path Stories with Your Students

Before you begin to write a Choose Our Way tale, like the Choose Your Own Adventure books you grew up with, you need to create a foundation where students understand the importance of allowing choice.

So rarely are students taught to consider themselves as an active participant while reading, it may require a full class to bring about the required paradigm shift.

Examples of apps made using this method can be found at: Sammi’s Quest: Google Play Store

A Free Demo can be downloaded to your Android Device Here: Sammi’s Quest: Vol. 1 – The Wandering Ogres (Demo)

The Full Version can be purchased for your Android Device Here: Sammi’s Quest: Vol. 1 – The Wandering Ogres (Full Release)

Lesson 1: Introducing Options

The first step in bringing the power of Choose Your Own Adventure stories to your classroom is laying the groundwork for students to find them meaningful.

Start by giving students a short, yet highly discussable story. I have attached Alligator River, below. This story is an excellent choice for this activity. Students should consider what choices would have led to different outcomes in the story.

I begin by running my Alligator River Lesson and then asking students to make a second chart. On the new chart students should explore one alternate path that each of the five characters (Abigail, Ivan, Sinbad, Slug, and Gregory) could have made to prevent the couple from splitting up.

Handout: Alligator River – Alternate Choices

Lesson 2: Creating a Branching Framework

Once students have considered how alternate decisions in the story would affect the lives of the characters, students should consider how the alternate choices might affect the rest of the story.

Below, you will find two possible graphic organizers that can help students plan out the new timeline for the story.

Students should be free to create their own organizer if neither of the two are suitable for their needs.

Handout: Branching Path Graphic Organizers

Lesson 3: Writing a Branching Story

Once students have created a flowchart, it’s time for them to start writing their story.

Below, you will find a template for students to create their Choose Our Way tale as it moves from paragraph to paragraph. The template has been created to work with the previous graphic organizer, however students are free to use it as an exemplar to base their own story on.

Feel free to spend as much or as little time as you want to perfect these pieces. You can use this as the start of a creative writing unit, or simply use it to move on to the next step.

Handout: Choose Our Way tale Story Template

Next Steps

Now that students have created a Choose Our Way tale, you are free to move on to the next step, Using Twine 2 to create a Digital Choose Our Way tales or you can choose to create a more involved story that students create on their own.

I suggest that you allow your students to Write Palm Stories for their Digital COWtale.