Personal Narratives in Language Arts 7



Fictional Narrative Workshop

Language Arts 7

What is a fictional narrative?

Imagine creating a character--a person who never existed before--and then plunging him or her into an exciting or challenging situation. When authors write fictional narratives, or made up stories, they have the power to bring to life any kind of character or situation they imagine. Their only limit is their imagination!

Writers of fictional narratives follow a plot to build their short story:

Exposition: Introduction of the setting, characters, and conflict

Complications: Scenes which intensify the conflict and build anticipation and suspense

Climax: Conflict is resolved at the story's most anticipated, suspenseful part

Resolution: The loose ends of the story are tied up and the characters respond to the resolved

conflict

Ingredients of Successful Fictional Narratives

1) The narrative has well-developed characters and a well-defined setting. Sensory details

are used to give the reader vivid images!

2) The narrative is based around a conflict and a solution to the conflict.

3) Characters are described in detail through specific narrative action. Movements, gestures,

and facial expressions make the characters believable and interesting. "Showing" instead of

just "telling" helps indirectly characterize them!

4) Dialogue is critical. It moves the plot forward, gives indirect characterization, and builds

suspense.

In your fictional narrative:

We've read this classic story together, and you've been provided a copy. In this workshop, you will recreate part of a short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. You are able to copy and paste the basic situation and the complications from our class blog, but you must recreate a new climax and resolution. This classic legend leaves the audience to interpret what really happened to its main character, Ichabod Crane.

Your goal will be to implement effective narrative strategies and rewrite the climax and resolution of the story to include detail as to what really happened to Ichabod Crane during his encounter in the hollow with the Headless Horseman. We know that Ichabod Crane encountered somebody in the hollow without a head, but we don't actually know what the two characters said or did! In keeping with the writing style of Washington Irving, you must not resort to excessive description of violence. Be creative and have fun, but write a school appropriate ending! After cutting and pasting the beginning, you must write 2 to 3 pages (500 to 750 words) of your own. You must submit your essay in MLA format by the due date!

California State Standards:

1.0 Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays with an awareness of the audience and

the purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.

1. Create and organizational structure that balances all aspects of the composition and uses

effective transitions between sentences to unify important ideas.

3. Use strategies of outlining to impose structure on composing drafts.

6. Create documents using word-processing skills and publishing programs.

7. Revise writing to improve organization and word choice after checking the logic and ideas

and the precision of the vocabulary.

2.0 Students write narrative texts of at least 500 to 700 words.

1. Write narratives:

a. Develop a standard plot line and point of view.

b. Develop complex major and minor characters and a definite setting.

c. Use a range of appropriate strategies (dialogue, suspense, naming of specific narrative

action, including movement, gestures, and expressions)

Strategy for instruction of narratives

1. Students will learn the framework for short stories, the plot. They will identify the plots of several short stories and discuss this predictable framework.

2. Students will read and complete a study guide from the Holt Literature Workshop on Narration pages 534 – 557 and pages 704-705. This workshop includes mini-lessons on:

a. Ingredients and Purpose of a Narrative

b. Thinking About Purpose and Audience

c. Using Narrative Strategies

d. Planning the Plot

e. Evaluating and Revise Content, Organization, and Style

f. Using of Precise Nouns and Adjectives

g. Punctuating Dialogue

3. Students will listen to and read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". They will be provided a copy, and we will discuss this legend together in class.

4. To further emphasize audience perspective, students will view "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". This step is not necessary in order to write a new ending, but it does give students a chance to see one person's perspective and elaboration of the original story! We will discuss character development and compare and contrast the two mediums.

4. Students will use Washington Irving's basic situation and complications from "The Legend

Of Sleepy Hollow" and then write their own climax and resolution. They must

include their interpretation of what truly happened to Ichabod Crane. The narrative must

contain suspense, narrative movement, precise nouns and adjectives, and dialogue.

Students must write 2 to 3 pages in MLA format of their own climax and resolution!

5. Students will submit an MLA formatted essay, the grading rubric, and the plot analysis form

by the deadline established. Essays are deducted at 10% off each day late.

Practice #1: What’s A Narrative?

Holt Literature: pages 542-547

1. In order to keep your readers turning the pages of your narrative, a good story

should contain a character facing a _____________________________.

2. In order to start brainstorming for a narrative, a writer should start with:

a. ________________________________________________________

b. ________________________________________________________

c. ________________________________________________________

3. In order to develop your characters for your audience in a true or made up story,

a writer should ask himself or herself:

a. __________________________________________________________?

b. __________________________________________________________?

c. __________________________________________________________?

Narrative Strategies: page 545

1. People or characters can communicate through their ________________ or

_______________.

2. The more details a writer includes in the story about how the characters

__________________ and _____________________, the better the reader will be

able to picture them.

