Narrative & Self-Writing

Unit, lessons, activities, and ideas for teaching narrative/self-writing to middle and high school students.

 

Who Am I/My Culture Paper - For one of the first major writing assignments in my English 10 classroom, I decided to have the students write a paper about three items that define them, 'Who Am I/My Culture Paper'. This began as an assignment/mini-speech [to read more about that, click here].
Attention-Grabbers Lesson – Narrative Stories - A good introduction is one that doesn’t always start at the beginning of the story. A good introduction uses figurative language, interesting detail, and grabs the reader’s attention and makes him/her want to keep going! This is something I emphasized with my sophomores when writing their narrative pieces.
Developing Background – Narrative Writing Lesson - The background/background information for a story is essential to grasping the meaning.
Developing Introductions – Narrative Short Story Lesson - For my Narrative Unit [with my Mason City High School sophomores], I had them first create a narrative 'Day in the Life' Comic, and then work on taking their comic and creating a short [1-2 paragraph] narrative story based on it.
Narrative Writing: From Comic to Short Story - For my Narrative Unit [with Mason City High School sophomores], I had them create a ‘Day in the Life’ Comic, documenting, in first-person, and using the elements of narrative, a day in their personal lives.
A Day in the Life – Narrative Comic: Student Examples - Fall 2014: As a part of my Narrative/Self-Writing Unit with my Mason City High School 10th graders, I wanted students to be comfortable writing about themselves, so I decided to create a comic activity, one that would bridge the gap between writing and drawing, while also bringing in some creativity. Below is a sample brainstormingContinue reading "A Day in the Life – Narrative Comic: Student Examples"
A Day in the Life Comic - Fall 2014: As a part of my Narrative/Self-Writing Unit with my Mason City High School 10th graders, I wanted students to be comfortable writing about themselves, so I decided to create a comic activity, one that would bridge the gap between writing and drawing, while also bringing in some creativity.