Grade 3-5 Unit 2: Personal Narrative
Essential Questions:
· How do authors tell their own stories so as to compel their readers?
· What writing strategies do authors use to strengthen their personal stories?
Common Core Standards:
Grade 3 / 3.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.a) Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
b) Use dialogue and description of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
c) Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
d) Provide a sense of closure.
3.W.4 With guidance and support from peers and adults, produce writing in which the development an organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
3.W.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
Grade 4 / 4.W.3 Write narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
a) Orient the read by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
b) Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
c) Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events.
d) Use concrete words and phrases to convey experiences and events precisely.
e) Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
4.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
4.W.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
Grade 5 / 5.W.3 Write narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
a) Orient the read by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
b) Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
c) Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events.
d) Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
e) Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
5.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
5.W.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, or trying a new approach.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
· Write personal narratives that use strategies to strengthen ideas, organization, and word choice.
· Use the strategy “show don’t tell” to strengthen their ideas.
· Plan their writing to support drafting of their ideas.
· Write leads and endings that engage the readers in the story.
· Use precise nouns, action verbs, and choice adjectives in their writing.
· Revise their writing for ideas, organization, and word choice.
· Edit their writing using a checklist.
Key Academic Vocabulary:
· Personal narrative
· Story elements: Plot, character, setting
· Parts of Speech: Nouns, adjectives, verbs
· Six Traits of Writing: Ideas, organization, word choice, conventions
Outline of Unit 2: Personal Narrative
Day 1Introducing Mentor Text: The Genre of Personal Narrative / Day 3
Use Plot, Place, and Character in a Story
Trait: Ideas and Organization / Day 5
Show Don’t Tell
Trait: Ideas
Day 6
Bring Your Characters to Life
Trait: Ideas / Day 7 / Day 8
Describe What Your Characters Look Like
Trait: Ideas / Day 9
Using Dialogue to Bring Characters to Life Trait: Ideas / Day 10
Use Details to Bring the Setting Alive
Trait: Ideas
Day 11
Making a Plan
Trait: Organization / Day 12
Using Transition Words
Trait: Organization / Day 13
Write a Lively Lead
Trait: Organization / Day 14 / Day 15
Come Up with the Right Ending
Trait: Organization
Day 16
Use Choice Adjectives
Trait: Word Choice / Day 17 / Day 18
Use Precise Nouns
Trait: Word Choice / Day 19 / Day 20
Use Verbs that Describe
Trait: Word Choice
Day 21
Choose a seed idea for personal narrative / Day 22
Create a timeline for seed idea / Day 23
Begin drafting about #1 only / Day 24
Continue drafting / Day 25
Continue drafting
Day 26
Revise for ideas, organization, and word choice based upon lessons for the unit. / Day 27
Use Editing Checklist / Day 28
Final Draft / Day 29
Final Draft / Day 30
Author’s Celebration
Day One: Introducing Mentor Text: The Genre of Personal Narrative
Focus Lesson Topic / Objectives:Students will be able to:
· Identify the difference between reading a piece as a reader and reading as a writer.
· Name several strategies used by mentor authors in writing personal narratives.
Materials / · Copies of “Eleven” and other mentor personal narratives
Connection
Connect the lesson to what students already have learned or something specific that you have noticed.
“Yesterday we learned how to…”
“I have noticed…”
“Many of you have asked…” / I am so excited about the writing that you have done so far this year. I know that your stories are important to you, but I have also noticed that your writing really matters to your readers too. I noticed… [Share a few anecdotes about the students’ writing has affected their readers.]
So I want you to remember that your writing matters because you are writing for your readers.
Today we are starting a new unit of study about personal narrative writing, and this time your goal is to write even more powerful stories, stories that will make your readers laugh, cry, get angry, or think about something in a new way. You have that power as writers and I can’t wait to help you get started!
Teaching (I do!)
Tell them what you will reach today.
“Today I am going to teach you how to…”
Show them exactly how to do it.
“Watch me do it…” or “Let’s take a look at how (author) does this when s/he writes…” / Today I want to teach you that one way to make your writing powerful is to study the work of published authors. We can read their writing and then ask, “What did this author do that I could do in my writing?”
