Wednesday, 10/30: Narrative Common Assessment

You will be writing your best personal narrative. When you begin, think about how you want to organize your writing. You will have one class period to write this narrative. 

2019-2020 – Narrative: 

Choose one of the prompts below to write about:

Prompt 1: Write a personal narrative about an unexpected event that happened to you. Explain the effect it had on you and your life.

Prompt 2: Write a personal narrative about a time when you made a mistake or did something you regret. Explain the effect it had on you and your life.

Narrative Scoring

Your essay will be scored using the following criteria:

  • Purpose and Organization: Does your narrative have a purposeful plot that gives a sense of completeness? How well do your ideas thoughtfully flow from beginning to end using logical transitions? How effective is your introduction and conclusion?
  • Elaboration/Evidence: How well do you elaborate your ideas? How well do you clearly state ideas using precise language that is appropriate for your audience and purpose? 
  • Conventions: How well do you follow the rules of grammar usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling (lol)?

SHOW, DON’T TELL! (INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR!)

In your writing, make sure you include: 

  • Effective opening and closing
  • Well-developed characters
  • Consistent point-of-view
  • Elaboration to help readers picture your story
  • Sensory details and narrative style choices (figurative language)
  • Effective narrative techniques: dialogue, plot devices, flashback, flashforward, foreshadowing
  • Variety of transition words 
  • Capitals, end marks, and other appropriate conventions

Save a few minutes at the end to proofread!

When you are finished:

  1. Give it a title.
  2. TYPE your name and period on the document.
  3. SHARE YOUR GOOGLE DOC WITH ME (mcoward@slcusd.org).