teaching narrative essays

A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Narrative Writing

July 29, 2018

Can't find what you are looking for? Contact Us

Listen to this post as a podcast:

Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Class Notebook

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

“Those who tell the stories rule the world.”  This proverb, attributed to the Hopi Indians, is one I wish I’d known a long time ago, because I would have used it when teaching my students the craft of storytelling. With a well-told story we can help a person see things in an entirely new way. We can forge new relationships and strengthen the ones we already have. We can change a law, inspire a movement, make people care fiercely about things they’d never given a passing thought.

But when we study storytelling with our students, we forget all that. Or at least I did. When my students asked why we read novels and stories, and why we wrote personal narratives and fiction, my defense was pretty lame: I probably said something about the importance of having a shared body of knowledge, or about the enjoyment of losing yourself in a book, or about the benefits of having writing skills in general.

I forgot to talk about the  power of story. I didn’t bother to tell them that the ability to tell a captivating story is one of the things that makes human beings extraordinary. It’s how we connect to each other. It’s something to celebrate, to study, to perfect. If we’re going to talk about how to teach students to write stories, we should start by thinking about why we tell stories at all . If we can pass that on to our students, then we will be going beyond a school assignment; we will be doing something transcendent.

Now. How do we get them to write those stories? I’m going to share the process I used for teaching narrative writing. I used this process with middle school students, but it would work with most age groups.

A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story?

When teaching narrative writing, many teachers separate personal narratives from short stories. In my own classroom, I tended to avoid having my students write short stories because personal narratives were more accessible. I could usually get students to write about something that really happened, while it was more challenging to get them to make something up from scratch.

In the “real” world of writers, though, the main thing that separates memoir from fiction is labeling: A writer might base a novel heavily on personal experiences, but write it all in third person and change the names of characters to protect the identities of people in real life. Another writer might create a short story in first person that reads like a personal narrative, but is entirely fictional. Just last weekend my husband and I watched the movie Lion and were glued to the screen the whole time, knowing it was based on a true story. James Frey’s book  A Million Little Pieces  sold millions of copies as a memoir but was later found to contain more than a little bit of fiction. Then there are unique books like Curtis Sittenfeld’s brilliant novel American Wife , based heavily on the early life of Laura Bush but written in first person, with fictional names and settings, and labeled as a work of fiction. The line between fact and fiction has always been really, really blurry, but the common thread running through all of it is good storytelling.

With that in mind, the process for teaching narrative writing can be exactly the same for writing personal narratives or short stories; it’s the same skill set. So if you think your students can handle the freedom, you might decide to let them choose personal narrative or fiction for a narrative writing assignment, or simply tell them that whether the story is true doesn’t matter, as long as they are telling a good story and they are not trying to pass off a fictional story as fact.

Here are some examples of what that kind of flexibility could allow:

• A student might tell a true story from their own experience, but write it as if it were a fiction piece, with fictional characters, in third person.
• A student might create a completely fictional story, but tell it in first person, which would give it the same feel as a personal narrative.
• A student might tell a true story that happened to someone else, but write it in first person, as if they were that person. For example, I could write about my grandmother’s experience of getting lost as a child, but I might write it in her voice.

If we aren’t too restrictive about what we call these pieces, and we talk about different possibilities with our students, we can end up with lots of interesting outcomes. Meanwhile, we’re still teaching students the craft of narrative writing.

A Note About Process: Write With Your Students

One of the most powerful techniques I used as a writing teacher was to do my students’ writing assignments with them. I would start my own draft at the same time as they did, composing “live” on the classroom projector, and doing a lot of thinking out loud so they could see all the decisions a writer has to make.

The most helpful parts for them to observe were the early drafting stage, where I just scratched out whatever came to me in messy, run-on sentences, and the revision stage, where I crossed things out, rearranged, and made tons of notes on my writing. I have seen over and over again how witnessing that process can really help to unlock a student’s understanding of how writing actually gets made.

A Narrative Writing Unit Plan

Before I get into these steps, I should note that there is no one right way to teach narrative writing, and plenty of accomplished teachers are doing it differently and getting great results. This just happens to be a process that has worked for me.

Step 1: Show Students That Stories Are Everywhere

Getting our students to tell stories should be easy. They hear and tell stories all the time. But when they actually have to put words on paper, they forget their storytelling abilities: They can’t think of a topic. They omit relevant details, but go on and on about irrelevant ones. Their dialogue is bland. They can’t figure out how to start. They can’t figure out how to end.

So the first step in getting good narrative writing from students is to help them see that they are already telling stories every day . They gather at lockers to talk about that thing that happened over the weekend. They sit at lunch and describe an argument they had with a sibling. Without even thinking about it, they begin sentences with “This one time…” and launch into stories about their earlier childhood experiences. Students are natural storytellers; learning how to do it well on paper is simply a matter of studying good models, then imitating what those writers do.

So start off the unit by getting students to tell their stories. In journal quick-writes, think-pair-shares, or by playing a game like Concentric Circles , prompt them to tell some of their own brief stories: A time they were embarrassed. A time they lost something. A time they didn’t get to do something they really wanted to do. By telling their own short anecdotes, they will grow more comfortable and confident in their storytelling abilities. They will also be generating a list of topic ideas. And by listening to the stories of their classmates, they will be adding onto that list and remembering more of their own stories.

And remember to tell some of your own. Besides being a good way to bond with students, sharing  your stories will help them see more possibilities for the ones they can tell.

Step 2: Study the Structure of a Story

Now that students have a good library of their own personal stories pulled into short-term memory, shift your focus to a more formal study of what a story looks like.

Use a diagram to show students a typical story arc like the one below. Then, using a simple story (try a video like The Present or Room ), fill out the story arc with the components from that story. Once students have seen this story mapped out, have them try it with another one, like a story you’ve read in class, a whole novel, or another short video.

Step 3: Introduce the Assignment

Up to this point, students have been immersed in storytelling. Now give them specific instructions for what they are going to do. Share your assignment rubric so they understand the criteria that will be used to evaluate them; it should be ready and transparent right from the beginning of the unit. As always, I recommend using a single point rubric for this.

Step 4: Read Models

Once the parameters of the assignment have been explained, have students read at least one model story, a mentor text that exemplifies the qualities you’re looking for. This should be a story on a topic your students can kind of relate to, something they could see themselves writing. For my narrative writing unit (see the end of this post), I wrote a story called “Frog” about a 13-year-old girl who finally gets to stay home alone, then finds a frog in her house and gets completely freaked out, which basically ruins the fun she was planning for the night.

They will be reading this model as writers, looking at how the author shaped the text for a purpose, so that they can use those same strategies in their own writing. Have them look at your rubric and find places in the model that illustrate the qualities listed in the rubric. Then have them complete a story arc for the model so they can see the underlying structure.

Ideally, your students will have already read lots of different stories to look to as models. If that isn’t the case, this list of narrative texts recommended by Cult of Pedagogy followers on Twitter would be a good place to browse for titles that might be right for your students. Keep in mind that we have not read most of these stories, so be sure to read them first before adopting them for classroom use.

Step 5: Story Mapping

At this point, students will need to decide what they are going to write about. If they are stuck for a topic, have them just pick something they can write about, even if it’s not the most captivating story in the world. A skilled writer could tell a great story about deciding what to have for lunch. If they are using the skills of narrative writing, the topic isn’t as important as the execution.

Have students complete a basic story arc for their chosen topic using a diagram like the one below. This will help them make sure that they actually have a story to tell, with an identifiable problem, a sequence of events that build to a climax, and some kind of resolution, where something is different by the end. Again, if you are writing with your students, this would be an important step to model for them with your own story-in-progress.

Step 6: Quick Drafts

Now, have students get their chosen story down on paper as quickly as possible: This could be basically a long paragraph that would read almost like a summary, but it would contain all the major parts of the story. Model this step with your own story, so they can see that you are not shooting for perfection in any way. What you want is a working draft, a starting point, something to build on for later, rather than a blank page (or screen) to stare at.

Step 7: Plan the Pacing

Now that the story has been born in raw form, students can begin to shape it. This would be a good time for a lesson on pacing, where students look at how writers expand some moments to create drama and shrink other moments so that the story doesn’t drag. Creating a diagram like the one below forces a writer to decide how much space to devote to all of the events in the story.

Step 8: Long Drafts

With a good plan in hand, students can now slow down and write a proper draft, expanding the sections of their story that they plan to really draw out and adding in more of the details that they left out in the quick draft.

Step 9: Workshop

Once students have a decent rough draft—something that has a basic beginning, middle, and end, with some discernible rising action, a climax of some kind, and a resolution, you’re ready to shift into full-on workshop mode. I would do this for at least a week: Start class with a short mini-lesson on some aspect of narrative writing craft, then give students the rest of the period to write, conference with you, and collaborate with their peers. During that time, they should focus some of their attention on applying the skill they learned in the mini-lesson to their drafts, so they will improve a little bit every day.

Topics for mini-lessons can include:

• How to weave exposition into your story so you don’t give readers an “information dump”
• How to carefully select dialogue to create good scenes, rather than quoting everything in a conversation
• How to punctuate and format dialogue so that it imitates the natural flow of a conversation
• How to describe things using sensory details and figurative language; also,  what  to describe…students too often give lots of irrelevant detail
• How to choose precise nouns and vivid verbs, use a variety of sentence lengths and structures, and add transitional words, phrases, and features to help the reader follow along
• How to start, end, and title a story

Step 10: Final Revisions and Edits

As the unit nears its end, students should be shifting away from revision , in which they alter the content of a piece, toward editing , where they make smaller changes to the mechanics of the writing. Make sure students understand the difference between the two: They should not be correcting each other’s spelling and punctuation in the early stages of this process, when the focus should be on shaping a better story.

One of the most effective strategies for revision and editing is to have students read their stories out loud. In the early stages, this will reveal places where information is missing or things get confusing. Later, more read-alouds will help them immediately find missing words, unintentional repetitions, and sentences that just “sound weird.” So get your students to read their work out loud frequently. It also helps to print stories on paper: For some reason, seeing the words in print helps us notice things we didn’t see on the screen.

To get the most from peer review, where students read and comment on each other’s work, more modeling from you is essential: Pull up a sample piece of writing and show students how to give specific feedback that helps, rather than simply writing “good detail” or “needs more detail,” the two comments I saw exchanged most often on students’ peer-reviewed papers.

Step 11: Final Copies and Publication

Once revision and peer review are done, students will hand in their final copies. If you don’t want to get stuck with 100-plus papers to grade, consider using Catlin Tucker’s station rotation model , which keeps all the grading in class. And when you do return stories with your own feedback, try using Kristy Louden’s delayed grade strategy , where students don’t see their final grade until they have read your written feedback.

Beyond the standard hand-in-for-a-grade, consider other ways to have students publish their stories. Here are some options:

• Stories could be published as individual pages on a collaborative website or blog.
• Students could create illustrated e-books out of their stories.
• Students could create a slideshow to accompany their stories and record them as digital storytelling videos. This could be done with a tool like Screencastify or Screencast-O-Matic .

So this is what worked for me. If you’ve struggled to get good stories from your students, try some or all of these techniques next time. I think you’ll find that all of your students have some pretty interesting stories to tell. Helping them tell their stories well is a gift that will serve them for many years after they leave your classroom. ♦

Want this unit ready-made?

If you’re a writing teacher in grades 7-12 and you’d like a classroom-ready unit like the one described above, including slideshow mini-lessons on 14 areas of narrative craft, a sample narrative piece, editable rubrics, and other supplemental materials to guide students through every stage of the process, take a look at my Narrative Writing unit . Just click on the image below and you’ll be taken to a page where you can read more and see a detailed preview of what’s included.

What to Read Next

Categories: Instruction , Podcast

Tags: English language arts , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , teaching strategies

52 Comments

Wow, this is a wonderful guide! If my English teachers had taught this way, I’m sure I would have enjoyed narrative writing instead of dreading it. I’ll be able to use many of these suggestions when writing my blog! BrP

Lst year I was so discouraged because the short stories looked like the quick drafts described in this article. I thought I had totally failed until I read this and realized I did not fai,l I just needed to complete the process. Thank you!

I feel like you jumped in my head and connected my thoughts. I appreciate the time you took to stop and look closely at form. I really believe that student-writers should see all dimensions of narrative writing and be able to live in whichever style and voice they want for their work.

Can’t thank you enough for this. So well curated that one can just follow it blindly and ace at teaching it. Thanks again!

Great post! I especially liked your comments about reminding kids about the power of storytelling. My favourite podcasts and posts from you are always about how to do things in the classroom and I appreciate the research you do.

On a side note, the ice breakers are really handy. My kids know each other really well (rural community), and can tune out pretty quickly if there is nothing new to learn about their peers, but they like the games (and can remember where we stopped last time weeks later). I’ve started changing them up with ‘life questions’, so the editable version is great!

I love writing with my students and loved this podcast! A fun extension to this narrative is to challenge students to write another story about the same event, but use the perspective of another “character” from the story. Books like Wonder (R.J. Palacio) and Wanderer (Sharon Creech) can model the concept for students.

Thank you for your great efforts to reveal the practical writing strategies in layered details. As English is not my first language, I need listen to your podcast and read the text repeatedly so to fully understand. It’s worthy of the time for some great post like yours. I love sharing so I send the link to my English practice group that it can benefit more. I hope I could be able to give you some feedback later on.

Thank you for helping me get to know better especially the techniques in writing narrative text. Im an English teacher for 5years but have little knowledge on writing. I hope you could feature techniques in writing news and fearute story. God bless and more power!

Thank you for this! I am very interested in teaching a unit on personal narrative and this was an extremely helpful breakdown. As a current student teacher I am still unsure how to approach breaking down the structures of different genres of writing in a way that is helpful for me students but not too restrictive. The story mapping tools you provided really allowed me to think about this in a new way. Writing is such a powerful way to experience the world and more than anything I want my students to realize its power. Stories are how we make sense of the world and as an English teacher I feel obligated to give my students access to this particular skill.

The power of story is unfathomable. There’s this NGO in India doing some great work in harnessing the power of storytelling and plots to brighten children’s lives and enlighten them with true knowledge. Check out Katha India here: http://bit.ly/KathaIndia

Thank you so much for this. I did not go to college to become a writing professor, but due to restructuring in my department, I indeed am! This is a wonderful guide that I will use when teaching the narrative essay. I wonder if you have a similar guide for other modes such as descriptive, process, argument, etc.?

Hey Melanie, Jenn does have another guide on writing! Check out A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing .

Hi, I am also wondering if there is a similar guide for descriptive writing in particular?

Hey Melanie, unfortunately Jenn doesn’t currently have a guide for descriptive writing. She’s always working on projects though, so she may get around to writing a unit like this in the future. You can always check her Teachers Pay Teachers page for an up-to-date list of materials she has available. Thanks!

I want to write about the new character in my area

That’s great! Let us know if you need any supports during your writing process!

I absolutely adore this unit plan. I teach freshmen English at a low-income high school and wanted to find something to help my students find their voice. It is not often that I borrow material, but I borrowed and adapted all of it in the order that it is presented! It is cohesive, understandable, and fun. Thank you!!

So glad to hear this, Nicole!

Thanks sharing this post. My students often get confused between personal narratives and short stories. Whenever I ask them to write a short story, she share their own experiences and add a bit of fiction in it to make it interesting.

Thank you! My students have loved this so far. I do have a question as to where the “Frog” story mentioned in Step 4 is. I could really use it! Thanks again.

This is great to hear, Emily! In Step 4, Jenn mentions that she wrote the “Frog” story for her narrative writing unit . Just scroll down the bottom of the post and you’ll see a link to the unit.

I also cannot find the link to the short story “Frog”– any chance someone can send it or we can repost it?

This story was written for Jenn’s narrative writing unit. You can find a link to this unit in Step 4 or at the bottom of the article. Hope this helps.

I cannot find the frog story mentioned. Could you please send the link.? Thank you

Hi Michelle,

The Frog story was written for Jenn’s narrative writing unit. There’s a link to this unit in Step 4 and at the bottom of the article.

Debbie- thanks for you reply… but there is no link to the story in step 4 or at the bottom of the page….

