Write a Narrative: Plan Narrative Techniques | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G7:M1:U3:L7

Write a Narrative: Plan Narrative Techniques

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • W.7.3b, W.7.3c

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • W.7.4, W.7.5, W.7.10, SL.7.1
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can write dialogue and description to change the pacing during action to engage the reader. (W.7.3b, W.7.5)
  • I can use transitions to convey shifts from one time frame to another. (W.7.3c, W.7.4)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 7 (W.7.3b)
  • Work Time B: Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer (W.7.3b, W.7.3c, W.7.4, W.7.5)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - W.7.3b (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Mini Lesson: Pacing - W.7.3b (15 minutes)

B. Plan Pacing, Dialogue, and Description - W.7.3b (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Transition Words and Phrases Role Play - W.7.3c (10 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

B. Add Transition Words and Phrases: Students follow the instructions on Homework: Add Transition Words to add transitions from their Narrative Transition Words and Phrases handout to the pacing table in their Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizers.

C. Create Illustrations: In art class or at home, students follow the instructions on Homework: Create Illustrations to continue creating illustrations for their narrative children's ebook.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • Repeated routines occur in the following:
    • W.7.3b – Opening A: In the entrance ticket activity, students consider the most important events in their narratives in order to prepare for the pacing activity.
    • Opening A: Students review learning targets.
  • New skills are introduced in the following:
    • W.7.3b – Work Time A: Students learn about how description and dialogue can impact pacing.
    • W.7.3b – Work Time B: Students apply their learning from the mini lesson to plan the pacing, dialogue, and description of their narrative.
    • W.7.3c – Closing and Assessment A: Students review and use transitions in a role playing activity in order to add them to their narrative plans during homework.
  • The Role Play protocol is used in this lesson. Protocols are an important feature of our curriculum because they are one of the best ways we know to engage students in discussion, inquiry, critical thinking, and sophisticated communication. A protocol consists of agreed-upon, detailed guidelines for reading, recording, discussing, or reporting that ensure equal participation and accountability in learning. Students engage in the following new protocol in this lesson (instructions for which appear at the first point of use in the lesson):
    • Role Play is designed to help students better understand a text, characters, a scene, or a concept by acting out or dramatizing a section of text or a concept.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Encourage those students who demonstrate ease with slowing down pacing in Work Time B to experiment with speeding up time using transition words and phrases before this concept is introduced.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students planned the plots for their own narratives. They continue to develop their plans by focusing on pacing in this lesson.

Support All Students

  • Provide extra modeling and guidance for those students struggling to fill out the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer. Students may also benefit from more examples for each of the boxes. For example, students may struggle to understand how description or dialogue changes the pace of a story. Use examples from A Long Walk to Water where the author changes the pacing, and ask students to consider how the story would have been different if the author hadn’t used these techniques. ▲
  • Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this lesson that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually.

Assessment Guidance

  • In Work Time B, monitor student discussion around filling out the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer to ensure comprehension, and answer any questions students may have.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will use their plans to draft their narratives.

In Advance

  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 7 at each student's workspace.
  • Review the Narrative Writing checklist.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Ebook Nasreen's Secret School and projector to display it

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 7.I.C.10, 7.I.C.12, 7.II.B.4, 7.II.C.6, and 7.II.C.7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson leads students through an activity in which they use an analysis of pacing, dialogue, and description in Nasreen’s Secret School to initiate and support the planning of pacing, dialogue, and description in their own narratives. This sequence of using a model to inform students’ own work is particularly useful to ELLs, who may need even clearer, more transparent examples of the narrative language and structures we intend them to emulate than native speakers because they may be less familiar with the words and conventions associated with the task.
  • ELLs may find the process of using the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer to plan pacing—based on the insertion of description and dialogue—challenging because they may be unfamiliar with the words used to convey description and dialogue in English narrative. Therefore, additional supports such as the ones below may be useful when introducing the pacing section of the graphic organizer.

