The Personal Narrative

• Watermelon vs Seed• Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.• Body:• Conclusion: DUH

May 3, 2023

Writing a Personal NarrativeWatermelon or Seed?

Watermelon Stories• Include a series of events• Have many characters and plot developments• Tell about an entire

experience in great detail

Seed Stories• Are brief and focused• Tell about a small moment

within a larger story • Zoom in on

the most important part(s) of an event

Decide if the following are Watermelon Topics or Seed Topics

• Fun times I’ve had with my dog• When I spotted my cat at the pound and

realized he was the pet for me.• The very first time I met the person who is

now my best friend• Spending the summer with my best friend• The season we finally won the

championship in soccer• Scoring my very first goal

watermelon

seed

seed

watermelon

watermelon

seed

When you write a Personal Narrative on STAAR, make sure

you write a seed story, not a watermelon story!

Narrative Introductio

ns Grab your reader’s

attention!

S RC EA D

setting RC EA D

setting Rcharacte

r EA D

setting Rcharacte

r Eaction D

setting reflection/ thinking

character E

action D

setting reflection/ thinking

character emotion

action D

setting Reflection/ thinking

character emotion

action dialogue

SCARED

S SettingCARED

S SettingC CharactersARED

S SettingC CharactersA ActionRED

S SettingC CharactersA ActionR Reflection/

ThinkingED

S SettingC CharactersA ActionR Reflection/

ThinkingE EmotionD

S SettingC Characters A ActionR Reflection/

ThinkingE EmotionD Dialogue/Talking

SCARED

S Create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind.

CARED

setting Describe the setting

Reflection/ thinking

character emotion

action dialogue

S Create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind.

C Create a picture of an important character.

ARED

setting Describe the setting

Reflection/ thinking

character

Describe an important character

emotion

action dialogue

S Create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind

C Create a picture of an important character.

A Start with something interesting happening.

RED

setting Describe the setting

Reflection/ thinking

character

Describe an important character

emotion

actionStart with something interesting happening

dialogue

S Create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind.

C Create a picture of an important character.

A Start with something interesting happening.

R Start with an interesting thought inside your mind.

ED

setting Describe the setting

Start with an interesting

thoughtReflection/

thinking

character

Describe an important character

emotion

actionStart with something interesting happening

dialogue

S Create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind.

C Create a picture of an important character.

A Start with something interesting happening.

R Start with an interesting thought inside your mind.

E Create a picture of the strongest emotion you were feeling.

D

setting Describe the setting

Start with an interesting

thoughtReflection/

thinking

character

Describe an important character

Start with a strong emotion

you were feeling

emotion

actionStart with something interesting happening

dialogue

S Create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind.

C Create a picture of an important character.

A Start with something interesting happening.

R Start with an interesting thought inside your mind.

E Create a picture of the strongest emotion you were feeling.

D Start with interesting dialogue.

setting Describe the setting

Start with an interesting

thoughtReflection/

thinking

character

Describe an important character

Start with a strong emotion emotion

actionStart with something interesting happening

Start with interesting dialogue

dialogue

S: Setting/Snapshot – create a picture of the setting in the reader’s mind It was a dark and stormy night. In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of her bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind.

from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

C: Character Description – create a picture of an important character in the reader’s mind

…Even though I’m a big dude with a face like the moon and ears that stick out like radar scoops and humongous feet like the abdominal snowman…

from Max the Mightyby Rodman Philbrick

A: Action – start with something interesting happening I disappeared on the night

before my twelfth birthday, July 28, 1988.

from Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

R: Reflection/Thinking – start with an interesting thought inside a character’s mind

He did not want to be a wringer. This was one of the first things he learned about himself.

from Wringer by Jerry Spinelli

E: Emotion – create a picture of the strongest emotion you were feeling

You were supposed to wake up from nightmares. That’s what Nina kept telling herself as she cowered on the floor of her concrete cell.

from Among the Betrayedby Margaret Peterson Haddix

D: Dialogue/Talking – start with interesting dialogue

“Hey, Killer! How’s your boyfriend?”

from Juliet Dove, Queen of Love by Bruce Coville

Typical:

It was a day at the end of June 2010. My whole family (including my mom, dad, brother, and me) was at our camp at Rangeley Lake. We arrived the night before at 10:00, so it was dark when we got there and we unpacked. The next morning when I was eating breakfast, my dad started yelling for me from down at the dock at the top of his lungs about a car in the lake.

Action: A character doing somethingI ran down to our dock as fast as my legs could

carry me, my feet pounding away on the old wood, hurrying me toward the sound of my dad’s panicked voice. “Scott!” he hollered again.

“Coming, Dad!” I gasped, and picked up my speed.

Dialogue: A character (or characters) talking“Scott! Get down here on the double!” my

father hollered.“Dad,” I yelled back. “Where are you?” I was

sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast our first morning at our Rangeley Lake Camp, and from someplace outside my dad was calling for me.

“Scott! MOVE IT! You’re not going to believe this!” Dad’s voice urged me.

I gulped down my milk, pushed away from the table, and bolted outside, slamming the broken screen door behind me.