I want to share a piece of writing by Sandra Cisneros with you today. This story is called “Eleven.” I chose this text there are parts of the story that resemble the kind of writing that you will try to do in this unit. This story will be our mentor text. Listen and watch as I read and experience this story. [Read aloud and demonstrate experiencing the story. To show this, act out small parts such as Mrs. Price holding the sweater with disdain between two fingers. Stop periodically to think aloud and point out how you are “experiencing” the story. Read up to the line in the story that reads “Not mine, not mine, not mine.”]
I can really picture this story in my mind! I felt like I was Rachel, moving that red sweater to the corner of my desk with a ruler so that I didn’t have to touch it!
Now, I need to think like a writer. As a writer, I need to stop and ask myself, “What do I notice about this story? What has Sandra Cisneros done that I could try the next time I write a story?” I call this reading with my writer’s eye. Let me take a look at the story using my writer’s eye. Hmmm…. I notice that Cisneros has written about one small episode in her life, one that other people might not think was very important, but one that I think really mattered to her. [Add this idea to anchor chart.] I also notice that this author writes her story from so much detail that I feel like I am right there reliving every moment. One way Cisneros does this is by using the exact words that Mrs. Price said. [Add this idea to anchor chart.]
Active Engagement (We do!)
Ask them to try it with you, or with a partner, for a few minutes.
“Now you all try it with me…” / Let’s try this together. I’ll continue reading. As I read, I want you to experience this text and make a movie in your mind. [Read aloud “Eleven from “Not mine, not mine, not mine.” to “all itchy and full of germs that aren’t mine.”]
Now, I’ll reread the same section and I want you to really think like a writer. Notice what Sandra Cisneros does that allows you to experience her story and ask yourself, “What could I try in my writing?” [Reread section of text.] Turn and talk to your partner about what you noticed. [Share a few ideas and add to anchor chart.]
Send Off (For Independent Practice) Link (You do!)
“So for the rest of your lives I want you to remember that good writers…You might want to try it today or some other time and see if it helps you…” / Have students look through different examples of personal narrative. Have them look and record in their notebooks what qualities of writing do they observe in what they read.
Independent Writing / So, I want you to always remember that writers learn from other writers. As a writer, you must read in two ways. First, read to experience the story. Then, really read like a writer. Study stories and ask yourself, “What has this writer done that I could try?” This study will make your writing even better and more powerful!
Today during independent writing continue your study of personal narrative writing. There is a collection of personal narratives at each table. Read and experience these stories. Then study them with your writer’s eye. List what the authors have done that you can try. We’ll work quietly for about 15 minutes and then come back together to share.
Group Wrap Up (Share)
“Did anyone try out what was taught today?” / Have students share one part of a personal narrative with a partner that they found powerful.
Ask: What did your writer’s eye notice about these stories? Who found something in a story that they plan to try in their own writing?
Have students name some of the key qualities of personal narratives that they discover and record on an anchor chart. For example, an anchor chart might include the following:
1. Write about a small moment
2. Details make you feel you are there.
3. Show rather than tell.
4. Convey strong feelings
“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros.
What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you don't feel eleven at all. You feel like you're still ten. And you are—underneath the year that makes you eleven.
Like some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama's lap because you're scared,
and that's the part of you that's five. And maybe one day when you're all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you're three, and that's okay. That's what I tell Mama when she's sad and needs to cry. Maybe she's feeling three.
Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That's how being eleven years old is.
You don't feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don't feel smart eleven, not until you're almost twelve. That's the way it is.
Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I'd have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk. I would've known how to tell her it wasn't mine instead of just sitting there with that look on my face and nothing coming out of my mouth.
"Whose is this?" Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see. "Whose? It's been sitting in the coatroom for a month."
"Not mine," says everybody, "Not me."
"It has to belong to somebody," Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember. It's an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. It's maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to
me I wouldn't say so.
Maybe because I'm skinny, maybe because she doesn't like me, that stupid Sylvia Saldivar says, "I think it belongs to Rachel." An ugly sweater like that all raggedy and old, but Mrs. Price believes her. Mrs Price takes the sweater and puts it right on my desk, but when I open my mouth nothing comes out.