Students will acquire the skill of crafting a compelling personal narrative essay. At the end of the lesson, students are going to: 
- study and evaluate the personal narrative's structure. 
- use first-person narrative when writing. 
- incorporate the plot's elements (characters, setting, conflict, solution, and theme). 
- use action, dialogue, imagery, and precise language to demonstrate rather than tell. 
- make an intriguing title that alludes to the story's point while not giving away the ending. 
- write an action, dialogue, imagery, or emotional story opening. 
- write a story opening that briefly states or alludes to the major idea of the narrative. 
- employ transitions to keep the narrative moving along at a consistent pace while placing the story's events in chronological order. 
- finish with a sentence that sums up the main idea of the essay.
- write about a time or day when you were surprised, disappointed, or proud of yourself.
- conceive, plan, and write a personal story.

- What effects do language conventions and grammar have on written and spoken communication? 
- What is the objective? 
- What makes writing clear and effective? 
- Why do authors write? 
- Who is the target audience? 
- What will appeal to the audience the most?

- Conventions of Language: Mechanics, usage, and sentence completeness.
- Focus: The center of interest or attention.
- Imagery: Descriptive or figurative language in a literary work.
- Literary Devices: Tools used by the author to enliven and provide voice to the writing (e.g., dialogue, alliteration).
- Literary Elements: The essential techniques used in literature (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme).
- Narrative: A story, actual or fictional, expressed orally or in writing.
- Point of View: How an author reveals characters, events, and ideas in telling a story; the vantage point from which the story is told.
- Style: How an author writes; an author’s use of language; its effects and appropriateness to the author’s intent and theme.
- Theme: A topic of discussion or writing; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work.
- Tone: The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters.
- Voice: The fluency, rhythm, and liveliness in writing that make it unique to the writer.

- posterboard, projector, or interactive whiteboard
- different colored highlighters or markers or colored pencils
- copies of the What Is a Personal Narrative? handout (LW-7-3-2_What Is a Personal Narrative) for each student
- copies of a sample narrative essay. Use an essay from a former student, an essay of your own, an essay from your curriculum guides or textbooks, or an essay from a purchased handbook, such as Write Source at http://www.thewritesource.com; or the essay “A Surprising First Day” (LW-7-3-2_A Surprising First Day).
- Pacing handout for “A Surprising First Day” (LW-7-3-2_Pacing in A Surprising First Day) for each student
- copies of the Narrative Essay Assignment sheet (LW-7-3-2_Narrative Essay Assignment) for each student
- copies of the narrative writing graphic organizer (LW-7-3-2_Narrative Graphic Organizer) for each student

- Make sure the students are staying on task and creating a main point or theme by keeping an eye on the groups while they discuss their freewriting. Check to ensure that the graphic organizers are complete. Answer questions and provide feedback as needed to help students finish their rough draft.

Explicit instruction, modeling, scaffolding, and active engagement 
W: Each student carefully completes a rough draft of a personal narrative using a graphic organizer and the assignment guidelines. 
H: After participating in a group discussion, students select a topic that interests them and get input. 
E: Students read and evaluate an example essay to learn about story structure. 
R: Every student generates ideas for a narrative essay, selects a topic, creates an outline, and writes a draft. 
E: Using a graphic organizer, each student completes a draft of the essay that can be revised later. 
T: Students can schedule one-on-one conferences with you if they are having trouble creating a standalone story element. 
O: After analysis, students move on to brainstorming, outlining, and finally rough draft. 

Focus Question: What literary devices enhance the readability of a narrative essay?

Use a story that was recently read in class, or go back and look at the picture book that was used in Lesson 1. Have your students come up with ideas about what makes a good story. Enumerate their qualifications and descriptions. "You've all heard narrative writing examples, examined precise language, and practiced showing versus telling. It's time to talk about what makes a good story. As we talk, I'll jot down our thoughts to develop our standards for quality narrative writing."

Distribute copies of What Is a Personal Narrative? to every student. [LW-7-3-2_Defining a Personal Story].

