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A bit of visual support to be used as input, mainly.

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(Apologies in advance for the quality of sound and for my weird voice, I don't know why I sound like that)

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Bonus task
(not looking for extra credit, but if you want to we can't stop you...)

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Because 'dictogloss' only was too mainstream.

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Homer and Chief Wiggum

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Edpuzzle assignment. Make video delivery an interactive experience. Students watch the lesson while answering the quizzes. The teacher gets the powerful hassle-free analytics.

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Because sometimes even we, the teachers, need some help to help others.

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How to Write Satisfying Story Endings

Below are some tips on writing effective story endings. At the bottom of the page, you'll find links to more tips on story writing.

The ending of a story or novel forms readers' final impression of what they have read.

An effective ending seals the readers' satisfaction with your piece. It leaves them thinking and maybe talking about it long after they have finished reading.

A story ending can be either happy or sad; it can leave the reader uplifted or pensive or heartbroken. But it has to feel "right."

What makes a certain ending feel right? How can you write endings that leave your readers satisfied?

There are no black and white rules to follow. But here are are some guidelines to help you write endings that will make readers want to come back for more.

1) Effective endings show (or suggest) the result of the story's conflict.
The conflict of a story is a problem that the main character has to solve.

Examples of story conflicts:

Cinderella wants to go to the ball -- but her stepmother wants to keep her scrubbing floors at home.

Rosa loves John. But John is in love with Amy.

Readers keep reading to find out if the character will succeed in solving this problem. Will Rosa make John fall in love with her? Or will he marry Amy instead?
The story conflict gives readers a reason to turn pages. At the end of the story,readers expect a payoff. Your story has raised a question, and readers want to know the answer.

Some story endings supply this answer in a tidy package. Cinderella marries the Prince, and they live happily ever after.

Many other successful endings only hint at the result of the conflict and trust readers to fill in the blanks.

For example, let's say that Rosa has saved up to buy an expensive present for John. When she goes to his house to deliver it, she looks through his living room window and sees him sitting on the sofa with Amy. Rosa sees how comfortable they look together, how intimate. Then she notices that Amy is pregnant. Rosa goes to ring John's doorbell, hesitates, then turns around and walks back down his front path to the street, where she drops her expensive present in a garbage can.

This story can end here. It might even end a moment sooner, when Rosa turns around and walks off John's porch. The reader has enough information to guess how the conflict will probably end. It looks as if John will probably stay with Amy. And it looks as if Rosa has decided to stop fighting for him.

Short stories often use this subtler approach. There might not be time to wrap everything up, or a tidy package might seem artificial. It might not be necessary. So the author gives the reader a hint of how things are likely to go.

What is the main conflict in your story? If you're not sure of the answer to this question, you need to work on that before you worry about your story ending.

I've noticed that when writers tell me they don't know how to end their stories, the real problem is often that they haven't developed a clear story conflict. They need to go back and work on the beginning and middle of their story. The right ending depends on what comes before it.

2) Effective story endings come from the main character's actions.

You might be familiar with the movie An Indecent Proposal. A young couple in need of money heads to Las Vegas to try to win the amount they need. After losing everything at roulette, they meet a rich stranger (played by Robert Redford) who offers them a million dollars if the woman (played by Demi Moore) will spend one night with him.

That is the central problem, or conflict, in the story. Will she make this bargain? And if she does, what will be the cost for her and her marriage?

In case you haven't seen the movie, I won't tell you how the story actually ends. Instead, let's imagine a different ending for the story. The young couple debates what the Demi Moore character should do. But before they reach a decision, her husband finds a hundred dollar bill on the floor of their hotel room. He takes it down to the roulette table and wins a million dollars. Problem solved!

Although this would be great news for the couple, it would be a terrible story ending because it's a matter of pure luck. It feels random. And instead of resolving the main story conflict, it avoids the conflict altogether. It gives the character an escape route that gets her out of a difficult choice. Her decisions and actions don't matter at all.

Story endings are generally much more satisfying when the main character makes them happen. The character confronts a conflict with her strengths and weaknesses. Maybe she'll win the battle. Or maybe too many odds are stacked against her and she'll fail in the end. Either way, the reader is there to watch the confrontation and will be disappointed if it feels like you've fixed the fight.

3) Satisfying story endings use elements from the story's beginning and middle.

