Personal Narrative: Getting Started

1
Personal NarrativeGetting Started

• Reading-Writing Workshop
• Theme 1, Grade 6

2
PrewritingChoosing a Topic

• Will your audience be . . .
• A specific person?
• Friends and family?
• A particular age group?
• A general audience?
• Determine who you are writing for before you
  start writing!

3
PrewritingChoosing a Topic

• The purpose of your personal narrative is . . .
• To entertain?
• To reveal something about yourself?
• To inform?
• To shine light on a matter that is important to
  you?
• Plan for a purpose for your personal narrative

4
PrewritingChoosing a Topic

• Will the final copy or product be . . .
• In written form?
• A spoken or visual performance?
• A multimedia Internet presentation?
• Determine how you want to publish your personal
  narrative before you start writing.

5
PrewritingChoosing a Topic

• Suppose you were submitting an entry for a
  magazine contest entitled Memorable
  Experiences. What would your entry be about?
• What was the most courageous thing you have done
  lately?
• Imagine yourself in thirty years telling stories
  to your children about the old days. What
  stories would you tell?

6
PrewritingOrganizing and Planning

• The sequence events, or the order in the which
  things happened, must be clear.
• Work through the tips below to clearly establish
  the sequence of your personal narrative.
• Define a main point.
• Write an outline.
• Organize events along a timeline.
• Pay close attention to cause-and-effect
  relationships.

7
DraftingSequencing Clue Words

• Finally
• At the end
• Next
• From that day on
• After
• At the beginning

• First
• Second
• Third
• Last of all
• In conclusion
• Before

8
DraftingSequencing

• Help your readers out by using clue words.
• Tell events in the order in which they occurred.
• Make an outline of the narratives events to make
  sure that they are told in the correct order.

9
DraftingAdding Details

• Use details because they . . .
• Provide information.
• Enrich the narrative and make it more
  interesting, vivid, and realistic.
• Are the authors way of communicating what he or
  she saw, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled.
• Make sure the details are related to the storys
  main topic.

10
Revising

• Declarative sentences
• Sentences that make a statement
• Interrogative sentences
• Sentences that ask a question
• Imperative sentences
• Sentences that make a command
• Exclamatory sentences
• Sentences that loudly declare

11
Proofreading

• Capitalization
• Is the first word of every sentence capitalized?
• Did you capitalize the proper nouns (names of
  people or places)?
• Punctuation
• Does each sentence end with a punctuation mark?
• Did you use commas to show a pause?
• Spelling
• Did you double check in words that you were
  unsure of?

12
Publishing and Evaluating

• Will you publish your personal narrative . . .
• On a website as part of a collection of personal
  narratives?
• As a pamphlet that includes your personal
  narrative and photographs of people and places
  that appeared in your personal narrative?
• As a performance on a stage as a play?