Teacher-only planning companion for Narrative Structure Comparison. Use this page to teach structure as a meaning-making choice, not a universal rulebook.
This resource works best when kaiako explicitly challenge the idea that one linear arc is the default shape of all good stories. Use the comparison to ask what each structure values and what it makes visible. When bringing in pūrākau or other Māori texts, protect context and meaning rather than flattening them into a formula.
English interpretation asks students to notice how structure and organisation shape meaning, emphasis, and reader response.
The comparison grid makes structure visible and asks students to explain how different story patterns foreground different values, endings, and ways of seeing.
Useful before narrative writing, mentor-text study, or comparative text work.
Students deepen their writing when they can choose structures that suit purpose, audience, and kaupapa.
The dual-planning section helps students test one story idea through different shapes so structural choice becomes deliberate rather than accidental.
Strong as a bridge between literary analysis and students’ own narrative planning.
Aotearoa English teaching is stronger when students can recognise that narrative pattern is shaped by worldview, relationship, and cultural context.
Use the comparison carefully and concretely. Name that Māori storytelling traditions are not one single template, and keep the discussion grounded in real texts, oral stories, and mātauranga Māori contexts.
Best used with a familiar class text and a carefully selected local or Māori narrative study.
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2021). Te Mātaiaho: The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. Ministry of Education.
Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2021). Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners. Teaching Council.