Vocabulary

  • engage (A)
  • description, dialogue, pacing, transitions (DS)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Domain-specific word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Nasreen's Secret School (ebook to display and read aloud) (from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Device with which to display the ebook
  • Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • A Long Walk to Water (text; one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Notes and articles from independent research reading and other nonfiction texts from this module (begun in Unit 1)
  • Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer (one per student; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Narrative Writing checklist (one per student; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Homework: Create Illustrations (one per student; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Homework A)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 7 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 7 (one per student)
  • Online or print dictionaries (including ELL and home language dictionaries; one per small group of students)
  • Narrative Transition Words and Phrases (one per student and one for display)
  • Homework: Add Transition Words (one per student)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - W.7.3b (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to a question posted on Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 7. Students will review their responses to the entrance ticket in Work Time B.
  • Repeated routine: follow the same routine as in previous lessons to review the learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any similarities between these learning targets and those from previous lessons.
  • With student support, record the meanings of the words dialogue (a talk between two or more people in a play, film, or novel), description (the act of using words to tell what something is or was like), pacing (the speed of a story), engage (to gain or hold the interest), and transitions (changes from one topic to another) on the domain-specific word wall and academic word wall, with translations in students' home languages. Consider writing synonyms or sketching a visual above each key term to scaffold students' understanding. Have students record these words in their vocabulary logs.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Mini Lesson: Pacing – W.7.3b (15 minutes)

  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share to grapple with the following questions:

“Why do authors increase or decrease pacing in a story?” (to make a story exciting, to focus the readers on an important part, to build suspense)

“What are some ways an author can increase or decrease pacing?” (by using lots of short sentences together, by using lots of long sentences together, using dialogue and description, adding detail to a scene)

  • During the share, record correct responses on the board to support all students with understanding pacing. ▲ If all students have trouble grappling with pacing, explain that they will now look at a model text to see how an author changes the pace of a story.
  • Display the ebook Nasreen’s Secret School on the device and read it aloud, inviting students to interrupt the reading when they identify instances where the writer has increased or decreased the pace of the narrative.
  • After students have a chance to grapple, explain to them that they will focus on an example of the author using pacing to focus the reader on particular moments in Nasreen’s Secret School, which will provide them with models of how to change the pace in their own narratives.
  • Display the following section from Nasreen’s Secret School: 
    • “I was fearful that the soldiers would discover the school. But the girls were clever. They slipped in and out of school at different times, so as not to arouse suspicion. And when boys saw soldiers near the green gate, they distracted them.

      I had heard of a soldier who pounded on the gate, demanding to enter.

      But all he found was a room filled with girls reading the Koran, which was allowed. The girls had hidden their schoolwork, outwitting the soldier.”
  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share about the following questions: ▲

“How did the author change the pacing in this section?” (The author described the soldiers coming to the school and others’ reactions to the soldiers in detail. The description slows down the pace.)

“Why did the author slow down the pace in this passage?” (Slowing the pace shows that this part is important. It also helps build suspense because it takes several long sentences for the reader to know that the girls are safe.)

“What would be the effect if the author were to write the same scene in the following way?: ‘I was fearful that the soldiers would discover the school. But the girls were clever and tricked them every time’?” (The reader wouldn’t spend as much time focusing on it. This section of the text would go by much more quickly.)

  • Confirm for students that describing something in detail, such as an action or a scene or a character, is a way for an author to draw attention to this part of the story and show the reader that it is important. Describing something in detail is also a way for an author to slow down the pacing at important parts of the story. Be sure to record this on the board or on a chart paper to support all students in understanding that long, detailed descriptions slow down the pace of a story.
  • Explain to students that adding dialogue can also slow down the pacing and help the reader focus on an important part of a story. If time allows, work with students to identify a part of Nasreen’s Secret School to which dialogue can be added to slow down the pacing. Develop a dialogue as a class, recording it on the board and discussing how it makes the scene more interesting and slows down the pacing.
  • N/A

B. Plan Pacing, Dialogue, and Description - W.7.3b (15 minutes)

  • Review appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can write dialogue and description to change the pacing during action to engage the reader."

  • Tell students that they will now identify a place to decrease the pace in their narratives using the two techniques, description and dialogue, they just discussed in Nasreen's Secret School. Remind students of the entrance ticket activity they completed for inspiration on an important part of the story where they would like to focus on slowing down the pacing.
  • Invite students to take out their Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizers, and refer to their plot maps from the previous lesson. Explain that they will review the events they have outlined and choose one that they can expand upon and slow down for the reader using description and/or dialogue. Direct students' attention to the section labeled "Part IV: Pacing." Ask students to examine this section and share out their understanding of the purpose for each row and column. Consider asking students to Turn and Talk:

"What will you write in each column? How will this help you plan your narrative?" (In the left-hand column, I will write the events from my story that I want to slow down. In the middle and right-hand columns, I will write ideas I have for description and dialogue I can add to slow down the events.)