3. Specific narrative action makes characters come alive! People speak with their bodies.

Three types of specific narrative action are:

a._______________________ b. _____________________ c.____________________

Point of View: page 547

1. In first person point of view, the narrator is a _________________in the _____________.

2. In third-person limited, the narrator is not a character in the story. The narrator tells only

what one character ________________, ________________, and ________________.

3. In third-person omniscient, the narrator is not a character in the story. The narrator knows

what __________of the characters are ________________, __________________, and

experiencing. This narrator can also tell things that none of the characters could know

such as the future!

Practice # 2: Quotations and Dialogue

RULE #1: A direct quotation begins with a capital letter.

Jimmy shouted, “See you at the game!”

“Is it true?" asked Cindy.

 

RULE #2: When a quotation is interrupted into two parts with words like “he asked”

or “the teacher demanded,” the second part begins with a lower case letter.

“What are some of the things,” Mrs. Baskin inquired, “that make school fun?”

“One thing I like,” replied Sarah, “is recess!”

 

RULE #3: When writing dialogue, all punctuation marks at the end of the quotation go inside the quotation marks.

“Let's visit the museum,” suggested Samantha. (end dialogue tag)

Jon replied, “Didn't we go there last weekend?” (starter dialogue tag)

“But when we did,” Beth added, “we didn't see the Ancient Egyptian exhibit.”

(interrupter dialogue tag)

 

RULE #4: Do not put a period inside the end of a quotation when a dialogue tag ends the sentence. Use commas, question marks, and exclamation marks…but not periods. Periods end sentences.

“My Algebra class is driving me crazy!” Paul yelled.

“That's my favorite class,” Becky replied.

RULE #5: Make a new paragraph (indent) each time the speaker changes.

"Last night, I dreamt that I ate a giant marshmallow," Kevin said.

"Was that anything like the dream you had about eating your way through a mountain of fruit cocktail?" asked Suzy.

"Scarier," Kevin explained. "This time I woke up and my pillow was gone."

 

Practice #2: Dialogue’s Purpose

One of the key ingredients in a narrative is dialogue. A writer must include meaningful conversation between the characters. So, what is meaningful conversation in a story? What should dialogue do? Dialogue is one of the fiction elements you can use to propel your plot forward and integrate your theme into a scene. But, dialogue is one of the hardest parts of fiction to write.

So, as a narrative writer, make sure your dialogue has a purpose! Dialogue may:

1) Provide background or new information to the characters about the conflict

2) Reveal new obstacles that the character must overcome to achieve his or her goal

3) Introduce a pivotal moment in the plot that changes the character(s)

4) Accelerate the emotion and story movement to increase the suspense and make the situation more urgent for the characters

Dialogue can provide background information and move the plot forward.

“Don’t die…Papa. It’s too soon and there are so many things that I want to tell you that I haven’t,” she confessed.

“I’m so sorry that I haven’t been the father you deserved,” he confided. “I should have been there so many times that I wasn’t.”

* This example shows many things in a few lines of dialogue. The father is dying, and the daughter is emotionally wrecked. The father has guilt and regret. He believes he should have done more and that his daughter should have had a better father. A few lines of dialogue can provide background and move a story forward.

Dialogue can provide further characterization and personality.

When showing the interaction between two characters, the writer must carefully choose his or her words. Dialogue can be reserved for occasions that communicate something significant between characters and their relationship. A few good lines of dialogue can show tension between a mother and son or the commitment between a husband and wife. Show instead of just tell!

“Let me wipe your tears, my dear,” he begged. “Making you cry was the last thing I wanted to do.” He gently blotted her cheeks and kissed each softly. “Please forgive me,” he pleaded.

Practice #2: Punctuating Dialogue

Proofread the following passage by correcting mistakes in dialogue punctuation. Use a pen to make your marks heavy and dark!

A Saturday with Didi

In one year said Mr. Goldman the average American teenager sees more than twenty thousand commercials. Twenty thousand! And what do those commercials make you want to do? The students thought for a moment, and then Elaine raised her hand and said Buy stuff. Mr. Goldman nodded his head in agreement and disbelief.

Elaine decided to watch television one Saturday morning with her neighbor Did, who is seven. I like programs about animals that talk Didi told her, so they watched a show about a pink talking elephant. The show was predictable, so mostly Elaine watched Didi watch television. Didi laughed at all the jokes, but her eyes lit up like fireworks when the commercials came on. The ad for a talking doll made her say Wow! The one for the sugary sweet cereal prompted her to comment I like that stuff. It makes the milk turn blue. During an hour of television, there were seventeen commercials. Four were for other television shows, five were for cereals or food, and eight were for toys.

Elaine asked Didi Do you think television is a good thing?

Her answer was Yes. How else do you know what you want?