Hey Shawn, the frog story is part of Jenn’s narrative writing unit, which is available on her Teachers Pay Teachers site. The link Debbie is referring to at the bottom of this post will take you to her narrative writing unit and you would have to purchase that to gain access to the frog story. I hope this clears things up.

Thank you so much for this resource! I’m a high school English teacher, and am currently teaching creative writing for the first time. I really do value your blog, podcast, and other resources, so I’m excited to use this unit. I’m a cyber school teacher, so clear, organized layout is important; and I spend a lot of time making sure my content is visually accessible for my students to process. Thanks for creating resources that are easy for us teachers to process and use.

Do you have a lesson for Informative writing?

Hey Cari, Jenn has another unit on argumentative writing , but doesn’t have one yet on informative writing. She may develop one in the future so check back in sometime.

I had the same question. Informational writing is so difficult to have a good strong unit in when you have so many different text structures to meet and need text-dependent writing tasks.

Creating an informational writing unit is still on Jenn’s long list of projects to get to, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out When We All Teach Text Structures, Everyone Wins . It might help you out!

This is a great lesson! It would be helpful to see a finished draft of the frog narrative arc. Students’ greatest challenge is transferring their ideas from the planner to a full draft. To see a full sample of how this arc was transformed into a complete narrative draft would be a powerful learning tool.

Hi Stacey! Jenn goes into more depth with the “Frog” lesson in her narrative writing unit – this is where you can find a sample of what a completed story arc might look. Also included is a draft of the narrative. If interested in checking out the unit and seeing a preview, just scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the image. Hope this helps!

Helped me learn for an entrance exam thanks very much

Is the narrative writing lesson you talk about in https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/narrative-writing/

Also doable for elementary students you think, and if to what levels?

Love your work, Sincerely, Zanyar

Hey Zanyar,

It’s possible the unit would work with 4th and 5th graders, but Jenn definitely wouldn’t recommend going any younger. The main reason for this is that some of the mini-lessons in the unit could be challenging for students who are still concrete thinkers. You’d likely need to do some adjusting and scaffolding which could extend the unit beyond the 3 weeks. Having said that, I taught 1st grade and found the steps of the writing process, as described in the post, to be very similar. Of course learning targets/standards were different, but the process itself can be applied to any grade level (modeling writing, using mentor texts to study how stories work, planning the structure of the story, drafting, elaborating, etc.) Hope this helps!

This has made my life so much easier. After teaching in different schools systems, from the American, to British to IB, one needs to identify the anchor standards and concepts, that are common between all these systems, to build well balanced thematic units. Just reading these steps gave me the guidance I needed to satisfy both the conceptual framework the schools ask for and the standards-based practice. Thank you Thank you.

Would this work for teaching a first grader about narrative writing? I am also looking for a great book to use as a model for narrative writing. Veggie Monster is being used by his teacher and he isn’t connecting with this book in the least bit, so it isn’t having a positive impact. My fear is he will associate this with writing and I don’t want a negative association connected to such a beautiful process and experience. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you for any information you can provide!

Although I think the materials in the actual narrative writing unit are really too advanced for a first grader, the general process that’s described in the blog post can still work really well.

I’m sorry your child isn’t connecting with The Night of the Veggie Monster. Try to keep in mind that the main reason this is used as a mentor text is because it models how a small moment story can be told in a big way. It’s filled with all kinds of wonderful text features that impact the meaning of the story – dialogue, description, bold text, speech bubbles, changes in text size, ellipses, zoomed in images, text placement, text shape, etc. All of these things will become mini-lessons throughout the unit. But there are lots of other wonderful mentor texts that your child might enjoy. My suggestion for an early writer, is to look for a small moment text, similar in structure, that zooms in on a problem that a first grader can relate to. In addition to the mentor texts that I found in this article , you might also want to check out Knuffle Bunny, Kitten’s First Full Moon, When Sophie Gets Angry Really Really Angry, and Whistle for Willie. Hope this helps!

I saw this on Pinterest the other day while searching for examples of narritives units/lessons. I clicked on it because I always click on C.o.P stuff 🙂 And I wasn’t disapointed. I was intrigued by the connection of narratives to humanity–even if a student doesn’t identify as a writer, he/she certainly is human, right? I really liked this. THIS clicked with me.

A few days after I read the P.o.C post, I ventured on to YouTube for more ideas to help guide me with my 8th graders’ narrative writing this coming spring. And there was a TEDx video titled, “The Power of Personal Narrative” by J. Christan Jensen. I immediately remembered the line from the article above that associated storytelling with “power” and how it sets humans apart and if introduced and taught as such, it can be “extraordinary.”

I watched the video and to the suprise of my expectations, it was FANTASTIC. Between Jennifer’s post and the TEDx video ignited within me some major motivation and excitement to begin this unit.

Thanks for sharing this with us! So glad that Jenn’s post paired with another text gave you some motivation and excitement. I’ll be sure to pass this on to Jenn!

Thank you very much for this really helpful post! I really love the idea of helping our students understand that storytelling is powerful and then go on to teach them how to harness that power. That is the essence of teaching literature or writing at any level. However, I’m a little worried about telling students that whether a piece of writing is fact or fiction does not matter. It in fact matters a lot precisely because storytelling is powerful. Narratives can shape people’s views and get their emotions involved which would, in turn, motivate them to act on a certain matter, whether for good or for bad. A fictional narrative that is passed as factual could cause a lot of damage in the real world. I believe we should. I can see how helping students focus on writing the story rather than the truth of it all could help refine the needed skills without distractions. Nevertheless, would it not be prudent to teach our students to not just harness the power of storytelling but refrain from misusing it by pushing false narratives as factual? It is true that in reality, memoirs pass as factual while novels do as fictional while the opposite may be true for both cases. I am not too worried about novels passing as fictional. On the other hand, fictional narratives masquerading as factual are disconcerting and part of a phenomenon that needs to be fought against, not enhanced or condoned in education. This is especially true because memoirs are often used by powerful people to write/re-write history. I would really like to hear your opinion on this. Thanks a lot for a great post and a lot of helpful resources!

Thank you so much for this. Jenn and I had a chance to chat and we can see where you’re coming from. Jenn never meant to suggest that a person should pass off a piece of fictional writing as a true story. Good stories can be true, completely fictional, or based on a true story that’s mixed with some fiction – that part doesn’t really matter. However, what does matter is how a student labels their story. We think that could have been stated more clearly in the post , so Jenn decided to add a bit about this at the end of the 3rd paragraph in the section “A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story?” Thanks again for bringing this to our attention!

You have no idea how much your page has helped me in so many ways. I am currently in my teaching credential program and there are times that I feel lost due to a lack of experience in the classroom. I’m so glad I came across your page! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks so much for letting us know-this means a whole lot!

No, we’re sorry. Jenn actually gets this question fairly often. It’s something she considered doing at one point, but because she has so many other projects she’s working on, she’s just not gotten to it.

I couldn’t find the story

Hi, Duraiya. The “Frog” story is part of Jenn’s narrative writing unit, which is available on her Teachers Pay Teachers site. The link at the bottom of this post will take you to her narrative writing unit, which you can purchase to gain access to the story. I hope this helps!

I am using this step-by-step plan to help me teach personal narrative story writing. I wanted to show the Coca-Cola story, but the link says the video is not available. Do you have a new link or can you tell me the name of the story so I can find it?

Thank you for putting this together.

Hi Corri, sorry about that. The Coca-Cola commercial disappeared, so Jenn just updated the post with links to two videos with good stories. Hope this helps!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Writing Curriculum

Teach Narrative Writing With The New York Times

This teaching guide, part of our eight-unit writing curriculum, includes daily writing prompts, lessons based on selected mentor texts, and an invitation for students to participate in our 100-word personal narrative contest.

By The Learning Network

Stories can thrill, wound, delight, uplift and teach. Telling a story vividly and powerfully is a vital skill that is deeply valued across all cultures, past and present — and narrative writing is, of course, a key genre for literacy instruction at every level.

When your students think “New York Times,” they probably think of our 172-year history of award-winning journalism, and may not even realize that The Times today is full of personal narratives — on love and family , but also on how we relate to animals , live with disabilities or navigate anxiety . If you flip or scroll through sections of the paper, you’ll see that personal writing is everywhere, and often ranks among the most popular pieces The Times publishes each week.

At The Learning Network, we’ve been posting writing prompts every school day for over a decade now, and many of them invite personal narrative. Inspired by Times articles of all kinds, the prompts ask students to tell us about their passions and their regrets, their most embarrassing moments and their greatest achievements. Thousands of students around the world respond each month, and each week during the school year we call out our favorite responses .

In this unit we’re taking it a step further and turning our narrative-writing opportunities into a contest that invites students to tell their own stories. Below, you’ll find plenty of ideas and resources to get your students reading, writing and thinking about their own stories, including:

✔ New narrative-writing prompts every week.

✔ Daily opportunities for students to have an authentic audience for their writing via posting comments to our forums.

✔ Guided practice with mentor texts that include writing exercises.

✔ A clear, achievable end-product (our contest) modeled on real-world writing.

✔ The chance for students to have their work published in The New York Times.

Here’s how it works.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Teach Starter, part of Tes Teach Starter, part of Tes

Search  everything  in all resources

32 Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing

Written by Alison Smith

Teaching narrative writing and inspiring young writers can be easy. One of our most important jobs is to create a passionate writing culture in our classrooms.

In my experience, the majority of so-called reluctant writers  are hesitant and disinclined to engage in writing tasks because they are fearful of getting it wrong. It is our job to take away the fear and to create a learning environment in which students feel confident to express themselves through writing in a variety of ways.

I’m going to share tips, tricks and teaching resources that will make your epic job so much easier and raise the standard of writing in your classroom.

Set Up a Writing Station

Take the fear out of writing and set up a free writing station. Provide your students with paper, blank comic strips ,  blank postcards, greeting cards , envelopes, pens, pencils, sticky notes or whatever else inspires your students to put pencil to paper.

Acknowledge and praise all writing as a masterpiece! Try to avoid correcting the spelling, punctuation and the grammar used in free writing tasks. Make time for your students to use the writing station. Avoid making it a fast finisher activity, as the students who need it most are likely to miss out!

Use a Writer’s Notebook

Encourage your students to keep a Writer’s Notebook to jot down new ideas for narrative writing. The wonderful Deb Sukarna has told us to…

Be wide awake! Notice events, people, objects in the world around you.

How to Set Up a Writer’s Notebook Daily Routine

Each student needs their own notebook. If you can, let them choose if they’d prefer a lined notebook, or a blank visual diary style book like we’ve used in our photos. Allow students to create a cover for their notebook, or you can provide them with this  Writer’s Notebook Cover Page  which they can decorate. Introduce the concept to your class, ensuring they understand the notebook will not be graded, but will instead be used daily as a place for them to play with ideas and words. This wonderful  Writer’s Notebook Poem   by Ralph Fletcher is great to stick in the front of their notebooks as a reminder of the book’s purpose. Provide students with  Writer’s Notebook Writing Prompt Cards (these are optional) Dedicate at least 5 minutes every day to your students’ Writer’s Notebooks, providing specific activities (see suggestions below!) or allowing free writing time.

Create a Writer’s Prop Table

Picture a small table in your classroom, scattered with a collection of objects such as a key, a padlock, a candle, a map or a train ticket, and your imagination will be popping with ideas for a narrative. Before you know it, your students will be looking for objects to add to the collection and planting seeds for their next narrative.

Direct Instruction

Research shows that students need direct instruction that includes the I do (teacher modelling), we do ( guided practice) and you do (independent practice). Teaching narrative writing is no exception to this rule and it’s critical to include a balance of modelled, guided and independent writing.

A big part of direct teaching instruction is making the lesson objectives clear. Narrative writing is a complex task and so it is important to focus on one thing at a time and to make the success criteria clear. For example, if your lesson focus is narrative structure, don’t stress about the spelling.

Our unit plans follow this direct instruction model.  They have been created with love and care to make your life easier and to help your students to experience success. Look no further than our  Developing Narrative Writing Skills Unit Plan – Year 3 and Year 4  .  This comprehensive unit includes 15 lessons that cover it all and is a must-have.

Slow Down and Break It Up!

For incredible writing outcomes, break down the main parts of a narrative text type. Spend a significant amount of time,  (one or two weeks), on each structural element. Think of it as laying one brick at a time. Ask your students to write a complete narrative only when they have secure knowledge, understanding and experience of writing an orientation , complication , resolution and an ending .

[resource:9825][resource:891][resource:788][resource:24296]

A great way to teach the structure of narrative writing is to deconstruct a text by cutting it up and sticking it back together! Given that it’s not ideal to cut up books, we have created a sorting task to reinforce the structural features of a narrative text.

If you haven’t already, check out Seven Steps to Writing Success , for a brilliant approach to teaching narrative writing. The seven steps are:

• Plan for success

Sizzling Starts

• Tightening Tensions
• Dynamic Dialogue
• Show, Don’t Tell
• Ban the Boring
• Exciting Endings.

Do your students fall into the trap of writing orientations that begin with One day…, On Monday, Once upon a time…? If your mission is to change this, believe me when I say that students need to see it to believe it. Try showing the opening scene of a great movie to inspire your budding writers and to demonstrate that a sizzling start is critical to engaging the audience. The opening scene of INCREDIBLES 2 Movie Clip – Opening Scene (2018), which takes just four minutes to view, is a great example.

Read amazing story openings ! The more the better! I love the sizzling start to How to Bee by Bren MacDibble…

Today! It’s here! Bright and real and waiting. The knowing of it bursts into my head so big and sudden, like a crack of morning sun bursting through the gap at the top of the door…

Once you’ve given your students the opportunity to read, watch and experience the impact of amazing sizzling starts, show your students our Narrative Plot Structure Diagram to demonstrate how a great narrative often starts with action!

Need more? Download our  Seven Sensational Story Starters PowerPoint . One of the most effective ways to begin a narrative is to create a ‘hook’ to capture the reader’s attention. This PowerPoint presentation includes seven sensational methods that your students can use to begin their stories in an exciting and interesting way.

Shared Writing

Shared writing is a crucial part of teaching narrative writing. This effective teaching strategy (whereby the teacher models writing while being given ideas and direction from the students), is ideal to use with the whole class or in a small group.

Try our  Visual Writing Prompts Widget as a stimulus for shared writing. Each image comes with writing prompts ideas,  Five Ws and One H questions and suggested activities.

Tips for leading shared writing sessions

• Focus your shared writing session on one or two elements of narrative writing. For example, focus on text structure, ideas, characters and setting or vocabulary.
• Keep it short. This will depend on the year level of your class. 10 -15 minutes is an awesome effort. As a general rule, as soon as you notice that your students are disengaged, call it a day, until tomorrow!
• Model how to write a narrative using a plan. In fact, model how to write a plan! Show your students the art of referring to the plan on a regular basis.
• Use Think, Pair, Share and Elbow Partners , to encourage ideas and discussion.
• Inspire your students and stimulate ideas through the use of visual prompts, props and feely bags.
• Make it fun and do it often.

For more useful ideas on how to use writing prompts in the classroom, don’t miss our blog   5 Ways to Spark Imagination in the Classroom Using Writing Prompts .

Are Your Students Struggling to Come Up With Ideas?

If it’s ideas that you are struggling with, we have created a  Narrative Writing Visual Prompts Presentation that could be your new bestie. Students respond to beautifully illustrated visual prompts by answering a series of inference and prediction questions. The answers to these questions are then used to generate ideas for planning and writing a narrative.

Graphic Organisers and Check Lists

Do your students struggle to sequence their ideas and follow the text structure of a narrative? My guess is that they haven’t spent enough time on the planning stage.

Help your students to plan their narrative writing by using one of our  Narrative Plot Structure Templates  or another graphic organiser from our collection.

Encourage your students to monitor and assess their own success by asking them to complete a Narrative Writing Checklist .  This is a simple, effective way to keep your students on track!

There are many different ways to teach narrative writing. It’s likely that your school has its own unique approach. Nevertheless, I hope some of these ideas and resources will take the pressure off as you guide your students to experience success with the art of narrative writing.

