[cagsehr]

I need help coming up with some interesting ideas on how to teach narratives. My students are low and have NO idea how to start writing. I was thinking that I would first need to explain what a narrative is and what elements must be in a narrative (we could look at narratives and discuss what we notice about them). We've been talking a lot about PLOT in reading so that will be easy for them to understand that a narrative needs to have a setting, characters, problem, and solution. Other than introducing what a narrative is I am pretty lost as to what to do next. Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[dewdrops]

Hello! You are on the right track...after you introduce what a narrative is, and give some examples, the next thing to do will be to develop a character. But even before that you might want to specify the type of narrative you are going to teach: personal, realistic fiction or fantasy. I usually begin with personal narratives and then move on to realistic fiction. You can do lessons on giving a character external and internal characteristics. Stress to the students that you are looking for a "real" character not a superhero. Then you will continue to teach the elements of the narrative for example coming up with possible settings for your character and possible problems and solution. Teaching how to add details is also important: dialogue, small action, feelings, thoughts. You also want to show how to begin and end a story. Be sure to use good mentor texts- I recommend " A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams, My Rotten Red-Haired Brother by Patricia Polacco, Little Nino's Pizzeria, Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe, The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola...

[SHELL2012]

It is best to take it slow, if you go to fast you may loose them. What I do with mine the first weeks. I model the writing for a day or two. After that I set them up in what I want, expectations. The next week I begin My narrative, Monday introduce the topic, I do my brainstorm and my introduction, then I turn it to them they use the same topic, but now they brainstorm their own ideas and they do their own intro. Tuesday, I do my body paragraphs, then they do theirs. Wednesday, I do my conclusion and they will do theirs. This helped so much. Pretty soon you can wing them off of it and they can work independently. Students will be at different lvels I let them be independent those that need help, I continue to model with them like this until they canbe on their own.