Imagine I'm writing a novel about a millionaire who is murdered in his vacation home. The main suspects are the millionaire's wife and two children, as well as the butler (of course). As the novel progresses, the reader gets to know each of these suspects better.

The oldest son, Donovan, seems rather heartless. Maybe he did it, the reader thinks. But Edgar, the younger, sensitive son, is clearly hiding something. And what about the blood stains on the butler's clothes? The reader forms opinions and theories, then changes his or her mind.

Now, let's say that in the novel's final chapter, the reader learns that the millionaire also has an illegitimate son, Jimmy. The millionaire abandoned Jimmy's mother years ago, and the adult Jimmy has murdered the millionaire out of revenge.

This is not a satisfying ending if it seems to come out of the blue. The reader has spent a lot of time speculating about a cast of characters that didn't include Jimmy at all. If I introduce Jimmy at the last minute, I'm not playing fair.

To fix this problem, I don't necessarily have to change the novel's ending. Instead, I could edit the earlier chapters to hint at Jimmy's existence. That way, when the reader reaches the end, his or her reaction will be "Aha!" instead of "Huh?"

Even a twist ending, designed to surprise the reader, should not come out of the blue. A great twist ending makes readers see the story beginning and middle in a different light. "Aha!" the reader says. "I should have realized that...!" "Why didn't it occur to me that...!"

This "Aha!" reaction comes when the reader realizes afterwards that the seeds of the surprising ending were in the beginning and middle, even though he or she didn't recognize them at the time.

Think of the famous twist at the end of the movie, The Sixth Sense. I'm not here to ruin movies for anyone, so, if you don't already know how that movie ends, I'll let you go rent it on DVD.

I'll just say that the audience gets a surprising piece of information at the end and realizes that the events in the movie were not what they seemed. But with this last piece of information, it all fits together. The clues were there. Recalling earlier scenes in the movie, the audience thinks, "Why didn't I realize what was really going on?"

Remember that, as an author, you can "cheat" to set up your story ending. Once you know how you want the story to end, you can go back and plant hints here and there for the reader, so that when she reaches your ending it will feel logical -- even inevitable.

4) Great story endings make the reader feel something.

If you bring your characters and conflict to life, readers will care how everything works out and will feel something when your character succeeds or fails.

Experiment to get the most emotional impact out of your ending. Try ending your story a little sooner; try ending it later. Try phrasing it differently. Push the words around until you get the spark that makes the magic happen.

Story Endings - Exercise

1) Your character will have an argument with his or her mother, friend, roommate, or spouse. You decide who is involved in the argument and what it is about. The argument should be very important to both people involved. Decide why it is important each of them.

2) Write the story of this argument. The argument builds and increases in intensity as emotions get inflamed. At the end, have one or both of the characters do something that lets the reader know what the result of the argument will be.

Will the characters forgive each other?

Will one of them win? Or will both of them lose? will one of them simply decide to give in?

Will one of the characters move away from home?

Experiment with hinting at the result instead of laying it out in detail.
Try writing different versions of the ending. Which one is the most satisfying? Which one has the greatest emotional power?

Story Endings - Next Steps

Did you like this article about story endings? You might also like our articles about story beginnings and story middles.

Or check out our online writing course, Essentials of Fiction Writing.

Back from Story Endings to the Creative Writing Ideas blog.

<< BACK from Story Endings to Creative Writing Courses Home.

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Below are some tips on writing effective story endings. At the bottom of the page, you'll find links to more tips on story writing. The ending of a story or novel forms readers' final impression of what they have read. An effective ending seals the readers' satisfaction with your piece.

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The 500-word story itself is the one source of input for this activity. The second important source of input is the unit in which this activity takes place: past tense. Verbs and adverbs of time are covered during the unit, so students can use them to complete the task. A list of irregular verbs is always seen when this content is shown so they will have reliable sources of input. In addition, the last question in the quiz promoted students' interest in understanding new vocabulary present in the story and that will also be helpful this time, in which they can use the words learnt.

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Too much writing, right? Time for some speaking and listening :)

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Higher-order thinking task: Creating an alternative ending to the 500-words story!

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Higher-order thinking task: Creating an alternative ending to the 500-words story!

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(Bloom would be proud).

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FIND the link to the video here (pun intended).