Read a sample narrative essay as a class. Use an essay from a previous student, an essay you wrote, an essay from your textbooks or curriculum guides, an essay from a handbook you bought, like Write Source at http://www.thewritesource.com, or the essay "A Surprising First Day" (LW-7-3-2_A Surprising First Day).

As a class, go through the handout titled "What Is a Personal Narrative?" Ask students to read the example essay again, using the handout as a guide. Determine the story's components as a class, including the point of view, sequence of events, conflict/problem, resolution, and theme. Highlight each of these in a different color on a class copy for students. Ask pupils to assist in locating instances of utilizing dialogue, action, sensory details, and exact language to demonstrate. Once more, use different colors to draw attention to these distinct elements.

Mark the places in the introduction and conclusion, in particular, where the author alludes to the theme or makes generalizations about it. Inform the students that they will now be creating their narrative essays. "When writing a story, there are many factors to take into account. Character, setting, conflict or problem, resolution, and the differences between telling and showing in dialogue, action, sensory details, and exact wording have all been covered. Remember to search for the theme when thinking about all of these components. These other elements and devices should help point to a story's theme. Let's talk about "A Surprising First Day's" theme. How does the writer explain the theme to us? What clues are there in the setting, the sensory details, the conflict or problem, etc.? To help establish the story, the theme is frequently emphasized in the introduction and conclusion, so don't forget to read them too. You'll start working on your narrative essay after we've talked about this one."

Give students a choice of the following three essay topics: the day I was proud, the day I was disappointed, and the day I was surprised. Give students a list of potential topics to brainstorm, and then ask them to select one. Let the students know that the ideal topic satisfies the requirements they gathered at the start of the lesson. Instruct students to write about their subject, concentrating on the following questions:

"What took place?"
"What was my emotional state?"
"What did I discover?"

After students respond to these questions, divide them into smaller groups and ask them to discuss their ideas before settling on a central idea or theme. "Work in your groups as much as possible. Sharing your work with others allows them to provide feedback and ideas that may help you identify your theme."

Give the students the LW-7-3-2_Narrative Essay Assignment assignment on narrative essays. Ask students to use the Narrative Graphic Organizer (LW-7-3-2_Narrative Graphic Organizer) to outline the events of their story. Assist students in completing the organizer by outlining the steps and going over additional story elements as needed.

Once the graphic organizer is completed, students can start writing their essays. Tell them to use action, dialogue, imagery, or emotion as a "hook" to draw the reader in at the beginning of the story. Remind them to use transition words and phrases to help readers flow from one event to the next and to arrange the story's events in chronological order.

Describe the distinctions between evidence that is direct and indirect. For example, "My hands shook and my mouth was so dry I could hardly speak" is indirect evidence that is showing, but "I was nervous before my performance" is a direct statement that is telling. "With indirect evidence, the reader must infer—based on details like trembling hands and a dry mouth—that the narrator was anxious even though they are not explicitly told. A reader will find a story that mostly relies on indirect evidence to be more engaging and fascinating to read. Concentrate on writing with indirect evidence."

Students should review their graphic organizer after finishing a first draft to ensure that all of the components and supporting details have been included. Ask them to color-code each component on the organizer so they can more easily see all the pieces, and then have them color the corresponding part in their draft. At that point, they will be prepared to edit and revise their essay.

"Compare your graphic organizer with your first draft. By going over both, you can see what's there and what isn't, which will help you write better. Before beginning any editing or revision, writers should make an effort to include all required components and devices in their draft." Gather the drafts from the students, have them evaluated against the graphic organizer, and return them by the next class period. After that, they'll write their final drafts and include all of the feedback.

Extension:

Examining the structure of additional narratives will help students who need more experience comprehending story structure. Use the guidelines for editing and revision, or the questions above. For further details and examples, students can also go to the following website: http://www.timeforkids.com/homework-helper/a-plus-papers.

If a student finds it difficult to develop a character, have them act out a scene from the story or practice a dialogue between two characters in pairs.

Students can develop imagery and settings for their narratives by using pictures from magazines.

The book "Pacing in 'A Surprising First Day'" (LW-7-3-2_Pacing in A Surprising First Day) is a good resource for students who might need more practice with pace.