Practice #3: Tracing the Plot

BASIC SITUATION:

Give a one or two sentence description for each character. Write in complete sentences!

Ichabod Crane

Katarina Van Tassel

Bram Bones

The Headless Horseman

What details does Washington Irving provide about the setting to provide information about the story's characters, the mood, and the creation of conflict? Provide minimally 3 sentences.

What is the internal and external conflict that our main character, Ichabod Crane, will face? Explain in 3 sentences.

COMPLICATIONS:

How does the conflict become more complicated? What obstacles does Ichabod Crane encounter? Explain in 3 sentences.

CLIMAX:

In your recreation of the story, you need to describe the hollow and the encounter that Ichabod has with the Headless Horseman. Your description and dialogue must build suspense! Who was the Headless Horseman? Why did he want to encounter Ichabod? What did he want? What happened between the two of them? How and why does Ichabod disappear?

Narratives include specific narrative action in the form of gestures, expressions, movements. What types of narrative action can you include?

What are some specific lines of dialogue that you will use?

How will Ichabod Crane's internal conflict and external conflict be resolved?

What really happened between the "Headless Horseman" and Ichabod Crane? Does your climax keep in similar style to Washington Irving's? Is it a believable and realistic ghost story?

RESOLUTION:

Your story's ending should not just be tacked on. Is should follow naturally from the story's events. Your story's outcome can be happy or sad, but make sure it is believable. The loose ends of the story should come together. The characters are changed in some way as a result of the resolved conflict. What happens in Sleepy Hollow after Ichabod goes missing? What happens to Brom Bones and Katarina Van Tassel?

Practice #4: Narrative Action

Giving your reader a clear picture is important in narrative writing. Remember to include sensory details. What are the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that can bring your scene to life? Use precise words in your description! Equally important to bringing your writing alive is narrative action. Include gestures, expressions, and movement of your characters. This will further develop your characters and their personalities!

Rewrite the following passage to include narrative action (gestures, movement, and expressions):

After upsetting the state’s top-ranked soccer team, our team was very happy. The coach told the players that they had played well. Team members were excited. They went to the locker room.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BASIC SITUATION AND COMPLICATONS

This is the story of a man called Ichabod Crane and his unfortunate encounter with The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is one of the quietest places in the whole wide world. The only sounds to be heard above the babbling brook that meanders there, are the birds; starlings, sparrows, and perhaps the occasional woodpecker. An unusual tranquility indeed!

However, no one ever went into Sleepy Hollow, not even in the daytime, because people for miles around believed that the place was haunted. To venture out there after dark would be folly indeed, for witches were known to cavort there with goblins and spirits and ghosts and unspeakable things that could bite! It is said that the most fearful spirit that haunts this nightmarish region is the apparition of a figure on horseback. The figure has no head! It is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head had been carried away by a cannonball in some nameless and forgotten skirmish during the Revolutionary War, and who is compelled forever to furiously ride, as if on the wings of the wind, to the scene of battle in a forlorn and nightly quest to recover his head and then get back, before daybreak, to the little whitewashed church where lay his troubled grave. He is known throughout the region of fantasy and shadows as The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

Not very far from Sleepy Hollow was a school house. The schoolmaster's name was Ichabod Crane. He was tall, lean, and lanky with long legs and arms that protruded from his too short sleeves. His head seemed small because his ears were so large. His nose was long and pointed. He could easily, from a distance, be mistaken for a scarecrow. Ichabod Crane fervently believed in witchcraft. His imagination, however, would become active as he often walked through the hollow, and it would fill him with dread as he would sing shakily, or dryly try to whistle to bolster his spirits, believing that he was being followed by the unspeakable hollow or the galloping Headless Hessian.

Katarina Van Tassel was the daughter and only child of a wealthy, local Dutch farmer. She was an attractive lady of eighteen years. Plump as a Partridge and as rosy cheeked as one of her father's peaches. Ichabod was enraptured and found her almost as desirable as her father's considerable wealth! He had serious thoughts of marriage. Unfortunately, for Ichabod, he was not the only contender for Katarina's hand. She had many admirers.

The most formidable of these was the swashbuckling young giant named Brom Van Brunt. He was famous for miles around for feats of great strength and daring. His powerful frame gave credence to his nickname, "Brom Bones". Being good humored and boyishly mischievous, he enjoyed playing pranks and engaging in boisterous fun and frolics. He was also a superb horseman, his feats in the saddle were legendary and he liked nothing better than to race his huge black stallion called "Daredevil".

One fine autumnal evening, Ichabod was invited for merrymaking at the house of Herr Van Tassel. Everyone was there, including Brom Bones. The dancing had begun. Ichabod was a good dancer and partnered with Katrina, while Brom Bones, filled with jealousy, sat watching and brooding alone, in a corner.

(YOU RECREATE FROM HERE! WRITE A NEW CLIMAX AND RESOLUTION!)