Reflection/ thoughts: A character thinking about somethingI couldn’t imagine what my father could be hollering

about already at 7:00 in the morning. I thought hard and fast about what I might have done to get him so riled up. Had he found out about the cigarettes I’d hidden in my backpack? Or the way I’d talked to my mother the night before when we got to camp and she’d asked me to help unpack the car? Before I could consider a third possibility, my dad’s voice shattered my thoughts.

“Scott! Move it! You’re not going to believe this!”

““Foot-see Foot-see Thought”Thought”a way to write interesting sentences

Problem:Problem: Writer can see it, Writer can see it,

but the reader can’t.but the reader can’t.

Solution:Solution:

“ “ Foot -see Thought”Foot -see Thought”

““Foot-see Foot-see Thought”Thought”

You want the writing in your personal narrative to have more pizzazz,

so try writing a few of your sentences with these three parts:

Where did you go?

What did you see?

What did you think?

““Foot-see Foot-see Thought”Thought”

When I went into the kitchen, I saw my mom at the stove, stirring a pot.

“Mmmmm,” I thought. “Chili!”

““Foot-see Foot-see Thought”Thought” Could you change the eye to other senses?

Did you use another word other than “walked”?

““Foot-see Foot-see Thought”Thought”

When I stepped out onto the stage, I could hear the audience clapping. “What was I so afraid of?” I thought. “This is fun!”

““Foot-see Foot-see Thought”Thought”

As I stood at the top of the stairs, I saw my father’s suitcase by the front door, and I thought, “He’s going to be gone a long time.”

Narrative Conclusio

nsLeave your reader

thinking!

DUH

D Dream/Plan

(future)

UH

D Dream/Plan

U Universal Truth

H

D Dream/Plan

U Universal Truth

HHuh?

F FutureHow will the experience impact your future?

U Universal Truth

LL Lesson Learned

D What are your dreams/plans for the future because of what you learned from your experience?

UH

D What are your dreams/plans for the future because of what you learned from your experience?

U What universal truth can be learned from your experience?

H

D What are your dreams/plans for the future because of what you learned from your experience?

U What universal truth can be learned from your experience?

H What’s the point of your story? Why was what you learned important?

The Day I Got Electrocuted(the short version)

My parents always told me not to stick anything in the electric socket. When I was five years old, I thought I knew more than them, so I jammed a pin into the socket in my bedroom. My thumb was fried an ashy white. The combination of pain and the smell of my burnt flesh almost made me vomit.

conclusion 1Being the oldest kid in my family, I always learn things the hard way. My younger sisters and brother learn the easy way- by watching me mess up! I am a better example to them now.

In the future, he will be a better example, so this is D – dreams/ plan (for the future).

conclusion 2“Listen to your parents. They really do know what they’re talking about.” Sound familiar? I had heard this all my life; I just never believed it until that fateful day.

U – Universal truth: Kids should listen to their parents.

conclusion 3 I found out that adults are

smart, especially my parents. This was an important thing to learn because now I usually ask for and follow their advice.

Huh? – What did he learn? His parents are smart.

Expository

Expository

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Conclusion: Restate (say it in different words) your thesis.

Conclusion: It is important for teachers to know the material, but it is just as important for them to care about their students.

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Conclusion: Restate (say it in different words) your thesis.

Conclusion: It is important for teachers to know the material, but it is just as important for them to care about their students.

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Body: First, (beginning) Then, (middle) Finally, (end)

Remember the plot outline from Price’s class.

Conclusion: D.U.H.How will this experience affect your future?What important lesson should everyone learn?What did YOU learn?

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Conclusion: Restate (say it in different words) your thesis.

Conclusion: It is important for teachers to know the material, but it is just as important for them to care about their students.

Narrative

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Body: First, (beginning) Then, (middle) Finally, (end)

Remember the plot outline from Price’s class.

Conclusion: D.U.H.How will this experience affect your future?What important lesson should everyone learn?What did YOU learn?

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Conclusion: Restate (say it in different words) your thesis.

Conclusion: It is important for teachers to know the material, but it is just as important for them to care about their students.

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Body: First, (beginning) Then, (middle) Finally, (end)

Remember the plot outline from Price’s class.

Conclusion: D.U.H.How will this experience affect your future?What important lesson should everyone learn?What did YOU learn?

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Conclusion: Restate (say it in different words) your thesis.

Conclusion: It is important for teachers to know the material, but it is just as important for them to care about their students.

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Body: First, (beginning) Then, (middle) Finally, (end)

Remember the plot outline from Price’s class.

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Body: First, (beginning) Then, (middle) Finally, (end)

Remember the plot outline from Price’s class.

Conclusion: D.U.H.How will this experience affect your future?What important lesson should everyone learn?What did YOU learn?

Expository

Body: Example 1 Example 2

Introduction: Ho.T.T. (hook=quote, dialogue) (thesis= S.O.R.)Thesis: Good teachers know more than just how to teach; they also care about their students.

Conclusion: Restate (say it in different words) your thesis.

Conclusion: It is important for teachers to know the material, but it is just as important for them to care about their students.

Narrative

Introduction: S.C.A.R.E.D.

Body: First, (beginning) Then, (middle) Finally, (end)

Remember the plot outline from Price’s class.

Conclusion: D.U.H.How will this experience affect your future?

What important lesson should everyone learn?

What did YOU learn?

Real STAAR answers to look at Personal Narratives Expository