The Narrative Writing Lesson Book includes 5 weeks of narrative writing and 10 compelling lessons (two per week). Each lesson includes a Secret, a Definition, How to Use the Secret, Extraordinary Wow Words, Related Activities for Success and an example of how to use the Write-On/Wipe-Off Classroom Tree.
This book is designed to help you teach your students how to use thinking skills to plan and compose effective pieces of narrative writing. The Narrative Writing Lesson Book provides you with a Pacing Guide for the week. For each lesson, the students will write with Carole Marsh (examples are provided for you with each lesson), the students will write as a class, and also write independently.
Below are examples of writing with Carole Marsh:
Lesson 1: A story can be magic to a reader! Spin a tale that takes your reader to the ends of the earth - or to your own backyard! Wherever you take them, grab onto their imagination and take it to an unexpected climax. Ask yourself, "Would you be surprised if you were the reader?"
Lesson 2: A temple. A crumbling temple. A crumbling temple in the jungles of Tikal. Alone, with only a pick and a shovel for company, the archaeologist uncovered long-lost treasure at the base of a crumbling temple in the jungles of Tikal. Build your setting with vivid building blocks.
Lesson 3: Think of your favorite book characters. What captivates you about them? Is it the way they talk? Look? Handle challenges? Change anything, and what do you have? Someone not as captivating, right? And guess what? It was no accident! The writer created those characters on purpose to grab your attention!
Lesson 4: "I" and "me" and "my," oh my! Personal stories can be nail-biting adventures of raw truth, or simply journaling a day in the life of YOU! If you've ever kept a journal, you know what I'm talking about. Fiction or fact - it's really up to you!
Lesson 5: Nothing brings a story to life better than genuinely natural dialogue between speakers. The speakers' personalities come through loud and clear to me! When you write, think, "genuine dialogue." It should come easy to you. After all, talking is something you do every day!
Lesson 6: 10! 20! 30! 35 seconds! You shoot up from the bottom of the pool, gasping for air! Challenges! We love 'em, don't we? So, challenge yourself to write a story that the reader won't be able to put down! Do this with rising action!
Lesson 7: Cherry Cheesecake, anyone? Sounds tantalizing, doesn't it? Now try to make one without a recipe! Sounds like a recipe for disaster! The same goes for a really good story. We call a story's recipe an outline. It'll keep you on track! And hold up your story too!
Lesson 8: My grandson, Grant, asked me one breezy, spring morning, while he was visiting on vacation, "Mimi, tell me something about when you were a little girl." You know, there was something in that spring morning air that brought back a, well, very "sweet" memory.
Lesson 9: Characters carry the story from the start to the finish. Their motives capture the readers' interest. Motives propel the story forward, adding suspense at every turn of the page. (See what your kids think! Assign them a character - even a humble turtle will do. What motivates him, and what does he accomplish with that motivation?)
Lesson 10: Squid-eating pizza! Huh? Skipping trees! What? Swimming rocks! ImpossibleÖ UnbelievableÖ Absurd! And fun! Yes, fun! This is your chance to be as wacky as you want to be. Create a story that no one else could think up - but you!