With many story option to choose from, students have been at work drafting and redrafting, using all of the strategies and skills they know of to write great personal narratives.
After writing some pieces, students started coming up to me and asking, "How does this measure up?" What a GREAT question! What's important is that the students themselves have some idea of what to look for in quality writing. We brainstormed some ideas, and here are some of the traits they came up with:
Great narratives give the writer an experience-not a summary.
Great narratives don't try to tell the entire story using only dialogue.
Great narratives include a lot of interesting details.
They're on the right track! Great narrative writing should have an emotional impact on readers and be full of much imagery and sensory details.
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This week, we planned how we could deliver such an experience to our readers. We came up with a story line that we would all use to apply a new strategy: Little Billy becomes unhinged when his mother buys him an apple at the ice cream stand. We wanted our reader to INFER that Billy was mad - to FEEL his anger.
...People don't plan to fail. They fail to plan. We planned ways that characters reveal themselves: by what they say, think, and do. Also we discussed how 90% of what we communicate to others is non-verbal, so we planned body clues (like balling up his fists or veins popping out his neck) for the piece.
...People don't plan to fail. They fail to plan. We planned ways that characters reveal themselves: by what they say, think, and do. Also we discussed how 90% of what we communicate to others is non-verbal, so we planned body clues (like balling up his fists or veins popping out his neck) for the piece.
With the planning complete, students went to work drafting their pieces.
After we were done, we used different colored pencils to circle sentences containing one of the four categories: Say, Think, Body Clues, Actions
Students then analyzed their work to see how they were able to use different types of details to make their character dynamically alive!
Finally, students went back to their own personal narratives and did the same type of analysis. Many students had an "a-ha" moment and became aware of a practical strategy that could help them bring their narratives to life.
Example of student work (written by Zach):
One beautiful Sunday afternoon, Billy and his mom were out for a walk when Billy saw an ice cream stand. "Mommy, can we get something?"
"OK, but don't spoil your appetite!"
Billy's freckles shined as he showed his missing teeth. I hope they nave cookie dough! Billy thought.
"Hi, can I get an apple?" Billy heard his mom say.
Who's getting an apple? Billy thought. Is this a joke?
"Here you go, Billy," said his mom, handing him an apple.
Oh, you're going to pay, Mommy, thought Billy. All of a sudden, he threw the apple on the ground and said, " I HATE YOU! AHHHHHH!" Billy had smoke coming out of his ears, and veins were popping out of his neck. With his bright red face and slanted eyebrows, Billy looked sort of funny. With growing rage, he shouted, "Give me ice cream, NOW!" Everybody was staring as he started jumping on the table. Suddenly, he kicked his mom in the face and shouted, "THBBTTHH" as spit fired like a machine gun out of his mouth and on to his mom.
"BILLY! The apple was for ME! I just wanted you to hold it while I order you ice cream. NO ICE CREAM NOW!" His mom said full of anger.
"Oopsies," said Billy quietly.
