Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Write a Backstory”

Students will choose a news report about an individual and develop a fictional story of the life circumstances that led up to the reported event.

Part A: Find a news story, either past or current, about something that happened to a person who otherwise would not be in the news—e.g., a person who was missing is found, a person does something heroic, a person is arrested for stealing food.

Part B: Write a fictional account of what led to the reported event. Feel free to make up other characters and life events that might shed light on the reported event. Indicate how the event might have changed the person.

Teaching Suggestion: Students might benefit from scanning the headlines in local newspapers for anything unusual that catches their interest. News stories from bygone eras or far-off places might also be useful for this exercise.

Differentiation Suggestion: As an alternative, students might choose a classic nursery rhyme and invent a backstory for one or more of the characters. For example, consider "Mary Had a Little Lamb.