1. FUN WITH NARRATIVE WRITING!

2. A personal narrative includes dialogue. A personal narrative focuses on one single incident in the author’s life. A personal narrative may be a few paragraphs or several pages in length. A personal narrative includes the author’s thoughts and feelings as well as the actual events; the thoughts and feels are clear. A personal narrative includes vivid and sensory details about the time, place and people involved. Features of a Personal Narrative A personal narrative is almost always written in 1 st person A personal narrative usually presents events in chronological or sequential order. A personal narrative shows who the author is; it has strong voice.

3. Small MOMENTS What is a small moment? Here are some of mine: 1. Hamster getting smooshed 2. The day I had to return my dog 3.My pregnancy blowout where I almost divorced my husband 4.The day Riley got a concussion 5. The day I got caught sneaking into a football team and almost got arrested Based on the elements of a good narrative (see all 7 on the paper in front of you!), which do you think I could make into the best narrative? Why? THINK and decide, share with your table and then prepare to tell the class….

4. How this works HW: come up with 5 small moments- brainstorm them in your journal (on the correct pg) Tomorrow you will narrow it down to one you can develop Then, Fri you will pitch your idea, to your writing buddy, much like writers do for new movies or shows. Then you will create a storyboard and eventually a rough draft. Here is my rough draft. We will revisit my rough draft later so you can help me improve it!

5. Writing Buddies… First, let’s get with our writing buddies. This will be the same person for our entire narrative writing unit…. ALAMO

6. Writing Buddy Take a few minutes to share those moments with your buddy. This is called the “verbal rehearsal”– rehearse it to see if it will be a strong narrative. Together, determine which of your moments would be the best to write about…make sure you can justify WHY. Again, use the elements: 1. REVEALING SOMEHING OF IMPORTANCE: is this a SINGLE IMPORTANT INCIDENT? 2. SENSORY DETAILS: Could this be told with vivid, SENSORY details that will bring the story to life? 3. DIALOGUE: Is there potential for dialogue? 4. STRONG VOICE: does it lend itself to strong voice? 5. SEQUENCE: Could events be presented in a clear, chronological order (first, next, finally...) 6. FIRST PERSON: Can it be written using “I?” 7. AUTHOR’S THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ARE CLEAR:

7. Now that you’ve chosen your small moment, it’s time for…. The pitch! In your journal- write your pitch. This is a story about….

8. Pitch Your Pitch Next, share your pitch out loud with your buddy…. Help one another to hone… –Does this still seems like a good choice –What else might your buddy add? –Anything that needs to be clarified/added? –Again…look at 7 elements and make sure this choice is a winner

9. Storyboard Jot down what happened in a sequential way using blank paper and post-its! –You can draw your storyboard, you can type it. My suggestion is to take a blank sheet of paper. Write down what happened SEQUENTIALLY on post its (feel free to draw as well) and then arrange the post its on paper so that you can later… Shift post-its as needed to make the story clear and sequential.

10. Final Steps… Coming soon to a Language Arts room near you: –Rough draft –Editing –Revising –Publishing!