Whatever teaching strategies you choose to use, keep in mind that your major goal is to nurture a love of writing.

[resource:52218][resource:51552][resource:52454][resource:47925]

[resource:50874][resource:49715][resource:49242][resource:50215]

It would make my day to see a photo of your new writer’s prop table!

Use #teachstarter to share your photos on instagram..

30 Buzzing Facts About Bees to Excite Kids About Nature

Everyone benefits from the busyness of bees which is why these bee facts will help inspire your students to appreciate and protect them!

6 Inclusive Mother's Day and Father's Day Ideas for the Primary Classroom

Use these ideas to make Mother's Day gifts and Father's Day classroom celebrations more inclusive for your students.

70 Best Books for Year 1 to Add to Your Classroom Reading Corner

Wondering which books for year 1 you should add to your classroom reading corner? Look no further! We have a list of 70 that are teacher (and student) approved!

28 Fun Facts About Australia to Explore With Your Primary Students

Share these fun facts about Australia with your primary school students and explore our teacher team's tips to use the facts in your lesson plans.

12 Easy Halloween Drawings for Kids to Try in Your Classroom This Holiday

Explore easy Halloween drawings for kids that are perfect for the classroom. Take a peek at this teacher-created list for plenty of fresh ideas!

20 Fun Facts About Mars to Get Kids Excited About Your Space Lessons

Add these fun facts about Mars to your lesson plans — plus see our teacher team's favourite ways to use them in classroom activities.

Get more inspiration delivered to your inbox!

Sign up for a free membership and receive tips, news and resources directly to your email!

9 Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing in Secondary ELA

Narrative writing can be a struggle for many secondary students, making it a challenging genre to teach. After reading this post, you can say goodbye to hearing moans and groans and grading disjointed stories! Steal my favorite tips, strategies, and activities to make your next narrative writing unit more enjoyable for all.

While most people associate secondary ELA with writing essays, they often forget one of the vital writing genres—narrative writing.

With expository and persuasive writing often taking center stage in the secondary classroom, narrative writing can be a bit of a bumpy ride for students. Students might have the classic five-paragraph essay structure memorized, but crafting a compelling narrative is another story (pun 100% intended).

Successful narrative writing requires creativity, organization, and a deep understanding of storytelling elements. Many students find this challenging as they need help structuring their ideas, developing characters, and maintaining a cohesive plot.

But don’t fret; this post is all about equipping you with tried and true tips and engaging activities to help you guide students through this process with more ease and enjoyment for all.

Why Is Narrative Writing Challenging for Students?

Before delving into strategies, it’s essential to understand the common roadblocks students face with narrative writing. Often, students struggle with:

They struggle to get started and brainstorm any “good” ideas worth writing about. As a result, they feel overwhelmed by the task.

Organization

Crafting a well-structured narrative requires a clear beginning, middle, and end. Students may grapple with sequencing events logically.

Character Development

Bringing characters to life is a skill students often witness others do while reading. Students might find it challenging to create realistic and dynamic characters.

Plot Development

Maintaining a cohesive and captivating plot can be tricky for developing writers. Students might face difficulties effectively introducing conflict, building tension, and resolving the story.

Descriptive Language

Painting a vivid picture with words is a vital component of narrative writing. Some students may struggle with using figurative and descriptive language to create a compelling story.

The Writing Process

Many students view the writing process as a one-and-done task, especially when writing the same type of essay again and again. They may be reluctant to the revision and editing process.

Understanding what aspect(s) of narrative writing your students struggle with will help you tailor the rest of your narrative writing unit to their needs. Consider the tips and activities below to help you teach narrative writing with more ease, effectiveness, and enjoyment.

9 Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing

Follow these practical tips and teaching strategies to make narrative writing an engaging and rewarding classroom experience.

1. Ask the Right Questions

Encourage students to develop well-rounded narratives by guiding them through a series of thoughtful questions, such as:

• Who are the main characters?
• What is the central conflict or problem?
• When does the story take place?
• Where is the setting of the narrative?
• Why are these events happening?
• How do the characters navigate through challenges?

This “5ws + 1H” questioning technique not only helps students organize their thoughts and articulate their ideas more clearly. Additionally, it inspires critical thinking while guiding students through creating a well-rounded and comprehensive narrative.

2. Scaffold with Picture Books

Read picture books with your students to reinforce narrative elements in a fun and engaging way. After reading, engage students in discussions about how the author effectively used these elements and encourage them to apply similar techniques in their own writing. Take it one step further by having students complete a plot diagram for the narrative arc. This visual and interactive approach helps make the more abstract concepts of narrative writing, like character and conflict, feel more tangible.

3. Showcase Strong Mentor Texts

Selecting powerful mentor texts exposes students to the successful implementation of the narrative techniques you want them to emulate in their own writing. Therefore, strive to choose mentor texts where narrative elements are clear and accessible for your students. By studying these texts, students can learn firsthand from accomplished authors, honing their skills and gaining inspiration for their own narratives.

4. Utilize Short Stories

Speaking of strong mentor texts, I highly recommend utilizing short stories during your narrative writing unit. These condensed narratives provide students with examples of compelling narratives while giving them the opportunity to analyze structure, character development, and plot dynamics in a more digestible format. Students will benefit from this exposure before attempting to go off and write their own narrative piece.

5. Incorporate Pop Culture

Don’t be afraid to stray from written stories when looking for strong examples of narrative elements. Turn to pop culture and look for popular movie trailers, video clips, or TV episodes that can make these elements more relatable and engaging for students. This approach connects the writing process to their interests, sparking creativity and making the learning experience more enjoyable.

6. Teach Writing Skills

Sure, your students may have written plenty of essays in the past, but those writing foundations don’t necessarily translate over to narrative writing. Ensure a strong foundation by explicitly teaching writing skills relevant to narrative writing, including dialogue construction, figurative language, strong verbs, narrative hooks, and descriptive writing. While there are several skills you can cover, don’t feel the need to overload students with everything at once. Indeed, focus on a key element or two in each lesson and give them time to practice with a low-stakes activity.

7. Start with Story Mapping

Many students need help with two main components of narrative writing: developing a cohesive story and getting started writing it out. Story mapping kills both of those birds with one stone. Encourage students to map out their narratives before diving into writing. Use graphic organizers or storyboards to help them visualize the structure, characters, and key events, providing a narrative roadmap throughout the writing process. 

8. Save Time for Revisions

Don’t forget to allocate dedicated class time for the crucial revision and editing process. While students may be used to taking a one-and-done approach with their essays, emphasize the importance of refining their narratives, checking for flow, and refining language to craft compelling plots that captivate readers. When you emphasize the importance of revision throughout the unit, students will learn that crafting an exceptional narrative often involves multiple iterations and improvements.

9. Have Fun!

Lastly, let’s not forget that storytelling can be fun ! Use this as an opportunity to encourage creativity and alleviate the potential stress (and dread) associated with writing. When students find joy in the process, they are more likely to invest themselves fully in crafting compelling narratives, and that, my friend, is a win for you and them.

Give These 5 Engaging Activities a Try

The following activities are perfect for tackling the aspects of narrative writing students struggle with most in an effective way. Not only will they make narrative writing more engaging but will also deepen students’ understanding of vital storytelling elements.

1. Writing Stations

Set up different interactive writing stations with specific tasks related to narrative elements such as character development, setting description, dialogue construction, and conflict resolution. Students can rotate through these stations, working on each aspect of their narrative at a time. This approach not only breaks down the writing process into manageable chunks but also caters to diverse learning styles, keeping students actively engaged in the creative process.

2. Classroom Conflict Brainstorm

After reviewing the different types of conflict, work as a class to create one-line story summaries of potential plots for each conflict type. Save this list and allow students to pull from it when they write a narrative! This activity not only sparks creativity and initiates brainstorming but also emphasizes the importance of conflict as a driving force in storytelling. Classic conflict types include:

• Good vs evil
• Individual vs society
• Self vs others
• Man vs self
• Man vs nature
• Man vs technology
• Individual vs fate

3. The Story Behind the Photo

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this activity asks your students to physically write them down. The best part? It requires very little prep on your part. Simply distribute random photographs around the room (Google images will work just fine). Then, challenge students to craft a narrative inspired by the image. Ask them to think about the story behind the photograph. What happened right before the picture was taken? Right after? What is occurring outside of the frame? This activity engages students in creative narrative expiration by providing a visual cue to initiate the brainstorming.

4. Can You Feel It? Writing Challenge

Challenge students to focus on conveying a specific emotion within a short scene. Give students an emotion or tone, such as happiness, sorrow, fear, or suspense. Then, give them a setting, such as a train station, birthday party, or park. Challenge students to take those two pieces of information and craft a scene to evoke an emotional response from the reader. Give them the opportunity to share their pieces aloud to gauge audience response!

5. Rewrite an Existing Scene in Dialogue

Writing purposeful and engaging dialogue doesn’t always come naturally to students. That’s where this activity comes into play. Select a scene from a well-known story or have students bring in their favorite passages. Then, challenge them to rewrite the scene entirely (or at least, mostly ) in dialogue form, focusing on maintaining the essence of the narrative prose. Remind them of the importance of strong verbs and engaging and descriptive dialogue tags. This activity sharpens dialogue-writing skills and encourages students to consider how characters express themselves through speech and how dialogue influences the pacing of a narrative.

Looking for strong examples of dialogue? Check out these short stories.

It’s Teaching Time!

If you’ve struggled to get your students to engage in the narrative writing process and produce strong stories in the past, I promise you are not alone. Navigating the challenges of narrative writing in secondary ELA is not easy to do on the fly. Instead, it requires a combination of strategic teaching and engaging activities. Once you nail that combo down, you will be on your way to unlocking next-level storytelling skills for your students.

Once you understand what areas your students struggle with in narrative writing, you can plan effective and engaging lessons that bring this genre to life. And who knows, you may be on your way to inspiring one of this generation’s next greatest storytellers! At the very least, you will provide a foundational understanding and foster an appreciation of what makes a story one worth telling.

For a step-by-step guide to teaching narrative writing, read this.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• WordPress.org
• Documentation
• Learn WordPress
• Members Newsfeed

Teaching Narrative Writing: 14 Activities to Help Your Students Learn to Love It

Teaching narrative writing can ignite a student’s imagination and nurture a love for storytelling. It is a craft that not only improves writing skills but also enhances cognitive and emotional development. Here are 14 imaginative activities to invigorate your students’ interest and proficiency in narrative writing:

1. Story Starters: Provide intriguing first sentences or paragraphs to kick off a story and let students’ creativity flow.

2. Character Creation: Encourage students to develop detailed profiles for their characters, including backstories and personality traits.

3. Setting the Scene: Have students create vivid settings using sensory details that transport their readers into the story.

4. Show, Don’t Tell: Teach students to express emotions and actions through descriptive writing rather than direct statements.

5. Dialogue Workshops: Practice writing dialogues that reveal character and move the plot forward without overtly stating facts.

6. Plot Twisting: Offer plot points on cards, have students pick randomly, and incorporate them into their stories to create unexpected turns.

7. Perspective Shifts: Challenge students to rewrite their stories from another character’s point of view.

8. Visual Inspiration: Use photographs or artwork to prompt story ideas, focusing on creating narratives that align with the visual elements.

9. Mapping the Plot: Help students visually plan their story arcs with plot diagrams mapping out exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

10. Peer Review Circles: Organize peer editing sessions where students give constructive feedback about each other’s narratives.

11. Incorporating Vocabulary: Provide a list of new words each week that students must include in their writing, expanding their linguistic arsenal.

12. Tech Integration: Use digital storytelling tools like blogging or e-book creation software to engage tech-savvy writers.

13. Writing Prompts Jar: Fill a jar with random writing prompts for quick inspiration during free writing sessions.

14. Role-Playing Recesses: Have students act out scenes from their narratives, which can inform their understanding of character motivation and dialogue rhythm.

By integrating these engaging activities into your lesson plans, you’re certain to witness an increase in your students’ enthusiasm for narrative writing while honing their storytelling abilities.

Related Articles

The art of informative writing is a fundamental component of educational curriculum…

As parents, educators, and mentors, it’s essential to introduce children to the…

Editing can often be the less glamorous side of writing for students,…

Pedagogue is a social media network where educators can learn and grow. It's a safe space where they can share advice, strategies, tools, hacks, resources, etc., and work together to improve their teaching skills and the academic performance of the students in their charge.

If you want to collaborate with educators from around the globe, facilitate remote learning, etc., sign up for a free account today and start making connections.

Pedagogue is Free Now, and Free Forever!

• New? Start Here
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Registration

Don't you have an account? Register Now! it's really simple and you can start enjoying all the benefits!

We just sent you an Email. Please Open it up to activate your account.

I allow this website to collect and store submitted data.

• EXPLORE Random Article

How to Teach Narrative Writing

Last Updated: July 6, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 32,192 times.

Narrative writing is fun to teach, but it can also be a challenge! Whether you need to teach college or grade school students, there are lots of great options for lessons. Start by getting your students familiar with the genre, then use in-class activities to help them practice creating their own narratives. Once your students understand how narratives work, assign a narrative essay for students to demonstrate and hone their skills.

Introducing the Genre

• A specific point-of-view on the events of the story
• Vivid details that incorporate all 5 senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste)
• A reflection on what the experience meant

• Have your students read narrative essays, such as "My Indian Education" by Sherman Alexie, "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X, or "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan.
• Show your students a movie, such as Moana or Frozen and then plot out the structure of the story with your students.
• Have your students listen to a podcast or radio segment that features a short narrative, such as the Modern Love podcast or NPR's "This I Believe" series.

If you want to show a film but you are short on time, show a short film or sketch comedy clip , such as something from a channel you like on Youtube. Choose something that will grab your students' attention!

• Who are the characters in this story? What are they like? How can you tell?
• Who is telling the story?
• What happens to the characters?
• How do they work towards a solution to the problem?
• Where and when does the story take place?
• What is the mood of the story?

• For example, start by looking at the action and characters in the introduction. How does the author introduce the story? The characters?
• Then, move to the body paragraphs to identify how the story develops. What happens? Who does it happen to? How do the characters respond?
• Finish your map by looking at the conclusion to the story. How is the conflict resolved? What effect does this resolution have on the characters in the story?

Using In-Class Activities

• For example, you might start the story by saying “Once,” which another student might follow with “upon,” another with “a,” and another with “time,” and so on.
• You might also give the story more structure by giving your students a model to follow. For example, you might require them to follow a format, such as this one: "The-adjective-noun-adverb-verb-the-adjective-noun." Post the format where all of the students can follow along as they tell their story.
• To build a story sentence by sentence, you might start with “Once upon a time, there was a princess named Jezebel.” And then the next student might add, “She was betrothed to a foreign prince, but she did not want to get married.” And another might add, “One her wedding day, she fled the country.”

• Allow each student about 7 to 10 minutes to write their paragraph.
• Return the stories to the student who wrote the opening paragraph so they can see how other people continued their story.
• Ask students to share how their story progressed after they passed it to their neighbor.

• For example, if the author of a story writes, “Sally was so angry,” then they are telling. However, the author would be showing by writing, “Sally slammed the car door shut and stomped off towards her house. Before she went inside, she turned, shot me a furious look, and shouted, 'I never want to see you again!'”
• The first example tells readers that Sally is angry, while the second example shows readers that Sally is angry using her actions and words.
• A great way to practice this concept is to give students a plot point or have them create their own. Then, have the students work on showing the plot point using only dialogue.

• What does the character look like? Hair/eye/skin color? Height/weight/age? Clothing? Other distinguishing features?
• What mannerisms does the person have? Any nervous ticks? How does their voice sound?
• What is their personality like? Is the person an optimist or pessimist?
• What are their likes/dislikes? Hobbies? Profession?

• The diner was empty, except for me, the waitress, the cook, and a lone gunman.
• I was lost in a strange city with no money, no phone, and no way to contact anyone.
• The creature disappeared as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had arrived.

• Invite students to share what happened on their islands at the end of the 5 days.
• Display the island drawings and descriptions on the wall of your classroom.

