Lesson Plan

Teaching Students to Write a Narrative

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

Encourage narrative writing with a clever exercise. Class members watch episodes from movies and describe what happened to a character, including details about the setting, plot, and characters. Writers then craft a narrative about a significant episode in their life, enriching their tale with the same sort of details that enable readers to visualize the event.

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CCSS: Designed
Instructional Ideas
  • Begin the anecdotal biography assignment by asking individuals to illustrate 10 cartoon panels representing stories they are willing to share 
  • As class members share their drawings, partners ask questions that help writers remember details they can incorporate in their narratives
  • Share a story from your own cartoon panel with no details and have class members ask question that force you to add the missing details
Classroom Considerations
  • Writers should be familiar with showing writing and the writing process
Pros
  • The six-page packet includes a list of suggested episodes from movies that are suitable for the narrative assignment
  • The attached Word documents may be edited
Cons
  • No rubric is included