I used to teach personal narrative and the kids would write about, say, a trip to an amusement park. They would write a lot about the car trip and the motel and then end with, "We had a lot of fun at the park--THE END!"

I began teaching strong beginnings. If the story is about a trip to a park, the strategy I teach is to put yourself at the park doing something, thinking and feeling something, hearing a sound, or saying something. This eliminated the long lead-in.

It's great that they are descriptive in their writing, but I understand what you mean.

I use Power Writing. (Similar to an outline) It is a bit structured, but it does help them from getting lost in their details.

Power 1: Main Idea

Power 2: Major Detail to Explain or Support Main Idea (first, second, third, lastly, finally, one of, anotherlikewise, others, moreover, in addition, also, next, besides that, still others)

Power 3: Minor Detail to Explain a Major Detail ( for example, for instance, namely, specifically, to be specific, like, currently, in such cases, in the same manner, because of this, in other words this can be explained by, this can be clarified by)

Power 4: Concluding Sentence (in conclusion, this is why, in summary, these are the reasons)

I teach sixth grade, so a powergraph would look approximately like this:
1,2,3,3,3,2,3,3,3,2,3,3,3,4

When teaching it, start with just 1 and 2 to make certain that they are just writing about the topic. Then they can add details.

Does anyone have any ideas about teaching main event in writing. My students are stuck writing narratives that have a lot of description but lack a main event and conclusion.

Thank you!