Make it your goal to do 1 activity in class each day ! This will help to ensure that your students are getting lots of exposure to what a narrative is and how it works before they write their own narratives.

Assigning a Narrative Essay

• Tell your students if you are using a theme or focus. For example, if you want students to write their narrative on an experience with reading or writing, then you might provide examples, such as the first novel they read and fell in love with, or the time they had to totally rewrite a paper for an English class.
• Also, include details in the rubric on the required length of the essay, special features you expect to see, and any formatting requirements.

• Make sure to provide students with feedback on their pre-write activities. Encourage them on what sounds like it has the most potential and steer them away from topics that seem too broad or that would not hold up well as narratives.
• For example, if a student submits a freewrite in which they discuss wanting to write about all of the English teachers they have ever had, this would be too broad and you would want to encourage them to narrow their topic, such as by writing about 1 teacher only.

• For example, if the paper is due on April 1st, then students ought to start drafting at least 1 week in advance, or sooner if possible. This will help to ensure that they will have plenty of time to revise their work.

• Does the story seem complete? What else could be added?
• Is the topic too narrow or too broad? Does the paper maintain its focus or is it disorganized?
• Are the introduction and conclusion effective? How might they be improved?

For a creative way to showcase your students' stories, have them to transform their essays into a different format and share it with the class! For example, your students could turn their essay into a podcast, short film, or drawing.

Expert Q&A

You might also like.

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/narrative_essays.html
• ↑ https://www.edutopia.org/article/systematic-approach-teaching-narrative-writing/
• ↑ https://intensiveintervention.org/sites/default/files/Narrative-Text-Structures-508.pdf
• ↑ https://lewisu.edu/writingcenter/pdf/narrative-elements-1.pdf
• ↑ https://cdn.ncte.org/nctefiles/resources/books/sample/00465chap07.pdf
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/narrative-writing/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/

About this article

Did this article help you?

• About wikiHow
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

7 Great Narrative Lesson Plans Students and Teachers Love

How to Master Narrative Writing in a Single Week

Mastering narrative writing in one week is a big ask. A very BIG ask! But you can teach the core elements of how to craft a well-told tale in this tight timeframe. Mastery will come through diligent practice on the part of the student and thoughtful feedback on the teacher’s part.

How do you teach students narratives?

In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can take your students from zero to hero, in narrative writing terms, in just one lesson per day during the school week and a little extra effort over the weekend.

 Come the following Monday morning, and your desk should be positively heaving under the weight of your students’ freshly composed masterpieces.

 Though we’re in the game of narrative fiction here, let’s try to bring our aspirations into the realm of the possible. We won’t get a novel out of our students in a mere seven days, not without working their fingers and to the bone. However, the short story format will perfectly serve our ambitions.

 So, let’s get started by exploring these five narrative lesson plans – By Zeus’s breath! We’ve still set ourselves a task of Herculean proportions!

THE STORY TELLERS BUNDLE OF TEACHING RESOURCES

A MASSIVE COLLECTION of resources for narratives and story writing in the classroom covering all elements of crafting amazing stories. MONTHS WORTH OF WRITING LESSONS AND RESOURCES, including:

Lesson 1: Generate One Good Story Idea

 There’s a lot of ground to cover, so you’ll need to get your students off to an energetic start if they’re to reach the finish line of a completed story by the end of the week.

 They’ll need to come up with an idea for a story so engaging that they’ll be chomping at the bit to get their pens galloping over the page.

 Try one of these two activities to kickstart your students’ creativity:

• Spin Story Gold from Your Spam

Open up your email and go into your Spam folder. This is a repository of some of the highest-flying fiction in the modern age. It’s peopled with fanciful characters from far-flung lands such as generous princes, dying businessmen searching for heirs, devious diplomats, not to mention desperate widows.

Cut and paste a few of these that are student-suitable, print them, and distribute the results to your class.

If your students can’t make a story from this raw material, you may already have a lost cause on your hands!

• What Ever Happened to So-and-So?

We’ve all had friends and acquaintances we’ve lost touch with over the years. This is true of our students too – young as they are!

Ask your students to think of someone they used to know. Maybe a classmate from kindergarten who went on to a different school, or a neighbor who moved to another city. Anyone they used to know, but since they have since lost contact with will do.

Now, ask them to imagine what happened to this person. What twists and turns have their life taken since you last saw them? Have they fallen into a life of crime or been abducted by aliens? Maybe they moved to a distant, exotic country and have started life anew. Encourage your students to let their imaginations run wild!

And, needless to say, have your students change their names to protect the innocent!

Once the students have come up with their rough story idea , it’s time to nail down some things in more detail and decide on a few crucial elements of their story.

Students must decide who the characters in their story are and what point of view they will tell the story. Will it be told from the first person POV, from the main character’s perspective, or from the omniscient third-person viewpoint? Can students sketch quick character bios to help them later in writing?

How about the setting? Where does the action take place? Will the story be static, or will locations change throughout the story?

Decisions, decisions!

The more questions students generate and answer, the easier tomorrow will be.

Failing all of that, if you need some creative juice, be sure to check out our writing prompts here .

STORY ELEMENTS FOR KIDS TUTORIAL VIDEO

Lesson 2: Outline

Day 2, and it’s time for students to outline their story. You can help this process significantly by giving your students a clear structure to follow. Graphic organizers offer an efficient way to lay things out easily to follow manner, helping students get their story written in an organized fashion.

But, whether they use graphic organizers or sketch their outline by hand, their story outline should contain the following elements (or similar variations):

●      Exposition – include characters & setting details from yesterday.

●      Conflict – this will usually emerge from the initial story idea.

●      Rising Action – a related series of events that escalates the story’s drama

●      Climax – the dramatic highpoint where the conflict comes to a head

●      Falling Action – the dramatic tension of the story decreases, and things move toward the conclusion.

●      Resolution – loose ends are tied up, and the story draws to a close.

Sometimes it can be beneficial to allow students to form small discussion groups to offer each other feedback and constructive criticism on their ideas.

Remind students that the more detail they go into in their outlines, the easier writing their stories will be.

Lesson: 3: Write the First Act

By now, your students have laid all the necessary groundwork, and the writing begins in earnest.

From our early school days, everyone knows that every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the basic three-act story structure, a structure that is ideal for your students to follow when writing their short stories .

The purpose of today’s lesson will be for your students to complete the first act of their story. A well-written first act will provide great momentum to help the students through the remaining two acts.

In the first act, students should aim to:

●      Introduce the important characters

●      Establish the setting and tone of their story

●      Reveal the story’s central conflict

●      Begin the process of ramping up the drama through the rising action.

If the purpose of the first act is to grab the reader’s attention so that they simply have to read to the end, then your students will need to employ a hook right from the first scene of their tale.

The purpose of this hook is to intrigue the reader and entice them to continue reading. But, not only does the hook need to gain the reader’s interest, it needs to serve the needs of the plot too.

A well-used hook should:

●      Introduce the main character

●      Give an insight into that character’s daily life

●      Show them dealing with some problem or conflict to reveal their character

Showing the main character in action dealing with a problem or conflict begins the story’s movement forward – even if the problem is minor.

Moving on from the hook, your students must work to keep the reader engaged throughout the story. There are two main ways to do this, either make the characters interesting or make the events compelling.

And, of course, there is a third option  – do both!

The Inciting Incident

The inciting incident is the event that sets the ball rolling in terms of the story’s action. Often, this is when something happens to flip the main character’s world upside-down or begin a process that causes the pattern of their daily life to be altered significantly, often forever.

Here are two common options to help students create an inciting incident:

●      The Deliberate Choice – Here, the main character makes a decision or a choice that sets all in motion the rest of the events of the story.

●      The Coincidence – The merging of time, place, and characters. Think ‘right person in the right place at the right time.’ You could, of course, substitute ‘wrong’ for ‘right’ here!

From here on out, a sequence of events unfolds, leading us into and through Act 2…

Lesson 4: Write Right to the End

By finishing the first act of their story, your students have pushed the ball to the top of the hill. All that remains is to tip it over the other side and let it roll all the way to the end.

Act 2 will see the dramatic tension build over a series of cause-and-effect events. This is very important for students to grasp. While writing about fictional characters in a fictional world, their stories must still contain a sense of logical consistency or they will frustrate their readers.

The seeds of these events should have been planted in Act 1, whether in the central external conflict or within the characters themselves.

The tension of the plot should build toward the story’s climactic scene in the third act.

Usually, the climax will see the two opposing sides of the conflict come together in some final way. This is where the main character succeeds in their goal or fails. It is where we witness them pushed to their limits.

This is the point all previous events have been working towards. In the aftermath of the climactic scene, the story draws to a close. Loose ends are tied up as the story reaches the resolution stage.

In the resolution, your students should address (usually briefly) the consequences of the events of the story. In a short story such as you will have your students write, the resolution will usually take place over a single scene.

In character-focused stories, the resolution can usually be summed up in a single question: How has the main character changed?  

A short story doesn’t usually have much of a build-up. It will usually start at the last possible moment of the action that will still allow the reader to make sense of what happens.

Likewise, the ending of the story should be tight and lean. The writer shouldn’t hang about, but should still leave the reader with a sense of continuation. That is, the reader should be left with the feeling that life will go in in this fictional world long after they have put the book (or pages!) down.

L esson 5: Edit

You might be beautiful. But, if you don’t brush your teeth occasionally, give your hair the odd brush, and put on some fresh clothes a few times a week, you’ll always be a bit haggard.

Stories are the same. They need tidying up. A little TLC before they make a guest appearance on The Homework Show .

Editing is where this TLC takes place.

Often, it’s difficult for students to gain enough perspective on their story to edit it effectively. It can be good practice to assign students an editing partner, where each student can provide feedback and suggestions to the other.

In this first edit, the main thing students should look out for is the story’s structure. Is it all of a whole? That is, does the story move through the story arc as outlined on the first and second days?

Some other things to watch out for include:

●      Is there a plausibility to the story? This is necessary even in the most fantastical of tales. Even if the events described are impossible, they must ‘ring’ true.

●      Are all the major narrative elements there? Are the characters drawn convincingly? Is there a hook, an inciting incident, a climax, a resolution, etc?

If these larger structural elements are all there, then students check the writing for clarity and revise where necessary.

Editing should be a merciless process; that’s why writers so often talk about ‘killing their babies’ when they discuss editing.

The golden rule of editing narrative writing is, if it doesn’t serve the story, then out it goes!

They can also check for the dreaded incidences of telling instead of showing. For example, characters should reveal themselves through their words and actions, rather than long, boring paragraph upon paragraph of exposition.

Students should make extensive notes for one another if they’re working with partners.

If they are doing their own editing, they can help to gain perspective on their work by reading it out loud.

Now, with notes gripped firmly in ink-stained hands it’s almost time for that final draft.

But first, a Day 6 interlude.

Lesson 6: Let That Potboiler Simmer!

Good writing is a slow-cooked stew of creativity and technical ability. It needs a full day for all the ingredients to steep in their own juices. And that’s what Day 6 is for – a much-needed respite from feverous scribbling.

Allowing the writing to rest for a day does two important things.

Firstly, it allows the student to replenish their energies in readiness for writing the final draft.

It also, more importantly, gives the students a little time to gain some perspective on their stories.

The mind works in unfathomable ways. Sometimes problems that arise in the writing of stories, and other creative text types , get solved by the subconscious while we sleep.

Creativity doesn’t answer to the blare of the factory horn. Students should give their imaginations some time to frolic and cavort.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING NARRATIVE WRITING

Teach your students to become skilled story writers with this HUGE   NARRATIVE & CREATIVE STORY WRITING UNIT . Offering a  COMPLETE SOLUTION  to teaching students how to craft  CREATIVE CHARACTERS, SUPERB SETTINGS, and PERFECT PLOTS .

Over 192 PAGES of materials, including:

Lesson 7: The Final Draft

Day 7! Where does the time go?

It’s time for your students to uncurl Day 5’s hurriedly scribbled notes and get working on that final draft.

Students should work through the suggestions, accepting and rejecting as they see fit. While this is predominantly a functional process, there is room for creativity in this problem-solving work.

This is the final run-through. So anything that doesn’t work should be put up against the wall and…well, you get the picture.

Once the story is in fine fettle structurally speaking, it’s time for a final proofread. Punctuation and spelling must be checked and corrected. All t ’s crossed and every I dotted.

With a final read-through, preferably aloud, each student should ceremoniously fold their masterpiece in quarters with great care and prepare to submit their work to the judgement of the Mighty Oracle of All That Is Educational at daybreak the following morn.

Failing that, they could just give it to their teacher in the morning!

There we have it, a rapid race through the twists and turns of mastering the narrative writing form. Just make sure you have set aside plenty of time to read a couple of dozen short stories come Monday night!

Shared Teaching

Systematic Teaching for First and Second Grade

Teaching Narrative Writing with Must Have Lessons

October 19, 2023 | Leave a Comment

Whether teaching personal or fictional narrative writing, there are some lessons you just shouldn’t skip.

Components of Narrative Writing

The first lessons I begin when teaching narratives is to start with what narratives are. We read a few personal narrative type stories and then we dive into our beginning lessons. I’ll reference some of the stories we read to discuss what they all have in common. Students are shown short examples and we determine if they are personal narratives.

When I teach fiction writing I repeat a similar lesson. Students reference a fictional narrative checklist and learn how to use it to check if the short stories they hear are fictional or not.

For me, it’s important to show examples and non-examples to students. 

Starting in kindergarten, students learn during reading lessons that a story should have a beginning, middle, and end. These lessons should continue in writing.

First lessons in story plot should be helping students figure out the parts of their story. After they have mastered that, we can move onto learning how to make a story engaging by adding details to our story settings. 

During second grade I like to explicitly teach different types of story settings and provide lessons for each part of the plot separately. I also teach personal and fictional narratives separately.

When teaching fictional narratives, my lessons for plot are a little different. I like to introduce students briefly to types of plots they can find (and write) in fiction stories. This might include suspense and adventure. I am trying to show my young writers how to start building the roller coaster feel of a good story.

Small Moments

Several lessons in my personal narrative unit are dedicated to slowing down and focusing on small moments. Small moments can be difficult for students to understand. It’s a necessary series of lessons to make sure to teach as the concept of slowing down a story becomes important again in fiction writing.

For me, teaching small moments begins with a lesson on sorting big and small moments. I really want students to understand the difference of what makes a small moment. I feel like not understanding small moments is where students can get stuck. Showing them examples and non-examples similar to our lessons on what are narratives can really help.

Story Illustrations

Our young writers usually learn that our pictures must match our writing and to add details. Often, I feel this is where our writing lessons about illustrations end. There are many great lessons we can teach students about the art behind story illustrations.

Due to limited time in the classroom, I can’t teach everything I’d love to about story pictures. I have to pick what I consider the most important lessons.

During both fictional narratives and personal narratives are when I teach my students about the power of illustrations. As we read our mentor texts I am also having students take note of what they see in the illustrations.

Some of the things we might discuss are our character emotions and additional details in the illustrations that are not in the story. Here I really want my students to learn that there is more to illustrations than just matching their illustration to their words. Illustrations can help tell the story.

Question Words

The power of writing good stories lies in the ability to ask and answer questions. 

Since second grade reading lessons focus on asking and answering questions, I like to tie these lessons into our writing as well. I break apart types of questions (who, what, when, where, why and how) and take a week to dive into the differences.

Teaching about asking who I show my students how to add adjectives to tell about their character. Then we work on some examples on asking the question of who to add these details. These lessons are short and sweet but can really help students with specifics when we say “add details.” Do they know what we mean when we are asking that?

There are so many more ideas I could share about lessons we can teach for narrative writing but these are the ones I feel are the most important. Of course in between these lessons are the mini lessons about punctuation, grammar, and organization.

Tell me, what are your most important lessons when teaching narrative writing?

Leave Your Comments Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Shared Ideas

Language & Grammar

Science & Social Studies

Digital Learning

Teaching narrative writing tips and activities.

