Narrative Writing: An Autobiographical Incident 8th Grade Writing Project

Why is Narrative Essay Writing Important? Any Guesses?

Why is Narrative Essay Writing Important? 8th grade standard (sequencing, writing, etc.) Great Film Writer (Disney, Steven Spielberg) Creative Writer –software games! Detective/Police Officer-write-ups (details) Lawyer (details) Reporter Newspaper writer Magazine editorial writer

What is narrative writing? It tells a story. It has the elements of a short story (somebody-wanted-but-so-then): -Character - Plot/little subplot -Setting-details -resolution -Climax - Theme/Big Idea

What is narrative writing? (Continued) It has a beginning, middle, and end. It tells the order in which events take place. It is told from a particular point of view.

What is an autobiographical incident? It is a type of narrative writing. It tells a story about an event in a person’s life. It is written from events in the person’s memory. It expresses the person’s thoughts and feelings. It expresses a BIG IDEA/Theme where both the reader/writer has learned something about life.

What are we writing about? The MOMENT---one 5 minute or day event only! Figure out a “moment” in time where you have learned something that we as readers can learn too Think to try to teach us in your narrative how to be “empathetic” This moment should teach us a BIG IDEA- All of us must or can learn from it. Bring me an “artifact” of that moment-CLIP ART or PHOTO or scanned item or picture of a “real” artifact

Narrative Prompts I Can Choose From (or else I have to get it approved by Miss V) The Best Decision I Ever Made Death – the phone call --- the funeral something unexpected Moment with “Friends”-drugs / first crush / A Moment I Realized Something Important About Life My Most Nervous Moment / My Most Proudest Moment My Scariest Moment The Biggest Lie I ever Told, the moment, and the Consequences The Weirdest Moment That Ever Happened to Me Did something you could not do Tryouts/ Sports REMEMBER– it must be SCHOOL APPROPRIATE and be able to be read by Mrs. DeBritton and myself… Snack Bar….

Now read page: HOLT page 596 because this story is blueprinted for the kids to read.

Rescued! Three years ago, our family got a tiny puppy. It turned out that the breeder had sold us an ill dog and within three weeks our new family addition, Bear, died. I was devastated. I was determined that I would never go through that again. Eventually, however, my heart healed and I knew I was ready for another dog. For months, I looked at websites for animal adoption and one Saturday, I talked my husband into going to the shelter. As we walked around, I was drawn to a scrawny little dog pacing madly back and forth in his cage. He was filthy and was so matted that he actually had cornrows. The shelter couldn’t even identify his breed and said he had been on the streets for awhile. I fell in love with this hopeless little creature.

Rescued! I glanced at my husband and ten year old stepdaughter. My husband was standing with his arms folded across his chest and a look on his face that said, “Are you kidding me?” and my stepdaughter actually began to cry. Who would want that disgusting animal? The answer was, “I would.” It turned out that the puppy had an intestinal disease caused by living in such dirty conditions and he needed surgery on his knee. Our rescue dog ended up being very expensive. We had to shave off all his hair beause the groomer couldn’t even get through all his matts. For awhile he looked like a drowned rat. It was months before he looked healthy and had a full coat.

Rescued! Although my family thought I was insane, they agreed that Roadie, named after his time “on the road”, would come home and join our family. Today, although Roadie is clearly “my dog”, he is loved by all in our family. We miss Bear and will always remember him but the chance to rescue Roadie made our whole family smile again.