1

First Person Narrative

Name: __________________________ Period: ____________

2

Scene One: Opening Credits

Miracle Scene Selections

Scene Two: A Lofty Goal

Scene Three: Making the Cut

Scene Four: Old Rivalries

Scene Five: Motivations

Scene Six: Training

Scene Seven: “Again”

Scene Eight: “Legs Feed the Wolf”

Scene Twelve: Soviet Machine

Scene Eleven: Final Roster

Scene Ten: “We’re a Family”

Scene Nine: Whatever it Takes

3

Scene Thirteen: Olympics Begin

Miracle Scene Selections

Scene Fourteen: “I am a hockey player.”

Scene Fifteen: Team Effort

Scene Sixteen: “This is your time.”

Scene Seventeen: Score Tied

Scene Eighteen: “USA!”

Scene Nineteen: Victory!

Scene Twenty: End Credits

4

Writing a Personal Narrative

Be cinematic. As you write, imagine that you are a director making a

movie. I nstead of just explaining what went on, make scenes. A scene takes place in one location during a relatively brief time span. Scenes have action. The characters' personalities are revealed through these. I f you concentrate on one scene at a time, a slice of your story rather than the whole thing, the task of writing memoir is much less overwhelming and the actual writing you produce is more vivid.

5

Use concrete sensory images. Draw your reader into your story by appealing to his or her senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Most writers f ocus on the visual images. They tell how a thing looks. Your writing comes alive when you include smells, tastes, sounds and the way things f eel, as well. How did the f ried chicken taste at those Sunday dinners on the f arm? How did it f eel to bite down on the cherry pit accidentally lef t in the pie? What sounds did you hear around the table? How did the kitchen smell af ter the cooking?

Great descriptive writing uses all five senses!Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch,

6

Be specific. Writing becomes wimpy when it is too general or when it uses too f ew words to describe something. When you are writing about the fi rst car you owned, say it was a 1959 Chevy, not just that it was an old car. I nstead of telling your readers there were trees in your yard, name them. Were they maple trees? Magnolia trees? Birch trees?

7

Let readers in on what you were thinking or feeling. Sometimes memoir writers focus almost completely on what was happening around them, rather than on what they thought or how they f elt. The objective witness role is f or reporters. Memoir writers share their insights, their dreams, their triumphs and their disappointments. When you write memoir, you are the main character.

8

Brainstorming

Memorable Experience/ Significant Event/Accomplishment/Tragedy/Milestone

*

*

*

*

*

*

9

Brainstorming

Who?

____________________________________________________________________________What?

____________________________________________________________________________When?

____________________________________________________________________________Where?

____________________________________________________________________________

What is the most intenseor interestingpart of yourstory?

10

Brainstorming Putting Things in Order

___

___

___

___

___

___

___

___

11

Scene One

First Person Narrative Planner

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Scene Eight

12

Scene OneScene Title:

13

Scene TwoScene Title:

14

Scene ThreeScene Title:

15

Scene FourScene Title:

16

Scene FiveScene Title:

17

Scene SixScene Title:

18

Scene SevenScene Title:

19

Scene EightScene Title:

20

Writing a Thoughtshot

21

Writing a Snapshot

22

Exploding a Moment

23

Strong Verbs

24

Adverbs

25

Revision Worksheet

Revision Questions

Ideas Does my lead get the reader’s attention? Have I used detail and elaboration when describing characters and objects? Have I elaborated on each story event in detail?

Organization Have I organized my body sentences in time order? Have I used effective transition words? Is my story strong in the beginning, middle, and end?

Voice Does my writer’s voice creates a memorable experience? Does my writer’s voice shows excitement?

Word Choice Do I create a clear picture with specific nouns? Do I use strong and interesting verbs? Do I use colorful and descriptive adjectives? Do I use effective adverbs?

Sentence Fluency Are my sentences complete? Do they flow smoothly? Did I try to vary my sentence structure?

Conventions follows the basic rules of grammar (Are my verbs all in past tense?) follows the basic rules of spelling follows the basic rules of capitalization follows the basic rules of punctuation

Things That Are Bugging Me

26

Editing Worksheet

I want to focus on the following areas:

Did I vary my sentence structure? (Compound Sentence)

27

Narrative Writing Assessment Tool

Name:

Period:

Title:

Type: First Person Narrative

Length: Multiple Paragraphs

Audience:

Purpose:

Writing Process Rubric

Prewriting brainstorms and plans writing

Rough Draft Writing uses plan to generate rough draft

Revising makes revisions

Editing proofreads and edits writing

Publishing writing is neat and presentable

Six Traits Rubric

Ideas narrative tells about one experience has a clear and interesting lead contains specific details and elaboration elaborates on story events

Organization events are in time order effectively uses transitions has a strong beginning has a strong middle has a strong end

Voice writer’s voice creates a memorable experience writer’s voice shows excitement and emotion writer is thinking about the reader writing matches its intended audience and purpose

Word Choice creates a clear picture with specific nouns has strong and interesting verbs has effective adverbs has colorful and descriptive adjectives

Sentence Fluency flows smoothly from sentence to sentence has a variety of sentences that are easy to read

Conventions follows the basic rules of grammar follows the basic rules of spelling follows the basic rules of capitalization follows the basic rules of punctuation

FeedbackI really liked…

Feedback:

FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE SIX TRAITS RUBRIC