Second grade students in an urban, public school setting participated in an eight-week intervention study to enhance their understanding of the narrative elements of a story (i.e., multiple characters, a plot line that contains multiple sequential elements, a climax and resolution).

The study involved the use of picture books from notable authors who portrayed multicultural characters and thematic elements, which were relatable to students of this age. These stories revolved around experiences that children had shared in the classroom (e.g., a time they have been hurt, in trouble, a special celebration, a favorite meal, a birthday). Using the picture books as models, the students pictorially represented both the story and their experiences through the use of a "path," a drawn slope made up of simple images depicting key events with the climax at the peak of the slope and the resolution on the tail end of the curve. The teacher-researcher then modeled a personal narrative by first drawing a path depicting a personal experience similar to the theme of the picture book and then using that to guide a written narrative. The case subjects then drew their own paths and wrote thematic personal narratives. This study examined how creating story paths affected the students' ability to understand the elements of a narrative story and how those paths helped the students in writing their own stories.

The data in this study consisted of the interactions among the students in their collaborative table settings, the paths that the students created from stories, the students' personal experiences, and the students' final written work. The written work was scored with a district-mandated rubric used for writing instruction. Although the whole class participated, the researcher focused on eight students who were representative of class makeup in terms of writing ability and ethnic distribution. Analysis of the data revealed that most students were able to construct a path representation of both picture books and their own narrative stories. Over time, the students' narrative writing became more complex in terms of characters, sequential elements, climax, resolution, and adherence to a theme. Based on these findings, inferences were made about the relationship between the use of paths and the students' writing ability. Students at every developmental and proficiency level showed growth through the following: use of picture books with relatable themes, creation of paths to pictorially depict elements of a narrative, teacher modeling and collaborative group discussion.