Shifting Time and Place

Overview

In this third lesson of Sound Stories: Narrative Worlds, students explore how writers move readers between moments and settings without causing confusion. They analyse a model narrative, then draft or revise scenes using clear time markers, connected settings and purposeful changes that affect the character or plot.

Learning intentions

• WALT use changes in time and setting to build interest and develop our stories.
• WALT signal shifts clearly so readers can follow the narrative.
• WALT connect settings to a character’s experiences, feelings and actions.
• WALT revise scenes to strengthen sequence, detail and reader understanding.

Success criteria

• I can signal when time changes using words, phrases or paragraphing.
• I can introduce and connect several settings clearly.
• I can show how each shift affects the character or plot.
• I can reread and revise my writing so the sequence is easy to follow.

Curriculum links

• Creating meaning through narrative writing, with deliberate choices about structure, language and detail.
• Organising ideas into a coherent sequence and developing characters, settings and events.
• Reading and discussing how writers use language and text structure to shape meaning and reader response.
• Developing the English learning area capabilities of thinking, communicating, managing self and relating to others.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Reconnect and hook Open with the opening hook and learning intention. Display two short sentences: “Mia pushed open the attic door. Three years earlier, she had stood on this same beach.” Ask: “What changed? How did you know?” Invite students to identify the time shift and predict how the two places might be connected. Share the learning intention and success criteria.

2. 5–12 minutes – Notice writer’s choices Use the model narrative and noticing questions to read a short model aloud. The model should move from a present-day school storage room to a stormy coastline in the past, then return to the present. Think aloud: “The phrase years earlier warns me that time is changing. The repeated object links the two settings.” Students turn and talk about which details help them follow the shifts.

3. 12–20 minutes – Explicit teaching and modelling Refer to the time-marker and setting-change examples. Teach three ways to signal a shift: time markers such as later that afternoon, the next morning and years before; a new paragraph or scene break; and a linking detail, such as an object, sound, memory, goal or problem. Model revising a simple scene: “The bell rang. The cave was dark.” Improve it by naming the new setting, connecting it to the character and showing its effect: “That night, beyond the harbour, Kiri stepped into the cave. The darkness reminded her of the secret she had promised to keep.”

4. 20–25 minutes – Guided planning Distribute the time-and-setting planning and revision sheet. Students map their existing narrative setting, then plan a second or subsequent setting and a meaningful time shift. Prompt them to record: when the shift happens, where the character goes or remembers, what links the settings, and how the change affects the character or plot. Confer with students who need help choosing a purposeful shift rather than adding a random location.

5. 25–40 minutes – Independent writing Students spend 15 minutes drafting or revising a scene that includes a time shift and multiple settings. Keep the writing instructions and success checklist visible. Encourage students to use precise sensory details and to show the character’s response to the new time or place. Pause halfway for a quick reread: students underline their time marker and circle the detail that connects the settings.

6. 40–45 minutes – Share and reflect Use the peer-share and plenary prompts. In pairs, students read the relevant section aloud. Partners respond: “I knew the time changed when…” and “The setting affected the character by…”. Invite two or three students to share effective examples. Students complete the final reflection on the worksheet, identifying one successful shift and one revision they will make next lesson.

Resources

• the narrative writing lesson deck
• the time-and-setting planning and revision sheet
• Students’ narrative drafts or writing books
• Whiteboard and pens
• Highlighters or coloured pencils
• Timer
• Exercise books or devices, if used for drafting

Assessment

• During discussion and planning, listen for students identifying time markers, scene changes and links between settings.
• Check the drafted scene for a clear time signal, more than one understandable setting, and an effect on the character or plot.
• Use the partner response and worksheet reflection to identify students needing support with sequencing, transitions or purposeful detail.

Differentiation

• Provide a small bank of time markers and sentence frames, such as “Later that evening…”, “Long before this…”, and “When ___ arrived at ___…”.
• For students needing support, allow oral rehearsal with a partner, scribing or speech-to-text, and use a simple three-box plan: When? Where? What changes?
• For EAL learners, pre-teach setting, scene, shift, earlier and later with examples and visuals; accept labelled planning before extended writing.
• Extend confident writers by asking them to shift time without explaining everything directly, using a repeated image or object to make the connection clear.