Ideas for Generating Personal Narrative Writing:
Think of a person that matters to you, then list clear, small moment you remember with him or her. Using a strategy to get started helps us as writers. One strategy is to jot down a person and list small moments connected to that person. Then ask yourself "What was the most important part?" so that we zoom in on that part of the story and remember a lot of details. Then we can write our story!
As you work I will come around to admire your amazing writing and then we will share what we have with a friend.
MAke sure to include true exact details from the movie you have in your mind. As I walk around today and confer with you the details that support your writing will make me see what happened to you.
A Writer's Job in a Conference:
What are you working on as a writer?
What are you trying to do as a writer?
What will you do today in your writing?
The tricky thing about writing a personal narrative is that you must make the gigantic leap from summarizing to storytelling. When you just summarize you tell everything that happened. You must realize that writing is about making choices about what to say and how to say it. Once you start telling your story moment by moment, and remember all that you saw and heard and felt that day. There are endless possibilities! Remember that writing is more than just retelling all that happened in a day.
Adding Leads:
I did some gardening with my Grandma. It was fun. We planted some flowers.
I knelt down under a shady tree next to my Grandma. "Is this a good place to plant some flowers?", I asked?
Today's teaching point is to tell you how to write in an organized chronological way. When you are writing a personal narrative it is important to think back to the very start of the memory and then make a movie in my mind.
I remember when I first saw my Dad cry and I felt scared and worried. He was not the type to cry much.
or
What did I hear, think, see, and feel in order?
I heard my dad talking on the phone. He said, Oh no, and how bad is it? Is he gone? He sat down on the chair like the weight of the world was on him. He looked awful. and I knew something bad had happened. "Willis died", he said. I saw tears filling in his eyes, real tears. I didn't know what to do or say so I sat next to him and put my head on his shoulder.
SO LET'S TRY IT TOGETHER USING A WHOLE CLASS TOPIC