Narrative Writing.pdf

NARRATIVE

WRITING

By Tara McCarthy

SCHOLASTI

P ROFESSIONAL OOKS

New York • Toronto • London • Auckland • Sydney

Scholastic Inc. grants teachers permission to photocopy the designated reproducible pages of this book for

classroom use. No other part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part, or stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or

otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to

Scholastic Inc., 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Cover design by Vincent Ceci and Jaime Lucero

Interior design by Vincent Ceci and Drew Hires

Interior illustrations by Drew Hires

ISBN 0-590-20937-X

Printed in the U.S.A.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

TO THE TEACHER ...................................................................................... 5

PART ONE

WRITING NARRATIVES ABOUT OUR

OWN EXPERIENCES ................................................................................ 7

Getting Started ...................................................................................................... 7

Three Ways of Journaling ..................................................................................... 8

Double-Entry Journal, Problem-Solution Journal, Partner Journal

Observation Diaries ............................................................................................. 11

Logs ..................................................................................................................... 13

Autobiographical Incidents ................................................................................ 15

Activities ............................................................................................................. 16

Friendly Letters, Class Reports, Imagination Diaries, Postcard Narratives

Culminating Activity

PART TWO

WRITING NARRATIVES ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE ................ 19

Getting Started .................................................................................................... 19

First-Person Biographies .................................................................................... 20

First-Person Narratives Based on History ......................................................... 21

If Only They Could Speak! Unusual Narrators .................................................. 22

Picture-Prompt Narratives .................................................................................. 24

Activities ............................................................................................................. 26

History Letters, History Newspapers, Right-Now Magazine Stories,

Narrative Poetry, Culminating Activity

PART THREE

WRITING NARRATIVES ABOUT LITERATURE ....................... 29

Getting Started .................................................................................................... 29

Story Summaries ................................................................................................. 30

Book Character Conversations ........................................................................... 31

Different Voices ................................................................................................... 32

Adding to the Story ............................................................................................. 34

New Episodes, Put Yourself into the Story

Narrating Personal Connections ......................................................................... 36

Letters Between Book Characters, Life-Experience Connections

Activities ............................................................................................................. 39

Silent Dialogues, Using Illustrations, Literary Recipes, Character Advertisements,

Culminating Activity

PART FOUR

WRITING STORIES .................................................................................. 41

Getting Started .................................................................................................... 41

Investigating Plot: Traditional Stories ............................................................... 42

Investigate Story Characters .............................................................................. 43

Picture the Setting .............................................................................................. 44

Group Writing: Story Perks and Starters ........................................................... 46

Object Prompts, Familiar Sayings, New Endings for Old Stories, Great Beginnings

Start Your Story With a BANG! .......................................................................... 48

Activities ............................................................................................................. 50

Parallel Sentences, Poetry, Music, Art, Culminating Activity

PART FIVE

COMPOSITION SKILLS (Reproducibles) ................................ 53

Strong Verbs ........................................................................................................ 54

Precise Nouns ...................................................................................................... 55

Transitional Words .............................................................................................. 56

Combining Sentences .......................................................................................... 57

Comparisons ........................................................................................................ 58

Punctuating Conversation .................................................................................. 59

Ways To Begin Sentences ................................................................................... 60

Proofreading Practice .......................................................................................... 61

TO THE TEACHER

A narrative tells a story. Telling stories aloud is probably the oldest form of human

discourse. The oral form comes so naturally to us that we tend to overlook the

important ways in which it is different from a written narrative.

As we tell stories aloud in an informal setting, we tend to “hop around”; we may tell

events out of order, leave out important steps, or fail to identify characters clearly. In a

sense, all that is OK: our gestures, expressions, and tones of voice can carry a lot of infor-

mation; and immediate feedback and questions from the listening audience allow us to go

back and fill in the blanks.

However, the audience expects and needs more from a written narrative. The story can’t

simply be “talk written down.” All the essentials must be provided in an organized way.

Whether the story is a one-paragraph true-life anecdote or a 600-page novel, it must have a

central idea, characters, a plotline, adequate description, and usually a culminating event.

This book suggests strategies and activities for helping your students draw on their nat-

ural enthusiasm for story-telling in order to write narratives that satisfy both themselves

and their reading audience.

BOOK EMPHASES

EMPHASIS ON PREWRITING AND EXPLORING

Because we learn to write by writing, every writer needs as many opportunities as possi-

ble to “just write” and to explore a variety of formats. Each of the first four sections of this

book suggests several writer-ly approaches for the student to freely experiment with

before he or she chooses a particular way to do the final writing assignment. The

Culminating Activity in each section presents this assignment and briefly suggests draft-

ing, conferencing, editing, and publishing options.

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