Build Mastery: Personal Narrative

From FreeReading

What to Do

Prepare

Make copies of the Personal Narrative Planner for each student.

Model/Instruct

1. Explain the lesson.

Today you will use a worksheet to create your own personal narrative. First you will need to think of a topic to write about. Remember that a personal narrative is a true story about your own experience.

If students have a completed 5W’s Organizer (see Reintroduce: Personal Narrative) they can use the same topic and details for this lesson.

Practice

2. Explain the organizer showing students where the information will be written.

A personal narrative has a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning tells the topic of the story, who and what the story is about, and where it takes place. The middle tells about two or more events in the story. It also includes at least one detail for each event to keep the reader interested. The end tells how the writer feels or how the problem was solved.

3. Students complete their Personal Narrative Planners.

4. The teacher uses a student’s completed planner to model how to transfer the information into a paragraph on the board or chart paper.

5. Students write their own personal narratives in paragraph form.

Adjust

For Advanced Students:

Ask these students to come up with creative titles for their personal narratives.

For Struggling Students:

If these students have difficulty expressing their thoughts, encourage them to tell you the story orally first.

For ELL Students:

Encourage these students to include illustrations with their planners.

Related activities

• All Writing Activities