Last week, I walked you through how I thought Opinion Writing should be taught! Today, you’re going to get teaching narrative writing tips. Like last week, I’m going to share best practices I think are best, mentor text suggestions, and even a closer look at Common Core expectations. I hope you can walk away with ideas, activities, and inspiration for your narrative writing lesson plans. All of the images you see below (except for the read-alouds) are part of my ELA writing units. The links to all grade levels are at the bottom!

Time to check grade level expectations from Common Core

Common Core writing domain focuses on three big types of writing: informative, narrative, and today’s topic OPINION WRITING! It begins kindergarten and each year, gets progressively more in-depth and detailed. Here is a look at K-5’s expectations for opinion writing, according to Common Core.

Primary Standards:

• Kinder: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
• 1st: Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
• 2nd: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Intermediate (3rd and 4th) Standards:

• 3rd: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, 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 descriptions 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.)
• 4th: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (a- Orient the reader 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 and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.) (e- Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.)

Outline of narrative writing teaching unit…

• What is narrative writing?
• Teaching the difference between big events and small moments
• Write an introduction
• Sequencing events
• Teaching how to write conclusions
• Tying it all together & practice opportunities

Stock up on your narrative writing mentor texts!

All of the pieces within this blog post should have a mentor text example along with it. Each time you teach your students about a component of narrative writing, use a strong example! Each of the book links below are affiliate links to Amazon.

• What You Know First by Patricia Maclachlan
• Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino
• Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• Bigmama’s by Donald Crews
• Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
• Roller Coaster by Maria Frazee
• Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco
• When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
• Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
• The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena

Let’s begin… Start by teaching WHAT narrative writing is.

First, we are going to kick off our writing unit by teaching WHAT narrative writing is and how it’s different from the other big writing pieces. Since it is one of the three types of writing pieces, it’s important for students to understand what goes into personal narratives and fictional narratives. The big components I’m going to talk about in this blog post (focused on K-4) is an introduction, events (we will get more in detail later), and a conclusion. Students must understand all the pieces of that before they try writing their own.

It is also important for students to recognize the difference between personal narratives and fictional narratives. Since they’re going to be asked to write both types of narrative writing pieces throughout their units (links below), they must know what goes into each one.

After you introduce narrative writing and teach the types of narrative writing, give them some activities to help them practice determining what parts of the story they’re listening to or reading. One activity is a story read aloud. The teacher will read aloud a sample personal narrative, and then he or she will reread it one sentence at a time. Then, students will turn and talk with a partner to identify if that sentence is part of the introduction, events, details, or conclusion. Another activity they can do is a fold-and-snip book where they lift a flap and write a sample sentence under each (or they can write the purpose of each personal narrative component).

Teach big events & small moments

Now it’s time to teach about big events and small moments. When you’re teaching narrative writing, it gets tricky for younger students to differentiate between big events that happened and smaller moments within those moments. For example, a big event would be taking a trip to Disney World. But focusing on a smaller moment within that event could be meeting Cinderella or riding the new Avatar roller coaster. This helps students focus in on writing more specific details, feelings, and actions when they’re writing their narratives.

Give the students lots of practice with big events and small moments. With partners and groups, give students an example big event and ask them to come up with sample smaller moments. First, give them specific big events on a smaller circle map. Then, ask them to come up with their own big event examples.

Move on to introductions

Students will now be ready to move on to introductions because you taught them components and small moments. They’re ready to start practicing! First, you need to introduce introductions (mouthful, right?) You’ll teach them the different ways that you can introduce their narrative and hook their reader. Then, you’ll let them practice identifying sample introductions. This will benefit them in two ways. One way is that they’re getting tons of exposure to different examples of strong introductions. Another way is that they’ll be comfortable with the different types of introductions, which are using dialogue, asking questions, giving details, giving facts, using onomatopoeia, and using emotion.

Once they’ve listened to mentor texts and practiced with strong examples, it’s time for them to start practicing coming up with their own. First, ask students to work with a partner to come up with a clever introduction when they see a picture card. Then, they can practice writing a sentence or two on a worksheet when given a topic.

Teach how to sequence events

After your students practice introduction, you can get into the bulk of your writing… the events. This is one of the hardest parts of teaching narrative writing because the majority of the story detail is in this piece of their writing. Within the body, students are going to cover the sequenced events, details, feelings, actions, and emotions.

One way to ask them to practice this is by showing them sequenced events on a picture strip. This shows details of a storyline that students can verbally discuss with a partner. After they study the pictures, they can try to create 3 sentences for each picture to describe the events. A big focus of this part of narrative writing is temporal words, or words such as first, next, then, and last. This will help students be able to organize their events in chronological order.

Another way to help kids with events is to show them strong mentor texts as examples. When reading aloud a story, such as Owl Moon, the teacher needs to stop and discuss when they find new events and details that the author has provided. Then, students can write about the ‘first, next, then, and the last events in the text they read.

Don’t forget to include details when you’re teaching narrative writing. If you look at the Common Core standards listed above, you will see that second grade is the age which students are expected to start adding details. They’re expected to start using feelings and actions to help explain their story. Give them lots of practice opportunities to perfect adding these into a story.

Teaching narrative writing conclusions

And finally, we will move on to conclusions in narrative writing. When you’re teaching narrative writing, students must know the different types of conclusions, like giving a suggestion, asking a question, or describing a vivid image. First, you can read a few mentor texts’ conclusions to show examples. Then, you can ask them to come up with their own examples after learning about each specific type.

After a few activities that show students different examples of all types of conclusions, let them practice coming up with their own when they’re given a topic.

Tying narrative writing together

And now for the fun part!

Finally, you’ve taught all the pieces of your narrative writing unit. Therefore, it’s time to practice, practice, practice. Choose high-interest and engaging topics for students to write about. Give them lots of different prompts to pick from. Provide them with scaffolded graphic organizers that will help them brainstorm and pre-write. They’re going to rock those narratives!

Interested in Free Graphic Organizers for Your Writing Unit?

Grab a free set of narrative writing graphic organizers. One page for each grade level, perfect for differentiation or just grabbing what you need.

Or Do You Want Ready-Made Lesson Plans for Narrative Writing?

If you’re interested in getting your students to master writing without having to spend hours on planning and prep, I have all-inclusive units for you! These no-prep units have everything you need to teach opinion writing in your classroom!

Narrative Units come complete with anchor charts, lesson plans, graphic organizers, writing prompts, and more! Click the button for your grade level below:

Want more writing blog posts for ideas and tips?

• How to teach opinion writing
• Tying writing into your math block
• Warming up for your writing block
• How to make their writing interactive
• Read more about: Common Core Aligned , Uncategorized , Writing Blog Posts

You might also like...

3 Easy Times to Squeeze Speaking and Listening Skills into Your Day

In today’s blog post we will talk about incorporating speaking and listening skills in your elementary classroom! Finding time to focus on these crucial skills

Introduction to Fractions: Partitioning, Shares, and Fractions in 1st and 2nd Grade

Hello teachers! Welcome to today’s blog post, where we will dive into the fascinating world of fractions, tailored specifically for 1st and 2nd-grade classrooms. Fractions

Teaching Text Features in the Spring

This isn’t the first time we’ve discussed using the current season as a way to make your ELA content more engaging. Adding the element of

Join these happy teachers

Join the email list.

Get teaching tips, how-to guides, and freebies delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday!

Hi, I'm Jessica

I help elementary teachers master the standards by providing helpful standards-based tips, guides, and resources.

Let's Connect

Access your purchases

© Elementary Nest • Website by KristenDoyle.co

How to Teach Narrative Writing for Powerful Classroom Instruction

• June 6, 2023

How to Teach Narrative Writing for Powerful Classroom Instruction is a continuation of Narrative Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide for Success in Middle School . In that blog post, we explored the first three steps in a narrative writing unit. This post will explore steps four through six in a narrative writing unit.

This blog post and the series of blog posts that follow are designed as a comprehensive guide, crafted with the middle school classroom in mind.

Whether you are a seasoned educator seeking fresh ideas or a novice teacher eager to embark on this writing adventure, this guide will equip you with the tools to guide your students towards becoming proficient storytellers.

Download the Narrative Scope and Sequence for a detailed guide on how to guide students through the narrative writing adventure.

How to Teach Narrative Writing: Brainstorm

Whether students write personal narratives or fictional stories, getting started is always the hardest part. Prompts and sentence starters are ways to get students thinking; students can have a notebook to keep their writing and reference tools for the writer’s craft.

As students brainstorm, they can make lists of topics for narratives, share with peers, and meet with the teacher.

Use the brainstorming time to check in with students and have quick conferences or chats with students to get the status of the class. It’s a great time to help students struggling with a topic.

Students may also struggle because they think it has to be an epic topic or story – they might feel their ideas are not ‘good’ enough.  

Remind them that small moments can have a significant impact on the reader. 

Students need to have a topic that excites them. Not being into the topic will make the entire writing process a struggle.

It may also be beneficial to have students revisit quickwrites or other completed writing activities before brainstorming. Intentionally brainstorming before starting writing is another way to prepare students for developing topics.

Finally, if you have required prompts and are not seeing the engagement and motivation from your students, consider developing a new prompt – even have students help. Choice and voice will motivate students.

How to Teach Narrative Writing: Have a Plan – Map Out the Story

Now that students have ideas, it’s time to map it out. Mapping out or drafting an outline ensures that there is a story to tell. It can also be a guide or a reference as students write the story.

Remind students that they do not have to have the whole story figured out at this point.

The planning is an outline of the general plot points and big ideas.

When students plan, have them outline the conflict, sequence of major events, climax, and resolution. Students should have a beginning, middle, and end. Students can draw and write as they map out the story.

It’s also a chance for students to consider the characters, and setting.

How to Teach Narrative Writing: Fast Draft

Now that students have brainstormed and planned, it’s time to write the first draft. This can be a struggle; even with all of the planning, students might still feel like they must have it all figured out before writing.

Many students also think that the first draft is the final draft. If you know, you know. The process of writing is hard work and takes more than one draft, but as writers, we hide all that work with one final draft.

Getting students out of this one-and-done mindset can be difficult, but instead of calling it a first draft, try calling it a fast draft.

Have students write the fast draft as quickly as they can while still touching upon all major elements of their story map. This can be messy, and details may be missing. This is okay!

This is about progressing through the process, having a starting point, and not having it all figured out.

After students have written the fast draft, it will be time to start the writing workshop – join me next week as we explore the final three stages of a narrative unit.

Looking for more ideas on how to teach narrative writing? Check out the previous blog post, Narrative Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide for Success in Middle School , in this series of blogs on how to teach narrative writing for the first three steps in a narrative writing unit.

More Articles on How to Teach Narrative Writing

Narrative writing: a step-by-step guide for success in middle school, hooks in narrative writing and 6 types of hooks to engage readers, 5 simple ways to teach narrative hooks in middle school, books with good hooks for teaching powerful leads to middle school, one response.

• Pingback: Using Chat GPT as an Innovative Approach to Narrative Writing Instruction | Annotated ELA

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi, I'm Melissa!

I help secondary teachers bring the magic and joy to writing instruction in the secondary classroom!

Learn more about me and how I can help you here.

Let's Connect!

Writing conferences: a beginner's guide to confer with confidence.

• Our Mission

Common Core in Action: Narrative Writing

There is a panic amongst writing teachers that is based on the myth that our baby, narrative writing, is shunned by the Common Core standards. I'm here to encourage everyone to take a deep breath and repeat after me: "Nobody puts baby in a corner."

True, there has been a redistribution of priorities towards more fact-based writing. However, I don't see that as a roadblock for teaching story. In fact, blending your genres, incorporating them all, makes students stronger overall writers. In today's post, I'm here to encourage you: teach narrative by folding in informational fact while still encouraging beautiful writing.

Why We Need to Teach Narrative

The chart below outlines the new percentages of genres, according to the Common Core, with which students should be interacting during their time in school:

Sure, the numbers might make you cringe as you see a decrease in percentages devoted to storytelling, but narratives are important because they form the intrapersonal and interpersonal glue that holds our whole world together. Storytelling helps us understand empathy because it teaches about relationships. It helps us understand the sagas that connect history. It helps us wrap our heads around the stories behind the math that make up the need for scientific discovery. Narratives help us understand the world around us and the world within us. Sacrifice it and we sacrifice other elements dictated by the Common Core: creativity, critical-thinking, and character.

To address this shift, we need to focus more on creative non-fiction or fact-based narratives. After all, there's no reason why our narratives can't be based in fact.

According to the Common Core, while other subject areas are now expected to utilize writing, language arts is now expected to utilize other content areas. So I got to work with my mental wrench, tweaking and revising my narrative unit.

As a result, the unit ended up being a rigorous and integrated unit that was far richer than the narrative lessons of old. And it is aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3 : Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Fact-Based Evidence

My narrative unit now focuses on reading and writing historical fiction and/or science fiction writing. The books from which the students could choose to base their stories on can be either historical fiction or science fiction. Therefore, we can study the facts embedded into the fiction and seed researched information into the stories we write ourselves.

I still hit on plot and sequencing, figurative language and sensory details, theme, and hooks. After all, any of those can be used in other genres as well, and that's the key here: making sure that you are blending genres. That the elements you teach for one can be used for others. In this case, different hooks are used for a variety of genres. Identifying the overall message, the theme, is a vital skill that helps put both history and science in perspective, and learning sensory details also helps the strength of writing required for other subjects.

After all, a student must describe one's observations while determining a hypothesis, just as one must be able to relate to the scene of a historical massacre if we are to learn from history.

Once I decided that the students would move away from fantasy or personal narrative into a more fact-based fiction, the challenge was to find ways students could prove their informational research. I began teaching guiding them through the following:

• Producing bibliographies of their resources using APA or MLA format. They use these as a resource to help them with format. And yes, I permit the use of Easybib .
• Creating follow-up presentations called "What if...." projects. Inspired by a resource from Larry Ferlazzo, these five- to 10-slide Powerpoints or Prezis ask students to take a key moment in the time period in which their historical fiction piece is set or a key invention they studied while writing their science fiction story, and delete it from our own history. Their projects focus on the ripple effect of what if that moment or invention had never existed. They must back up their musings with evidence.
• Centering small group discussions around inquiry charts that expand on the differences between history vs. historical fiction and science vs. science fiction.
• Hyperlinking.

The Joy of Hyperlinking

The simplest, most fact-assessing skill I teach by far is how to hyperlink. As I say in my new book, Writing Behind Every Door: Teaching Common Core Writing in the Subject Areas (due out in April), a valuable way the students show me their research is by providing at least 10 hyperlinks throughout their essays, regardless of whether they are writing short stories or argumentation essays. Linking is, in my view, a vital skill for a young writer to know how to do.

I think that all students should leave middle school knowing how to show an additional layer of information in all of their writings. These links allow a reader to confirm an author's research in a way that a simple bibliography list does not. Linking takes reading from a two-dimensional experience to a three-dimensional one. It also potentially adds a different modality to the essay by linking to images, web pages, or videos. It takes reading a student narrative from a static experience to a dynamic one.

In the following screencast, I show you how to teach hyperlinking using both a laptop and an iPad. Since I have a "Franken-class" of both Chromebooks and iPads, I've had to learn myself the best way to teach this skill using both tools.

Throughout my narrative unit, the students and I share the responsibility of being experts. They became the experts in the historic era in which their narrative was set or the scientific theory that influenced their story. And I remained their writing guide. I guided them in how to communicate and maneuver through their subjects.

The writing that I guided them towards became a vessel that delivered integrated material. In so doing, I was able to maintain teaching narrative and all the rich yummy writing elements that go along with it, and still address the informational requirements of the Common Core standards.

21 Narrative Writing Examples

Written by Dan

Last updated February 14, 2024

Are you looking for the best narrative writing examples to use in your classroom? As an educator, finding engaging and compelling narrative stories that can capture your students’ imaginations can be challenging.

Narrative writing can open windows of opportunity to understand student perspectives while teaching critical literary skills and components.

This blog post’ll explore creative and interactive narrative writing examples to promote a positive learning experience for teachers and students alike!

Related : For more, check out our article on  How To Make Writing Fun  here.

Table of Contents

Section 1: The Awakening of Nature

As the morning sun shyly peeked over the horizon, a glistening dewdrop delicately clung to a leaf, reflecting the first light of day. It was as if Mother Nature herself had adorned the world with tiny diamonds.

