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WRITING WORKSHOP
Narrative Nonfiction
Learning Targets
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
• With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing your own clearly.
Writing a Nonfiction Narrative
A personal narrative is a type of narrative nonfiction that gives you an opportunity
to take one of your experiences and share it with an audience. The experience
might have been funny or sad, or a time when you learned a valuable lesson. By establishing a unique point of view and blending action and reactions in their narratives, writers bring their stories to life. By including reflection, they help readers to understand the significance of the experiences they describe, whether through explicit statements, implicit suggestions, or through unresolved ambiguity. As you begin writing your own nonfiction narrative, then, it’s important to think about the impact of your experiences, and to share insights and observations about life.
To develop your skills as a nonfiction storyteller, you will engage in a series of activities in which you work with your teacher and with your classmates to construct two model nonfiction narratives. You will then use these models to construct your own nonfiction narrative.
ACTIVITY 1
Discovering the Elements of a Nonfiction Narrative
Before Reading
1. Think about a great story that you’ve heard several times. It might be a family story that gets repeated at get-togethers, or it might be the story of something that happened that you and your friends will never forget. Who tells this story the best? What makes his or her version of the story better than anyone else’s?
2. What elements are common to good stories?
Answers will vary but might include: The story has a focus and a point; The story is funny or evokes emotion; The reader can follow the action; it has a
clear beginning, middle, and end; The setting seems realistic so you feel like you’re there; The reader can relate to how the people in the story feel; The story communicates the importance of, or reasons for, actions and consequences.
During Reading
3. Good storytelling engages the audience by presenting vivid settings, interesting characters, and well developed events. As you read the sample text, look for elements of a good narrative. Mark the text by putting a checkmark in the margin when you find the element, and write the name of the element beside the checkmark.
LEARNING STRATEGIES Think-Pair-Share, Brainstorming, Marking the Text, Graphic Organizer, Generating Questions, Drafting, Rereading, Skimming/Scanning, Adding, Substituting, Self-Editing/Peer Editing, Sharing and Responding, Marking the Draft, Writer’s Checklist
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
Explicit statements are clear and concrete, while implicit suggestions are just implied or hinted at.
Writing Workshop 7
• Narrative Nonfiction 1
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