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Finding Nemo Directions And Pictures Scene DVDRIP

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OK STOP SAYING IT SEVERAL TIMES NOW DORY JUST LOOK AT MARLIN AND CONCERNTRATE OK!! lol Enjoy.

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The story used to create the socrative quizz and to base the socrative lesson on.

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The silence was terrible. I knew it would hit us at any moment. When it came the wave was colossal and came crashing down on us. Two of my little ones clung to me. They saw their father go under. He disappeared. We didn't see him resurface. Then we went under too. I was desperate to keep them alive and they clung to me as I fought to reach the top. The deadly foam made it almost impossible to breathe. The wreckage was everywhere. I had heard of the horror of these moments and I knew there would be worse to come.

My children were heaving and fighting to breathe. Their father was nowhere to be seen. Most of the others had been massacred by the torturous wave. The air stank of toxic fumes. The debris of dead bodies, dead children surrounded us. Very soon the next wave would come for us.

I wanted to scream but I couldn't. My young ones didn't know what had hit them. If we don't move now it will be the sure death of us. I had to find a way. I had to find a passage way for us. The water had gone down a good bit and we could move now. Those few who had survived were beginning to run . They were scampering. We were all searching for passage. We kept moving, my children scurried after me not wanting to be left behind. Then I saw it. I SAW THE WAY. THERE WAS A WAY OPEN TO US NOW.

Children we must move now. We must leave our home now. We must find a new home. The wave, the flood is coming again. Run with me now, as fast as your legs will carry you. Follow me now. Follow me!
The passenger was approaching. This was our chance. Our only chance to escape, to survive.

The head was so close now. It had to come closer. We needed contact to transfer. We waited and waited. The new source was close, so close. The foam had been washed away but now the huge nit comb was behind us. Ploughing towards us. Digging up the debris and shells. Splitting the bodies and destroying our eggs.

Fight. Keep fighting. Fight for life. This was it . Head to head. CONTACT. Now! NOW! Run children, run. Cling on! Go, go.
We ran for our lives.

The hair of the new passenger brushed against us. We clung to it, clinging to the strands, clinging for our existence. My children transferred. We had all transferred.
We would survive and multiply again.

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500 Words - Fight for Life - GOLD WINNER - BBC Radio 2

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The silence was terrible. I knew it would hit us at any moment. When it came the wave was colossal and came crashing down on us. Two of my little ones clung to me. They saw their father go under. He disappeared. We didn't see him resurface. Then we went under too.

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Senior student at the EFL program at PUCV. Entered the program in 2012 following his passion for the English language and his interest towards the educational field. in 2014 he received the FCE diploma obtaining a Grade A, certifying a C1 level of proficiency in English according to the CEFR. His hobbies involve music and computer games.

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Student at the EFL program at PUCV. Entered the program in 2012 looking for the skills needed to teach English. Ignacio studyied one semester abroad at Universiy of Central Lancashire, UK, where he also had the opportunity to teach Spanish to TESOL students.
He has also received English proficiency certificates, such as the FCE certificate and the IELTS certificate (C1 according to the CEFR).

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WELCOME!!!! :)

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One of the pre-reading tasks designed for the microteaching.

Pre-Reading task 2:

Listen to the first 15 seconds of the following song and try to answer these questions:

1.- Who is the singer?
2.- What do you know about her?

Get together in groups of 4 and make a list of what you know about Amy Winehouse

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUmZp8pR1uc

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Source of the text used in the micro-teaching activity.

Source: http://www.famouspeoplelessons.com/a/amy_winehouse.html

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Power Point Presentation of the micro-teaching.

*Note: it is recommended to download the presentation as some animations are crucial to make some sense out of the task (pre-reading task 1 and 3).

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Public Education Under Siege Summary (revised)

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Public Education Under Siege Summary (revised)

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Pablo Tapia

*Note: This version of the summary includes changes based on the suggestions present on the teacher's feedback.

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Ignacio Espinoza

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Homework on the Enzo Ferrari activity.
Questions:

a)Think back on the activity. Let’s suppose you would like to replicate it. What would be your learning objective for the lesson? Write it down.

a)Go to www.famouspeoplelessons.com and go over the suggested activities  for his bio. Which two would you pick as a follow up/post reading? State your reasons (2 or 3 lines for each selected activity).