“Good morning, world,” whispered the wind, playfully rustling the leaves, its voice echoing through the silent woods like a soft melody. A serene symphony of nature stirred every creature from their slumber.

Suddenly, a rabbit hopped out of its burrow, its fur as white as fresh snow, and its eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Another beautiful day,” it seemed to say, twitching its nose at the scent of fresh earth and blooming flowers.

Just then, a bird burst into song, its voice ringing out clear and true. A sweet serenade filled the air, as captivating as a nightingale’s enchanting tune. The forest, once quiet, now buzzed with the rhythm of life.

Section 2: The Magic of Childhood

In the heart of the city, there was a secret oasis known only to the children; a park where dreams took flight. It was like stepping into a storybook, complete with towering trees that stretched towards the sky, their branches reaching out like giant hands ready to catch any child brave enough to climb.

“Bet you can’t catch me!” shouted Sam, his laughter filling the air as he darted across the lush green grass. His words were a challenge, a spark that ignited the competitive spirit in his friends.

Sarah, with her pigtails bobbing, gave chase, her shoes thudding against the ground in a rhythmic pattern. She ran with the determination of a cheetah on the hunt, her eyes focused on Sam, who was now a small figure in the distance.

The park was their kingdom, a place where they could be pirates, explorers, or superheroes. It was where their imaginations roamed free, creating adventures as colorful as a painter’s palette.

Section 3: The Beauty of Love

In the quiet corner of a bustling café sat a couple, lost in their own world. They were like two stars drawn together by an invisible force, their love radiating warmth and light.

“Remember our first date here?” asked John, his eyes twinkling with nostalgia. His words hung in the air, painting a vivid picture of their past.

“Yes,” replied Emily, her voice soft and wistful. “It feels like ages ago, yet it seems like yesterday.” Her smile was as radiant as the sun breaking through the clouds after a summer rain, filling their small corner with a glow that only love can bring.

There was a comfortable silence as they reminisced, their hands intertwined on the table. Their love story was etched into every line of their faces, a testament to the enduring power of love.

Section 4: The Intricacies of Technology

The sun had barely risen when Alex, a software engineer, sat down at his desk. His fingers danced across the keyboard, coding with the elegance of a pianist playing a symphony. The screen, glowing like a solitary lighthouse in the dark room, reflected a world of ones and zeros, a language only understood by a select few.

“Another day, another code,” he murmured, his voice resonating with a quiet determination. His words were not just a statement, but a mantra that fueled his passion for technology.

Suddenly, an email notification popped up on his screen. It was from a tech startup, their proposal as captivating as the siren’s song. “We’re building a future beyond imagination,” it proclaimed, its promise echoing in the silence of the room.

In the world of technology, every day was a new challenge, a puzzle waiting to be solved. It was a thrilling ride that oscillated between triumph and despair, as unpredictable as a roller coaster yet as rewarding as discovering a hidden treasure.

Section 5: The Power of Art

In a quaint little studio tucked away in a bustling city, Sarah painted with a fervor that could only come from within. Her brush strokes were as fluid as a dancer’s movements, each one a testament to her talent.

“The canvas is my stage,” she would often say, her voice filled with a profound love for art. Her words were not merely a statement, but a proclamation of her dedication to her craft.

As the day turned into night, her painting began to come alive. The colors were as vibrant as a summer sunset, their brilliance illuminating the room. “Art is not just about creating something beautiful,” she mused, her eyes reflecting the glow of her creation. “It’s about pouring your soul onto the canvas.”

In the realm of art, every brush stroke was a new journey, an adventure that transported the artist to a world of endless possibilities. It was a dance between imagination and reality, as mesmerizing as a ballet performance under a moonlit sky.

Narrative Texts

Section 6: The Thrill of Sports

The stadium was buzzing with excitement as the players took the field. The air was electric, charged with anticipation, as if the crowd was holding its collective breath.

“This is it, the moment we’ve been waiting for,” muttered Jake, his eyes fixed on the opponents. His words were not just a statement, but a battle cry that ignited the fire in his teammates’ hearts.

As the whistle blew, the game began. Each pass, each run, each tackle was executed with surgical precision, as coordinated as a well-choreographed dance. “This is not just a game,” echoed Jake’s voice, his determination palpable even amidst the deafening cheers.

In the world of sports, every game was a test of strength, skill, and spirit. It was a thrilling spectacle that brought together people from all walks of life, a celebration of human resilience, as inspiring as a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Section 7: The Magic of Music

In the quiet solitude of a dimly lit room, Ethan strummed his guitar with a grace that belied his years. His fingers moved with the agility of a seasoned musician, creating melodies that were as enchanting as a moonlit serenade.

“Each note is a story waiting to be told,” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the harmonious symphony he was weaving. His words were not just a sentiment but a testament to his profound connection with music.

As the night grew deeper, his composition evolved, each chord resonating with raw emotion. The music was as captivating as a symphony performed in an ancient cathedral, its echoes lingering long after the final note was played. “Music isn’t just about sounds,” he reflected, his eyes lost in the dance of shadows cast by his guitar. “It’s about capturing the essence of life in a melody.”

In the universe of music, each composition was a voyage across the sea of emotions. It was a mesmerizing dance between silence and sound, as captivating as the eternal dance of stars in the night sky.

Section 8: The Enigma of Science

In the sterile confines of a high-tech lab, Dr. Amelia peered through her microscope, her face illuminated by the artificial glow. Her hands moved with precision, handling the delicate samples with the care of a jeweler inspecting a priceless gem.

“Every atom is a mystery waiting to be unraveled,” she murmured, her voice echoing in the silent laboratory. Her words were not just a hypothesis, but a declaration of her unwavering curiosity for the unknown.

As hours turned into minutes, her research began to bear fruit. The results were as fascinating as the discovery of an alien civilization, their implications reverberating through the realms of science. “Science isn’t just about facts,” she mused, her gaze lost in the labyrinth of data on her screen. “It’s about challenging the boundaries of human knowledge.”

In the realm of science, every discovery was a step towards the unknown, a dance on the edges of human understanding. It was a journey as exciting as venturing into the unexplored corners of the universe.

Section 9: The Allure of Literature

In the serene comfort of her study, Emily penned down her thoughts with a passion that was almost palpable. Her pen moved across the page with a rhythm that mirrored the heartbeat of her story, each word a piece of her soul inked on paper.

Every sentence is a journey into the human psyche,” she mused, her voice blending with the soft rustle of pages. Her words were not just a thought, but a reflection of her deep-seated love for literature.

As the night draped its dark veil, her story began to take shape. The plot was as intriguing as a centuries-old mystery waiting to be uncovered, its twists and turns a testament to Emily’s literary prowess. “Writing isn’t just about narrating a tale,” she contemplated, her eyes gleaming with the satisfaction of a well-written chapter. “It’s about delving into the depths of human emotions.”

In the world of literature, every book was a key to a different world, an exploration into the vast expanse of human experience. It was a voyage as enthralling as sailing across the seas of time and space, discovering new lands of imagination and creativity.

Section 10: The Evolution of Robotics

In a high-tech laboratory bathed in the glow of neon lights, Dr. Lee worked tirelessly on his latest invention – a humanoid robot. Its metallic facade reflected the artificial light, creating an aura of intrigue around it. His fingers moved deftly over the control panel, programming commands with the precision of a master craftsman.

“Each code is a step towards artificial intelligence,” he mused, his voice barely audible over the hum of machinery. His words were not just an observation but a testament to his relentless pursuit of technological advancement.

As the night unfolded, the robot began to respond. Its movements were as fluid as a professional dancer’s, its mechanical eyes flickering with simulated life. “Robotics isn’t just about creating machines,” he pondered, watching his creation with a sense of accomplishment. “It’s about the fusion of creativity and engineering.”

In the realm of robotics, every innovation was a leap towards the future, a journey into the uncharted territories of technology. It was a thrilling exploration as captivating as the discovery of a new planet in the cosmos.

Section 11: The Revolution of Virtual Reality

In the heart of Silicon Valley, Sarah donned her VR headset, stepping into a world that existed beyond the confines of physical reality. The virtual landscape unfolded before her, its vivid imagery as mesmerizing as a Van Gogh painting.

“Every pixel is a window to another world,” she remarked, her voice brimming with excitement. Her words were not just a statement, but a proclamation of her fascination with virtual reality.

As the day transitioned into dusk, her virtual adventure escalated. The experiences were as enthralling as teleporting to an alien civilization, their realism challenging the boundaries of perception. “Virtual reality isn’t just about simulation,” she reflected, her eyes sparkling with awe. “It’s about transcending the limitations of our senses.”

In the universe of virtual reality, every session was a journey beyond the ordinary, an expedition into the realms of imagination. It was an experience as exhilarating as time-traveling into different eras of history.

Section 12: The Impact of Cybersecurity

In the nerve center of a leading tech company, Sean scanned through lines of computer code, his eyes alert for any signs of a potential breach. The glow from the multiple monitors illuminated his concentrated face, reflecting in his glasses.

“Every line of code can be a potential vulnerability,” he stated, his voice steady and serious. His words were not just a professional opinion but a reflection of his dedication to cybersecurity.

As minutes turned into hours, his vigilance paid off. The anomalies were as subtle as a chameleon blending into its surroundings, their detection a testament to Sean’s expertise. “Cybersecurity isn’t just about protecting data,” he contemplated, his fingers swiftly neutralizing the threat. “It’s about safeguarding our digital existence.”

In the world of cybersecurity, every threat detected was a victory over invisible adversaries, a silent battle fought in the digital realm. It was a responsibility as immense as guarding the secrets of a nation’s treasury.

Section 13: The Progress of Space Exploration

In a state-of-the-art control room at NASA, flight director Ava studied the telemetry data from their latest Mars rover. The screens around her were abuzz with information, each dataset a story of the rover’s journey on the red planet.

“Every byte of data is a clue to the mysteries of Mars,” she commented, her voice filled with wonder. Her words were not just an observation, but a declaration of her passion for space exploration.

As the Earth turned on its axis, the rover sent back stunning images. They were as breathtaking as the first photographs of Earth taken from the moon, their impact resonating throughout the scientific community.

“Space exploration isn’t just about reaching new frontiers,” she mused, her gaze fixed on the Martian landscape. “It’s about understanding our place in the universe.”

In the realm of space exploration, every mission was a leap into the unknown, a voyage into the cosmic ocean. It was a journey as awe-inspiring as the birth of a star in the distant galaxies.

Section 14: The Innovation of Quantum Computing

In a high-tech lab buzzing with activity, quantum physicist Dr. Raj worked on his cutting-edge quantum computer. The complex lattice of qubits and lasers before him was as mesmerizing as a symphony of light and energy.

“Every qubit is a step towards harnessing the power of quantum mechanics,” he noted, his voice echoing in the lab. His words were not just a statement, but a testament to his dedication to pushing the boundaries of computing.

As hours slipped into minutes, the quantum computer began to show promising results. The computations were as mind-boggling as deciphering an alien language, their speed outpacing traditional computers.

“Quantum computing isn’t just about faster calculations,” he reflected, watching the data stream on his monitor. “It’s about transforming how we solve complex problems.”

In the world of quantum computing, every breakthrough was a stride towards a paradigm shift in technology. It was an endeavor as exciting as unlocking the secrets of the universe itself.

Section 15: The Advancements in Artificial Intelligence

In the bustling hub of a leading tech company, AI researcher Lily fine-tuned the algorithms of her latest machine learning model. Her code, a labyrinth of functions and variables, was a testament to the intricacies of artificial intelligence.

“Every algorithm is a building block for intelligent machines,” she declared, her voice filled with determination. Her words were not just a professional opinion but a reflection of her commitment to AI research.

As the day turned into night, her machine learning model began to learn and adapt. The progress was as fascinating as watching a child learn to speak, its potential applications limitless.

“Artificial intelligence isn’t just about mimicking human intelligence,” she pondered, analyzing the results on her screen. “It’s about augmenting our capabilities and creating a symbiotic relationship with technology.”

In the domain of artificial intelligence, every innovation was a step towards a future where machines could think and learn. It was a journey as intriguing as deciphering the workings of the human brain.

Section 16: The Expansion of Virtual Reality Gaming

In the heart of a bustling game development studio, designer Marco was fine-tuning the graphics for their latest virtual reality game. The vibrant colors and lifelike textures on his screen were as enchanting as a digital masterpiece.

“Every pixel is a step towards total immersion,” he observed, his voice resonating with enthusiasm. His words were not just a remark, but a reflection of his passion for creating immersive gaming experiences.

As the day transitioned into evening, the game’s virtual world began to take shape. The landscapes were as captivating as a panoramic view of a fantastical land, their realism pushing the boundaries of virtual reality.

“VR gaming isn’t just about playing a game,” he pondered, testing the game on his VR headset. “It’s about living an adventure.”

In the universe of VR gaming, every new game was a journey into a different realm, an exploration into the limitless possibilities of virtual worlds. It was an experience as thrilling as teleporting into a different dimension.

Section 17: The Proliferation of Self-Driving Cars

In a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to autonomous vehicles, engineer Sofia was calibrating the sensors of a self-driving car. The complex network of radars, lidars, and cameras were as intricate as the human nervous system.

“Every sensor is an eye towards achieving full autonomy,” she stated, her voice echoing in the vast garage. Her words were not just a technical assessment, but a testament to her dedication to advancing autonomous technology.

As hours turned into minutes, the self-driving car began to navigate the test track flawlessly. The maneuvers were as precise as a professional driver’s, its decisions based on complex algorithms.

“Autonomous driving isn’t just about replacing the driver,” she reflected, monitoring the car’s performance. “It’s about enhancing safety and efficiency.”

In the world of self-driving cars, every successful test drive was a stride towards a future where cars could navigate without human intervention. It was a progression as fascinating as the evolution of transportation itself.

Section 18: The Advancements in Wearable Technology

In the design lab of a leading tech company, product developer Ryan was refining the features of their latest smartwatch. The sleek device on his workbench was as stylish as a high-end timepiece, its functionalities extending beyond just telling time.

“Every feature is a step towards seamless integration with our lives,” he remarked, his voice filled with excitement. His words were not just an evaluation, but a reflection of his commitment to enhancing wearable technology.

As the day turned into dusk, the smartwatch began to showcase its capabilities. The readings were as accurate as professional medical equipment, its user interface intuitive and user-friendly.

“Wearable tech isn’t just about gadgets,” he contemplated, testing the device’s fitness tracking feature. “It’s about personalizing technology to enrich our daily lives.”

In the realm of wearable technology, every new product was a leap towards a future where technology would be an integral part of our lives. It was a journey as intriguing as decoding the human genome.

Section 19: The Emergence of Quantum Internet

In a cutting-edge lab dedicated to quantum research, scientist Dr. Kim was working on the prototype for a quantum internet. The complex matrix of quantum entanglement and teleportation was as fascinating as a celestial constellation.

“Every entangled particle is a step towards unbreakable encryption,” she noted, her voice echoing with profound determination. Her words were not just an insight, but a testament to her unwavering dedication to quantum technologies.

As the day transitioned into night, the quantum internet prototype started showing promising results. The data transmission was as instantaneous as teleportation, its security unparalleled.

“Quantum internet isn’t just about faster communication,” she reflected, scrutinizing the test results. “It’s about revolutionizing the way we exchange information.”

In the world of quantum internet, every successful experiment was a stride towards a new era of communication. It was a journey as thrilling as venturing into a wormhole in space-time.

Section 20: The Evolution of Smart Cities

In the command center of a futuristic smart city, urban planner Alex was monitoring the city’s intelligent systems. The elaborate network of sensors and AI algorithms was as intricate as a digital ecosystem.

“Every sensor is an eye towards achieving sustainable urban living,” he stated, his voice filled with conviction. His words were not just an observation, but a declaration of his commitment to smart city initiatives.

As the sun set over the skyline, the city’s intelligent systems began to optimize various operations. The efficiency was as remarkable as a well-oiled machine, its impact significant on the city’s carbon footprint.

