[Toms]

I am revamping my personal narrative unit. I always struggle with this because it is my first unit, and I am late to start. I have a calendar I work off of therefore I have a deadline. I need some help with essentials I might be missing. I am going to focus on writing hooks, organizing, writing small, exploding moments, the conclusion, and teaching what the point is. I know I need more craft lessons in there. Any thoughts? I also know i should be throwing in grammar within the context of writing, but not sure what would be best choice early in the year within this unit.
Any thoughts?

[mrsd5]

Look up 6+1 Traits. We began this program 3 years ago, and it is fabulous. You should be able to find some sample materials to work from.

[ChanginLives]

I would suggest just picking really specific areas to work on. One in content, one in organization, one in style, one in grammar. A good hook is style, what about organization... transition words? Figure that out. The exploding moments sounds like content. So teach specifically towards those. Once they have it written and it's time for editing you can teach a specific grammar skill. It will also make grading easier because you can grade those four areas and then for the next writing assignment you do, you can build upon the skills you taught for this one by introducing another skill for each of those areas.

Good luck!!! I hope this helps.