  • Have students copy the events they've identified from their plot into the section of the graphic organizer in the left-hand column labeled "Events." In the right-hand columns, invite students to draft descriptions and dialogue that will encourage the reader to pause at those moments.
  • Circulate throughout the room and monitor student progress, answering questions as necessary.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

For Lighter Support

  • In Work Time B, when students fill in the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer and plan descriptions that slow down time for the reader, allow them to sketch and label their descriptions before summarizing them in the graphic organizer. This presketching activity allows ELLs to generate the language they will need for their descriptions in the more concrete context of a picture before using it in the more abstract context of a graphic organizer.

For Heavier Support

  • In Work Time B, when students fill in the Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer and plan dialogue that changes the pace of a moment, allow them to speak or make up possible dialogue with a partner before writing their dialogue down individually. Allowing ELLs to orally rehearse made-up dialogue before writing it enables them to collaboratively generate language through discussion which may be richer and more extensive than they could generate in isolation, working without the opportunity for the kind of conversation and exchange that pushes students to keep extending their language skills.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Transition Words and Phrases Role Play - W.7.3c (10 minutes) 

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can use transitions to convey shifts from one time frame to another."

  • Remind students that they have another important tool to tell their stories and control the pacing: transition words and phrases. Ask students to Think-Pair-Share to recall their work with transitions from previous lessons and writing in the module:

"What do you remember about why writers use transition words and phrases?" (They help to move between ideas and connect one part of an essay to another.)

  • Inform students that transitions in narratives also help to move from one event (or one space) to another. Distribute the Narrative Transition Words and Phrases handout. Note that there are transitions for time and space. Point out that some of the transitions, such as later on, can help them speed up the narrative by skipping over time. Invite students to underline some of the transitions on the list that can be used to "speed up time."
  • Invite students to review the handout and ask any questions they have about the words or how to use them.
  • Ask students to improvise sentences in which they may use the words to move quickly from one event to another. If necessary, guide students through an intentional Role Play to act out some of these time and space transitions:
    1. Determine groupings. (In this activity, work as a whole class.)
    2. State the concept or reread the text aloud. (In this activity, state a transition such as in the distance.)
    3. Invite students to silently think and then talk with a partner about how they will act out the given scene or concept, what they will say and do.
    4. Give the signal "Action!" so students can act out the scene or concept. (In this activity, shading eyes to show distance.)
    5. Give the signal "Cut!" so students can stop acting out the scene or concept.
    6. As necessary, repeat steps 2-5 for new concepts, scenes, or allowing students to switch characters.
  • Inform students that they will add transitions to their Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizer for homework.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

For Lighter Support

  • To make the process of using the Narrative Writing checklist for partner feedback more manageable for ELLs, who may be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of language and unfamiliar terminology on the chart, have students focus their feedback around one point most relevant to the development of a plot outline, such as the point below. Also, before releasing students to discuss the point on their own, quickly define potentially unfamiliar vocabulary—such as sequence—even if it has already been introduced in the opening of a previous lesson.
    • “I organize events in a sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.” (W.7.3a)

For Heavier Support

  • When using the suggestion for more focused feedback presented in the Lighter Support column, also provide sentence frames tailored to the feedback requested, and model how to use the sentence frames. As pointed out in previous supports, sentence frames support ELLs by giving them some of the generic language they need to initiate and respond to a question, freeing them up to think more about the specific words they may need to elaborate on or extend what they are saying.
    • What is the sequence of events in your plot outline?
    • First . . ., second . . ., third . . ., etc.
    • Why did you use that sequence of events?
    • I used that sequence to show . . .
    • How is your plot outline organized?
    • My plot outline is organized around . . .
    • Can you say more about that? (Goal 1 Conversation Cue)
    • Sure, I think that . . . (Goal 1 Conversation Cue)

Homework

Homework

A. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

B. Add Transition Words and Phrases

  • Students follow the instructions on Homework: Add Transition Words to add transitions from their Narrative Transition Words and Phrases handout to the pacing table in their Narrative Writing Plan graphic organizers.

C. Create Illustrations

  • In art class or at home, students follow the instructions on Homework: Create Illustrations to continue creating illustrations for their narrative children's ebook.

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