“Smart cities aren’t just about technology integration,” he contemplated, watching the live data feeds. “They’re about enhancing the quality of life for their inhabitants.”

In the realm of smart cities, every innovation was a leap towards a future where urban living would be sustainable and efficient. It was a progression as significant as the industrial revolution itself.

Section 21: The Advancements in Biotechnology

In the heart of a state-of-the-art biotech lab, scientist Maya was examining genetic sequences for her latest research. The strands of DNA on her computer screen were as mesmerizing as an intricate tapestry of life.

“Every gene is a piece of the puzzle towards understanding our biology,” she expressed, her voice echoing with fascination. Her words were not just a professional opinion, but a reflection of her passion for biotechnology.

As the day turned into evening, her genetic research began to yield insightful results. The findings were as enlightening as deciphering an ancient script, their implications far-reaching.

“Biotechnology isn’t just about manipulating genes,” she pondered, analyzing the data. “It’s about harnessing the power of life to improve health and wellbeing.”

In the world of biotechnology, every discovery was a step towards a future where diseases could be cured at the genetic level. It was a journey as intriguing as unraveling the mysteries of life itself.

Narrative writing is an essential part of the curriculum, fostering creativity, enhancing literary skills, and promoting critical thinking in students.

The examples shared in this blog post are a powerful tool to engage students and provoke their imagination.

Integrating these narrative writing examples into your teaching strategy allows you to create an interactive learning environment that encourages students to develop their narrative skills.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to teach students how to write and inspire them to tell their stories with confidence and creativity.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what is narrative writing.

Narrative writing is a form of writing that tells a story. This could be a personal experience, an imagined event, or a sequence of events. The goal is to immerse the reader in the story through details, plot development, and character interaction.

2. Why is narrative writing important in schools?

Narrative writing is important in schools because it enhances students’ creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills. It allows students to express their thoughts and experiences, thereby improving their understanding of language and literature.

3. How can I use these narrative writing examples in my classroom?

These narrative writing examples can be used as models for students’ writing. Students can analyze these examples to understand the structure, style, and elements of a good narrative. You can also use them to spark discussion or as prompts for creative writing exercises.

4. How can I encourage my students to engage with narrative writing?

Encourage your students by creating an open and supportive environment where they feel comfortable sharing their stories. Provide constructive feedback, incorporate creative writing exercises, and use engaging narrative examples. Celebrate their progress and achievements to boost their confidence.

5. Can narrative writing be used across different subjects?

Absolutely! Narrative writing isn’t just for English or Literature classes. It can be used in History to narrate historical events, in Science to describe a process or phenomenon, or in Social Studies to explore different cultures and societies. The possibilities are endless!

Related Posts

• Grammar Explained: ‘Who, What, When, Where, Why, How’

About The Author

I'm Dan Higgins, one of the faces behind The Teaching Couple. With 15 years in the education sector and a decade as a teacher, I've witnessed the highs and lows of school life. Over the years, my passion for supporting fellow teachers and making school more bearable has grown. The Teaching Couple is my platform to share strategies, tips, and insights from my journey. Together, we can shape a better school experience for all.

Join our email list to receive the latest updates.

Add your form here

Narrative Writing Prompts to Assign Your Students: 10 Writing Prompts for Narrative Essays

While I am a huge advocate of assigning writing to students at the beginning of the school year , middle school ELA and high school English teachers can assign narrative writing at any point in the year. In this blog post, I’m going to share 10 narrative writing prompts with you!

Teaching students about narrative writing and assigning a narrative writing project helps students work on their creativity, while also focusing on important literary elements. I explain to my students that just like the short stories that we read and analyze in class, they also need to create a setting that enhances the lot. Just like the short stories we read and analyze in class, they also need to fully develop the protagonist and antagonist.

Once students see this connection, they become stronger readers and writers. To help with this concept, my narrative writing teaching unit helps walk students step-by-step throughout the process.

Here are 10 narrative writing prompts to consider using in your classroom.

Personal narrative prompts.

When I choose one of these personal narrative writing prompts, since I teach high school, I also explain to my students that they most likely will be able to use some of what they’ve written for a college admissions essay or scholarship essay.

• Write about a time when you worked hard toward accomplishing a goal. Tell the story about the goal, why you set the goal, the steps you took to accomplish the goal, and how you felt once it was accomplished.
• Write about the accomplishment you are most proud of. In your narrative, explain your accomplishment, describe why you are most proud of it, and tell the story surrounding it.
• Write about a time when you experienced hardship or failure. In your narrative, elaborate on the hardship. Explain the events and your feelings surrounding the hardship or failure, and how you have grown from the experience.
• Write about your best childhood memory. In your narrative, tell the story of that memory.
• Write about an event from your past that has shaped the person who you are today. In your narrative, tell the story surrounding that event and explain its significance on who you are today.

Fictional Narrative Prompts

• The day started out like any other. However, as soon as I woke up, I quickly realized…
• Two characters explore an area in a field. During their explorations, they find a secret passage, a sort of tunnel to a new dimension. The characters step into the tunnel and are immediately transported to…
• Choose your favorite fictional character from any fairy tale or superhero story and write an alternate story for that character.
• The clock was tickly so slowly. It seemed as if time was moving backward and now forwards…
• Cautiously, she/he/they opened the door and stepped inside. There was no going back now…

Teach Narrative Writing in Your Secondary ELA Classroom

Engage your students in this exciting and comprehensive narrative writing unit!  This standards-based narrative writing unit includes materials for both a personal narrative and a fictional narrative and includes everything you need to teach narrative writing to your middle and high school students, including both the print and digital files!

Walk your students step-by-step through the writing process with the materials in this unit. From brainstorming and organizing to peer editing, this narrative writing unit has it all!

Here is what fellow teachers say about this narrative writing unit!

“This was an excellent resource for narrative writing in my special education class. My students use the Amplify ELA curriculum, but struggle with writing. Our first unit was in writing narratives, so I chose this resource to help break down the parts of their story by focusing on characters, settings, conflict, and planning out the plot separately. The result was more well thought out responses to their prompt. The slideshow for instruction was also well made and easy to read. Thank you!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely satisfied

“ I used this as part my short story writing unit with my grade eights. It was an excellent way to set up their stories. I wanted to make sure my students really know all parts of their story before sitting down to writing their first draft. This resource really helped them get to know all aspects of their story.”

“ Teaching narrative writing is definitely NOT my strength! However, this resource made it so much easier!! Piecing together our stories by plot elements was so effective in getting my students on the path to creating some awesome stories! I will never teach narrative any other way! This is it!”

Join the Daring English Teacher community!

Subscribe to receive freebies, teaching ideas, and my latest content by email.

I won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

Built with ConvertKit

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

Raise the Bar Reading

A Reading Teacher's Blog

Teaching Narrative Writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade

When teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, there are so many writing skills to cover. They range from creating a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and end) to more difficult skills like building strong characterization. With a class full of students at such varying levels of writing, it can be overwhelming to think of where to start with your narrative writing unit.  

Narrative writing can be one of the most motivational types of writing for students since the topics can be something they feel connected to in their own lives.  Personal narratives allow them to talk about their own experiences they want to share, and fictional narratives let students create a story about absolutely anything that they want!  

As you can see in the chart below, students are expected to do a little bit more with narrative writing as they grow as writers from 1 st to 3 rd grade.    

So, 1 st grade focuses on developing sequenced events (beginning, middle, end).   With 2 nd and 3 rd grade, the focus is creating a hook/opening, events (beginning, middle, end), and a closing. In 2 nd and 3 rd grade students also need to begin to develop characterization.

For young writers learning such a new, specific format of writing, it is really important to break it up into small, clear steps. 

Below is how I tackle narrative writing step by step:

INTRODUCE NARRATIVE WRITING:

First, I explain what a narrative is with visuals and examples.  I go through a pre-written narrative writing example.  These examples will differ depending on whether we are working on writing fictional narratives or personal narratives.

We identify and discuss each part of the piece of writing.  For first graders that means the beginning, middle, and end.  For second and third graders, that means an opening, events (beginning, middle and end), and closing.

GUIDED WHOLE GROUP PRACTICE:

I like to model the actual process of writing a narrative as well.  With modeling a personal narrative, I like to pick an experience we have had in school that year so that it is easy for students to participate.  I keep this model basic and clear so that students are not overwhelmed in what they need to produce in their first piece of narrative writing.  While modeling, I refer to the prewritten example that I provided earlier.  I also display sentence starters and transitions to use as a guide.   

INDEPENDENT NARRATIVE WRITING PRACTICE:

First, students can practice the narrative format by using picture prompts for beginning, middle, and end.  They use the visuals to describe what happens from the beginning to the end of their story.

Next, it’s time for students to begin fictional narrative or personal narrative writing from scratch!  At first, I usually provide a writing prompt for the entire class that is easily relatable.  The prompts will vary depending on if we are working on writing personal narratives (“Tell about a time when…”) or fictional narratives (“Write a story about…”).  However, you could also give multiple options or have students develop their own individual topics.  

During the prewriting phase of the writing process, students brainstorm using graphic organizers. 

I like give students two graphic organizers – one for them to first brainstorm ideas for their drafts, and then one to organize their ideas into a narrative writing format.

While writing their drafts, students can refer to sentence starters to help guide them in writing their stories.  

After writing their drafts, I give students an editing checklist to use as a reference.  This makes it easier for them to make sure they have included each part of a piece of narrative writing.  

TARGET NARRATIVE WRITING SKILLS:

As students are ready, I target specific narrative writing skills either as a whole class, or with just a small group that is ready for taking their writing to the next level. 

To introduce a particular narrative writing skill (i.e. writing narrative hooks), I display a poster that is student-friendly with visuals and examples.  Then, I have graphic organizers or practice pages that students can use to work through each strategy on their own.  

Most students will need help with the following narrative skills:

Writing a Strong Narrative Hook:

Breaking narrative hooks down by hook types is so helpful for giving them some tools for creating their own leads.  Grab the posters below and a couple practice writing pages for free here .

Writing a Strong Narrative Ending:

Similar to writing hooks, breaking down narrative endings by type is also a helpful way for students to try out different closings for their piece of writing.

Small Moments Writing:

So often, personal narratives can just turn into a list of moments in order. By teaching and practicing small moments writing , students can see how much more powerful their writing becomes when they zoom in on the most important moment in their story.

Describing Characters:

When teaching narrative writing in 2 nd grade, students need to learn to describe characters by their actions, thoughts, and feelings.  By 3 rd grade, the Common Core asks that students also use dialogue to develop characterization in their writing.

Describing Character Feelings

You can display a poster of different ways to describe similar feelings to build stronger word choice in their writing.  Students can use this poster to go through and edit their word choice in their own piece of writing. 

Using Fiction Story Elements:

You can have students prewrite with story elements graphic organizers to ensure they hit each element in their own writing.

ONGOING NARRATIVE WRITING PRACTICE:

I love using fictional narrative and personal narrative journals to provide students with tons of ongoing practice!  I use them as informal free-writes just for continual practice, but some or all of the entries could be used for writing pieces that go through the writing process (prewriting, drafting, editing, revising, and publishing) as well.  

All of the materials shown in this blog post for teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade can be found in the Narrative Writing Unit in my TpT shop!

Next: Teaching Opinion Writing in the Primary Grades

Copyright 2021 Raise the Bar Reading

Customized by Laine Sutherland Design

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• How to write a narrative essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay , along with the descriptive essay , allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing .

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

What is a narrative essay for, choosing a topic, interactive example of a narrative essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about narrative essays.

When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.

A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.

These skills are quite different from those needed for formal academic writing. For instance, in a narrative essay the use of the first person (“I”) is encouraged, as is the use of figurative language, dialogue, and suspense.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Narrative essay assignments vary widely in the amount of direction you’re given about your topic. You may be assigned quite a specific topic or choice of topics to work with.

• Write a story about your first day of school.
• Write a story about your favorite holiday destination.

You may also be given prompts that leave you a much wider choice of topic.

• Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself.
• Write about an achievement you are proud of. What did you accomplish, and how?

In these cases, you might have to think harder to decide what story you want to tell. The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to talk about a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

For example, a trip where everything went according to plan makes for a less interesting story than one where something unexpected happened that you then had to respond to. Choose an experience that might surprise the reader or teach them something.

Narrative essays in college applications

When applying for college , you might be asked to write a narrative essay that expresses something about your personal qualities.

For example, this application prompt from Common App requires you to respond with a narrative essay.

In this context, choose a story that is not only interesting but also expresses the qualities the prompt is looking for—here, resilience and the ability to learn from failure—and frame the story in a way that emphasizes these qualities.

An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

• Choosing Essay Topic
• Write a College Essay
• Write a Diversity Essay
• College Essay Format & Structure
• Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved June 27, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/narrative-essay/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

Other students also liked, how to write an expository essay, how to write a descriptive essay | example & tips, how to write your personal statement | strategies & examples, get unlimited documents corrected.

✔ Free APA citation check included ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

Bell Ringers

Short story mentor texts to teach narrative writing elements.

Raise your hand if teaching narrative writing has you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. I’ve been there. Every writing unit seems to bring its own challenges and narrative writing has a few unique ones. Unlike other types of writing, narrative writing is more flexible and involves more creativity. But that doesn’t mean it’s without “rules”! Getting students to master the narrative writing elements is what will take their stories to the next level.

Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing

I spoke about this on another blog about using mentor texts novels, but I am a big fan of using mentor texts to teach narrative writing. Mentor texts allow you to model the skills and narrative writing elements for students, so they aren’t trying to guess at exactly how their writing should look and sound.

Using mentor texts can be as simple as giving students a sentence or excerpt from a text and talking through how it’s a great example of a specific skill. A lot of times, I will pull these mentor texts from novels that the class is reading because students already understand the story.

However, I know there isn’t always time to squeeze in a novel. When you’re in a bind or short on time, using a narrative short story as a mentor text will accomplish the same task as the novel! I recommend reading this short story before or during your writing unit.

Teaching Narrative Writing Elements with Short Stories

Just like you ease students into a narrative writing unit, I don’t want to throw you into the deep end with mentor texts either. I want to walk you through what it looks like to use short stories to teach the narrative writing elements. I’ll give you a few mentor text examples below and show you how I’d use them in the classroom.

Develop a Point of View

A lot of times, the conversation about point of view is simply, what is the point of view? First-person or third-person? But it goes deeper than that. Developing a point of view means giving the reader intimate knowledge of the character’s experience. It can allow the reader to experience the same sadness or anger that the character feels.

For this narrative writing element, dig deep into the short story you’ve chosen. Find an example from the text where the point of view allows the reader a peek into a character’s mind or feelings.

I like this example from “The Scholarship Jacket”: “I was almost back at my classroom door when I heard voices raised in anger as if in some sort of argument. I stopped. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I just hesitated, not knowing what to do. I needed those shorts and I was going to be late, but I didn’t want to interrupt an argument between my teachers.”

After looking at your mentor text example, dig into what the reader experiences here. Look at what knowledge the reader gains about the character. For example, this mentor text from “The Scholarship Jacket” is a feeling people can relate to. Overhearing an argument and wondering if you pretend you didn’t hear – or you acknowledge that you overhead.

Establish Context

Another narrative writing element is establishing context for the story. Context means putting the topic into perspective for someone who knows nothing about the story. It also means providing the background information that is needed to grasp the story.

When looking through your short story, identify an excerpt where the reader gains necessary information about a character, setting, or event. This is the kind of information that if removed the story could change how the reader understands it.

Here’s an example from “Masque of Red Death”: “But Prospero, the ruler of that land, was happy and strong and wise. When half the people of his land had died, he called to him a thousand healthy, happy friends, and with them went far away to live in one of his palaces. This was a large and beautiful stone building he had planned himself. A strong, high wall circled it.”

This narrative short story excerpt gives the reader key information. It lets us know who the character Prospero is and why he is bringing people to his palace. This sets the stage for later plot points. After reading your chosen excerpt with students, ask them: What key information did this text provide? How does it help you better understand the story?

Develop Character Motives

Character motives can be really fun to uncover. With character motives, the reader understands the reason behind the character’s actions.