Writing Your Narrative Climax and Resolution

Ichabod’s rejection

✓ Dialogue between Ichabod and Katrina

✓ Ichabod’s gestures, expressions, and movements as he leaves

✓ Ichabod’s thoughts

Ichabod enters the hollow

✓ Sights of the hollow: trees, branches, moon, brook, cemetery,

hanging tree

✓ Sounds of the animals, brook, horse

✓ Ichabod’s expressions and movements as he became fearful

✓ Ichabod’s thoughts

The approach and encounter of the Headless Horseman

✓ Sound of the black stallion and the Headless Horseman’s approach

✓ Gestures, expressions, and movement of the horseman and Icahbod

✓ Dialogue between the two characters

✓ Explain what the Headless Horseman wanted with Ichabod

✓ Explain Ichabod’s reaction

✓ Reveal the truth…whatever you have decided it is!

✓ The disappearance of Ichabod

The search for Ichabod

✓ Who discovers Ichabod’s disappearance?

✓ What is the reaction of the school children, Katrina and Brom, and

the townsfolk?

✓ What is the lasting effect of the town people’s reaction to the Headless

Horseman and the hollow?

Your Climax and Resolution:

✓ Should be two to three pages typed in MLA format

✓ 25% of the essay should be dialogue. Use proper format for quotations and paragraphing! Use smart dialogue tags! Proofread for punctuation using the dialogue rule page!

✓ 25% of your essay should be Ichabod leaving the party and entering the hollow. Use sensory details, gestures, expressions, and movement.

✓ 25% of your essay should be the encounter.

✓ 25% of your essay should be the resolution! Don’t be lazy here!

✓ An adult of LA support teacher should proofread your essay!

Language Arts 7

Narrative Essay Rubric

Scoring Rubric:

O = outstanding mastery of standard; creative and advanced understanding

S= satisfactory understanding of skill/concept; effort shown to meet standard

N= needs improvement in meeting standard although some understanding is apparent

U= unsatisfactory; standard not addressed; directions not followed

|MLA FORMAT: | |

|All essay parts are double-spaced; size 12 font; proper heading; pagination; |O S N U |

|paragraphs indented; one inch margins; white paper; (refer to handout or print another | |

|from the blog to review this previously taught concept) | |

|EVENTS BUILD TO SUSPENSEFUL CLIMAX: | |

|Foreshadowing and description of setting build suspense. Dialogue, too, may be used to build anxiousness.|O S N U |

|POINT OF VIEW NARRATION: | |

|The writer chooses one consistent narrator and remains in the same tense (present or past) throughout. |O S N U |

|MAJOR CHARACTERS ARE WELL-DEVELOPED: | |

|The student has made the characters come alive through their thoughts, actions, and words; detail, |O S N U |

|description, and dialogue are used to develop full, complex characters. | |

|SPECIFIC NARRATIVE ACTION: | |

|Gestures, facial expressions, and movement shows attitudes and personalities of characters; the writer has|O S N U |

|made a dedicated effort to successfully incorporate narrative actions to show the reader personality of | |

|the characters rather that just tell the reader about the characters. | |

|PRECISE WORD CHOICE DESCRIBES CHARACTERS AND SETTING: | |

|Choice of words reflects a thoughtful, revised effort to skillfully and vividly create images of the |O S N U |

|characters and setting. Selection of dialogue tags shows consideration for characterization. | |

|CREATIVE CLIMAX AND RESOLUTION (REMAINING IN IRVINGS' STYLE): | |

|The writer has added to the climax where Irving left off. Ichabod and the Headless Horseman's exchange is|O S N U |

|expanded upon from the original story. The climax and resolution are school appropriate. The writer | |

|includes details as to the resolution for the main characters. | |

|DIALOGUE AND ADVANCEMENT OF PLOT: | |

|The writer included dialogue between the characters (especially Ichabod and the Headless Horseman). The |O S N U |

|dialogue moves the plot forward and shows the characters' personality and motives. | |

|STANDARD CONVENTIONS WITH QUOTATIONS: | |

|The writer utilized the example page to punctuate the quotations. Each new speaker's lines are indented |O S N U |

|as a new paragraph. Punctuation is included inside the end quote. Commas are positioned properly. | |

|Capitalization rules were followed. | |

|SPELLING, PUNCTUATION, AND CAPITALIZATION: | |

|Standard use of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are used appropriately for this grade level; |O S N U |

|proofreading and editing were done prior to submission of this final draft. | |

|STANDARD ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE: | |

|Grade-level sentence variety and structure are used appropriately; the writer shows mastery of complete |O S N U |

|sentence writing with few or no run-ons or fragments (refer to blog PowerPoint or see Mrs. Cochren at | |

|lunch as needed to correct run-ons and fragments). | |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download