To find an excerpt for this narrative writing element, think about a pivotal moment in the story. Then, think about the actions and motivations that led to that moment. Try to locate a sentence or passage that showcases those motives.

This is a great example of character motives from “Story of an Hour”: “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.”

In this short story, the character is expected to mourn for her dead husband. Instead, she finds joy in it (which is later shown through her whispering, “Free!”) This gives us a glimpse at her motives. When examining a text for character motives, ask students: What action does the character engage in later? What is their reason for that action?

If you want students to be stronger writers, they need to see examples of what good writing looks like. That’s the power of using mentor texts when teaching narrative writing. They’ll know what context looks like or motives sound like, and they can emulate it in their own writing!

• Read more about: Middle School Writing

You might also like...

How to Explicitly Teach Elements of Narrative Writing

Using Mentor Texts for Narrative Writing in Middle School ELA

Mentor Texts: When and How To Use Them in Your ELA Lessons

Get your free middle school ela pacing guides with completed scopes and sequences for the school year..

My ELA scope and sequence guides break down every single middle school ELA standard and concept for reading, writing, and language in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Use the guides and resources exactly as is or as inspiration for you own!

Meet Martina

I’m a Middle School ELA teacher committed to helping you improve your teaching & implement systems that help you get everything done during the school day!

Let's Connect

Member login.

PRIVACY POLICY 

 TERMS OF USE

WEBSITE DISCLAIMERS

MEMBERSHIP AGREEEMENT

© The Hungry Teacher • Website by KristenDoyle.co • Contact Martina

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

Check Out Our 32 Fave Amazon Picks! 📦

Every product is independently selected by (obsessive) editors. Things you buy through our links may earn us a commission.

32 Best Mentor Texts for Narrative Writing in Elementary School

Help students learn from the best.

Kids have many stories to tell, but teaching narrative writing well takes work. Mentor texts for narrative writing are invaluable for showing kids how it can be done, and for taking their writing to the next level. These are the books you pore over together that both model and inspire. Your writing curriculum probably suggests some old standbys, but new titles always bring new energy and ideas. We’ve done the work for you to find fresh, diverse, engaging, (mostly) first-person mentor texts for narrative writing that may just become your new favorites. You’re welcome!

1. & 2. Together We Ride and Together We Swim by Valerie Bolling

This pair of books takes telling the stories of the classic experiences of learning to ride a bike and learning to swim to the next level. A sister and brother persevere through fears and challenges with the help of their parents. Add these to your mentor texts for narrative writing for younger students who use mostly pictures and a few words. There are so many small visual details to notice that can encourage students to add more to their own drawings.

Buy it: Together We Ride on Amazon

Buy it: Together We Swim on Amazon

3. New Shoes by Chris Raschka

A child discovers his old shoes are too tight and heads to the shoe store to pick out new ones. Use this to show new writers how they can tell a great story with just a few sentences. You can also introduce new techniques for illustrations; all these pictures are delightfully zoomed in.

Buy it: New Shoes on Amazon

4. One Day, the End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

“One day, I lost my dog. I found him. The end.” This collection of tiny tales is one of the most perfect mentor texts for narrative writing to introduce kids to the idea that a story is when something happens. Use it with your littles to teach them how to add a sentence or two to their illustrations that tell a story from their lives.

Buy it: One Day, the End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories on Amazon

5. Granny and Bean by Karen Hesse

Granny and Bean go for a walk on a cloudy day. They enjoy all the simple pleasures of the beach, like waves, shells, sand, petting dogs, and seaside snacks. Use this to share an attainable example of a strong narrative for younger writers. Each page has only a short sentence or two, but they manage to tell a beautiful story.

Buy it: Granny and Bean on Amazon

6. Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day by Astrid Kamalyan

We love this story of the author’s favorite summer chore—helping her grandmother clean the family’s rugs—to help kids see stories in their daily lives. From dancing in soap bubbles to scrubbing, sliding, and mopping, the author stretches the experience into a delightful tale. Help kids notice the mix of sentence lengths and unexpected details that give the story its fun energy.

Buy it: Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day on Amazon

7. Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate

A granddaughter explains all the reasons she loves visiting her grandad’s house—most of all, it’s because of the stories he tells about the many adventures he and Gramps had in their camper. It hasn’t felt the same since Gramps died, but a granddaughter-grandfather camping trip to the beach turns out to be just what everyone needs. This story is lovely for studying how to establish setting in a narrative, and how to include flashback moments effectively.

Buy it: Grandad’s Camper on Amazon

8. The Secret Fawn by Kallie George and Elly MacKay

As the youngest sibling, a girl feels like she misses everything—including the deer her family saw in the yard. She heads outdoors to try to see it for herself and ends up having an even more special experience. Use this quiet little story to show kids how to focus their narrative on a small but significant event.

Buy it: The Secret Fawn on Amazon

9. Hiking Day by Anne Rockwell

A girl and her parents take a local hike to enjoy all the sights and sounds of fall. Use this to teach about adding more to a narrative by including details, thoughts, sounds, and dialogue.

Buy it: Hiking Day on Amazon

10. City Moon by Rachael Cole and Blanca Gómez

A boy and his mom take a walk in the city at night to look for the moon. Add this to the mentor texts for narrative writing you use to teach about bringing the setting to life. Also, show students how to stretch one brief experience into a story that feels important.

Buy it: City Moon on Amazon

11. Not Little by Maya Myers

Dot is the smallest person in her family, but she doesn’t hesitate to stand up for the new kid when he’s bullied in the cafeteria. (Clearly, she is NOT LITTLE!) Use this to teach about strong, impactful sentences. Plus, introduce the technique of using a repeating line to show readers what’s important in your story.

Buy it: Not Little on Amazon

12. A-Train Allen by Lesley Younge

Race along with the main character as he dashes to the train station. (Spoiler: At the end, we discover it’s so he can be on time to chivalrously meet his grandmother.) This is one of the few mentor texts for narrative writing included on this list that isn’t written in the first-person, but it made the cut because it’s such a relatable title for showing kids how to bring a small moment to life using impactful verbs. They’re conveniently capitalized on every page!

Buy it: A-Train Allen on Amazon

13. My Baba’s Garden by Jordan Scott

A boy spends time before and after school with his grandmother each day. He describes his Baba, her tiny house, and her actions with gorgeous precision. This will be one of your new favorite mentor texts for personal narrative writing to show students how carefully chosen words and details can be so powerful.

Buy it: My Baba’s Garden on Amazon

14. Grandpa Is Here! by Tanya Rosie

Tap into the excitement so many kids feel about being reunited with a special family member. A girl and her parents meet her Iranian grandfather at the airport and bring him home for a family welcome dinner. Add this to your mentor texts for personal narrative writing that show kids how to include their internal monologue and model “show don’t tell.”

Buy it: Grandpa Is Here! on Amazon

15. Abuelita and I Make Flan by Adriana Hernández Bergstrom

Anita is excited to help her grandmother make her birthday dessert—so excited that she breaks her grandmother’s special plate. Can she help enough to make up for it? Use this to show kids how to add flair to their narratives with speech bubbles, labels, and different types of text. Also use it to encourage kids to try to include the narrator’s internal monologue in their writing.

Buy it: Abuelita and I Make Flan on Amazon

16. When Lola Visits by Michelle Sterling

With rich detail, a girl describes how summer smells, tastes, and feels when her grandmother visits from the Philippines. Use this to teach about adding sensory details to narrative writing.

Buy it: When Lola Visits on Amazon

17. Oh No, the Aunts Are Here by Adam Rex

They arrive in a flurry of big purses and hugs, with their coconut scent, spit-polishing thumbs, and big dreams of seeing the Quilt Museum. This hilarious account of a visit from a kid’s over-the-top aunts is one of the most fun mentor texts for narrative writing you’ll find for teaching students how to bring characters to life in their stories.

Buy it: Oh No, the Aunts Are Here on Amazon

18. The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann

City-dweller Ernestine is so excited to go camping with her cousin. It turns out there are a few parts of the great outdoors that take some getting used to, though. Use this to teach about experimenting with speech bubbles and different page layouts as a way to add interest and detail to narrative pieces.

Buy it: The Camping Trip on Amazon

19. Joy Ride by Sherri Duskey Rinker

Joy finds a beat-up bike and convinces her tinkering granddad to help her fix it up. But when her peers make fun of her new ride, she makes the impulsive decision to push the bike down a steep hill, and then must face the feelings that follow. Use this as a solid example of a more detailed personal narrative that includes dialogue, characters’ thoughts and feelings, and interesting language.

Buy it: Joy Ride on Amazon

20. Powwow Day by Traci Sorell

It’s the day of the tribal powwow, but River is worried. She’s been sick and can’t join in as she usually does. The healing dance her friends and family perform inspires her to keep getting better. Use this to model the impact of using different sentence lengths. Intentional line-breaks and onomatopoeia make the text feel almost like poetry too.

Buy it: Powwow Day on Amazon

21. Love Birds by Jane Yolen

Jon doesn’t have any friends yet in his new town, but he keeps busy birding, his favorite pastime. A funny coincidence in the woods introduces him to his first new friend, a fellow birder. The author wrote this as a companion to the classic Owl Moon , one of our longtime favorite mentor texts for narrative writing. Use it to model how to include details about sounds and setting.

Buy it: Love Birds on Amazon

22. Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham

Every Sunday the whole extended family gathers at Granny’s for a big meal. Today, Granny invites her grandson to help prepare the family’s favorite dishes for the first time. From grating the cheese to washing the grit from the greens, he learns about each crucial step. Use this to model how to break down an experience into small parts and describe them in more detail.

Buy it: Soul Food Sunday on Amazon

23. The Electric Slide and Kai by Kelly J. Baptist

As his family prepares to attend a big wedding, Kai desperately wants to impress his granddad with his dance moves so that he’ll give him a “dance nickname” like other members of the family. Use this to teach students to add their thoughts, goals, and emotions to their narrative writing, and to show, not tell, using dialogue and characters’ actions.

Buy it: The Electric Slide and Kai on Amazon

24. A Thousand White Butterflies by Jessica Betancourt-Perez and Karen Lynn Williams

Isabella recently immigrated to the United States from Colombia and is eager to start school and make friends. But an unexpected snow day changes her big plans. Use this to model writing precise sentences and to show how a character’s emotions change during a story. If you have bilingual students, this is also a nice one to show how to weave in words from another language.

Buy it: A Thousand White Butterflies on Amazon

25. A Bed of Stars by Jessica Love

This is one of our new favorite mentor texts for personal narrative writing to share when we’re encouraging students to write stories about problems or challenges. When a child feels too anxious to sleep, their dad plans a camping trip in the family pickup truck. Their conversations under the stars help ease bedtime worries. Study excerpts to talk about the power of weaving dialogue into narrative writing.

Buy it: A Bed of Stars on Amazon

26. Heart Berry Bling by Jenny Kay Dupuis

This story of a girl’s afternoon spent with her grandmother is ideal for nudging upper elementary students to extend their narrative writing. From Granny’s phone chatter to the colors of the beads to the smells and tastes of their fry bread lunch, the sensory details bring Maggie’s time beading and chatting to life. Maggie’s experience making beaded earrings—including her frustration and, eventually, pride—is a helpful example for kids about how to describe a process within a narrative so readers can imagine it.

Buy it: Heart Berry Bling on Amazon

27. A Space for Me by Cathryn Falwell

An older brother gets tired of sharing his room with his annoying little bro, so he decides to build his own space in his yard. Both brothers learn from the experience and end up finding common ground together. Use this to teach about sticking close to a meaningful theme to write a focused narrative.

Buy it: A Space for Me on Amazon

28. My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero

A young girl tells the tale of a motorcycle ride around her neighborhood with her Papi. Use this to model ways to characterize an important person throughout a story. It’s also great for modeling how to use vibrant descriptions and for building energy across the arc of a narrative.

Buy it: My Papi Has a Motorcycle on Amazon

29. A Map Into the World by Kao Kalia Yang

A girl moves to a new house and welcomes twin baby brothers to her family. Next door, an elderly neighbor grieves the loss of his wife. Use this to show students how describing what each character does or says in a situation can help create a complete scene. Also explore strategies for conveying the passage of time.

Buy it: A Map Into the World on Amazon

30. Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away by Meg Medina

Two best friends spend a final day together before one of them moves away. This one is full of heart, with equal parts sadness and sweetness. Use this to teach … well, everything. Model strong leads and endings, how to use small details to create a mood, and how to do justice to a particularly emotional experience by telling it step-by-step.

Buy it: Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away on Amazon

31. Watercress by Andrea Wang

When a girl’s parents spot watercress growing on the roadside, they pull over to pick it so they can make a meal reminiscent of their native China. The girl hates the whole experience but ends up appreciating it more as she learns what it means to her family. Add this to your mentor texts for narrative writing­ for when you work on revising for tighter, more precise language. Imagine how this narrative might have started out and compare that to its sparse but incredibly powerful final text. Also, share the author’s note, in which she describes the experience that led to this book, to teach about how to choose meaningful narrative topics.

Buy it: Watercress on Amazon

32. On the Trapline by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett

A boy visits his grandfather’s old trapline in the northern wilderness, which is steeped in memories. Besides being a beautiful example of personal narrative, this is a fascinating exploration of Cree tradition for kids. Use this to model how to include details and dialogue to explain things to readers and for planning an interesting structure for your narrative. (In this case, it’s a repeating line at the end of each section that explains a Cree word.) It’s also a nice example of how to weave memories of the past into a present-tense narrative.

Buy it: On the Trapline on Amazon

Plus, check out our favorite mentor texts for how-to or procedural writing and opinion writing .

Want more book lists and classroom ideas be sure to  subscribe to our newsletters to find out when they’re posted, you might also like.

33 Mentor Texts for Opinion Writing

Show kids how powerful sharing ideas in writing can be. Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256

By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies and similar tracking technologies described in our privacy policy .

Supporting Educators & Students

Teaching & learning.

As part of its broad-based teaching mission, the AHA develops and shares resources for educators and students. From regional teaching conferences and online programs to pathbreaking research projects, AHA initiatives foster a community grounded in our shared commitment to understanding the past. We support and convene people who share a love of history and historical thinking.

Resources for Educators & Students

K–12 Education

The AHA strives to ensure that every K–12 student has access to high quality history instruction. We create resources for the classroom, advise on state and federal policy, and advocate for the vital importance of history in public education.

Undergraduate Education

Teaching and learning are at the foundation of the AHA’s mission to promote historical thinking in public life. What do students learn in undergraduate history courses? How and why are history majors so successful in a variety of careers?

Graduate Education

Many historians will pursue graduate training at some stage in their career. To meet the needs of both students and graduate programs, the AHA creates resources, provides platforms, and convenes conversations about student success from application to completion.

For Academic Departments

History department chairs are on the front lines of the discipline, defending historians’ work and supporting their professional lives at all stages of their academic careers. The AHA strives to strengthen this work and provide resources and opportunities that make chairs’ work easier and valued. The AHA provides resources and hosts a variety of events and opportunities to benefit department chairs and build community, including webinars, sessions at the annual meeting, and an in-person workshop.

Current Events in Historical Context

Essential, carefully researched resources by historians providing context for conversations about current events.

Regional Conferences on Introductory History Courses

What do students learn in introductory history courses? How can historical thinking support student learning and success across the curriculum? Our regional conferences endeavor to strengthen the community of practice focused on introductory history courses, both in secondary and higher education.

Standards & Guidelines

June 10, 2024

Guidelines for Academic Tenure-Track Job Offers in History

June 9, 2024

Statement on Age Discrimination

Aha historical collections.

The AHA has made primary sources available for research purposes, along with AHA archival reports and documents.

Vetted Resources

Vetted Resources compiles in a central location materials and tools that have been professionally vetted by historians, offering instructors access to high-quality materials that meet professional standards

AHA Resource Library

June 20, 2024

16 Months to Sumter: Newspaper Editorials on the Path to Secession

June 16, 2024

The History of Racism and Racist Violence: International Contexts and Comparisons

The history of racism and racist violence: monuments and museums, join the aha.

The AHA brings together historians from all specializations and all work contexts, embracing the breadth and variety of activity in history today.