Demo Lesson

SI Demonstration Lesson

Title:

Personal Growth Narrative

Author:

Allison Peda

Grade Band:

K-13 with modification

Estimated Lesson Time:

Four 90 minute class periods- One for introduction, Three for drafting and peer response groups

Overview:

Autobiographical writing can help us explore, deepen, and complicate our perceptions of the world. Some of the most profound and influential writing in the world is narrative based, with the writer telling the story of intellectual discovery or narrating his or her own wrestling with a problem. In addition to telling stories to convey the complexity and significance of phenomena, we use stories to reveal ourselves. Students need practice in creating those types of narratives and using reflective practices to monitor their personal growth.

From Theory to Practice:

Narrative writing can be a useful tool in helping students develop voice. It can serve as the stepping stone students need before they begin to explore other types of writing. Students may cringe upon hearing the words, “literary analysis essay,” or “research paper,” but few would find writing about their own lives to be quite so daunting. It is a subject which requires no further research. Students can simply pull information from their own memories and experiences. The simplicity of the subject matter makes narrative writing an ideal place to start in helping students find a voice in their writing. According to James Moffett “learning language is personal,” so there is no better way to start a class about writing than with personal narratives.

Author Bernard Harrison suggests narrative writing as the preferred starting place in his book Learning Through Writing: Stages of Growth in English. Harrison explains that students come to the writing process with a need to “tell.” Before students venture into any other types of writing, they need to be provided with an outlet to express themselves. They have stories that they wish to share. Teachers should be cognizant of this fact and should allow them to share those stories. Allowing students to approach the writing process by telling their own stories first will be beneficial when they begin other types of writing.

In the book Student Centered Language Arts K-12 authors James Moffett and Betty Jane Wagner discuss the importance of using small groups that the teacher does not facilitate. These small groups allow students to build interpersonal relationships and create an opportunity for community building as students discuss their own personal growth stories. It allows them to connect on a deeper level as they share often sensitive information. Writing Groups also allow students to engage in revision that is not seen as a form of punishment (Heard).

Throughput the introduction students are invited to “do” activities, to create something that fosters a tangible and visual connection between them and their chosen topic. Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi discuss the importance of actively engaging students during the writing process in order to make them excited about English and LAnguage Arts.

References:

Harrison, Bernard. Learning Through Writing: Stages of Growth in English. Atlantic Highlands:

The NFER-Nelson Publishing Company, 1983. Print.

Moffett, J., & Wagner, B.J. Student-Centered Language Arts, K-12 (4th ed). Portsmouth, NH:

Boynton/Cook, 1992. Print.

Fletcher, R., & Portalupi, J. Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann. 2001. Print.

Heard, Georgia. The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann. 2002. Print.

Student Objectives:

Students will:

• • understand the mechanics of Autobiographical writing, how to effectively use dialogue to advance a narrative, and how writing can open up our perceptions about the world we live in.

  • will be skilled at using narrative elements such as character, setting, theme, dialogue, and personal reflection to create an engaging and introspective personal story.

  • will read several examples of Autobiographical writing

  • focus on a key moment or event, or a series of key moments or events, which shapes or reveals the writer’s emerging character or growth in understanding.

  • effectively use dialogue and reflect on how the situation helped them grow or change.

  • read a variety of pieces that deal with personal growth/self realization

  • partake in pre-writing activities

  • share/discuss ideas and writing with peers

  • publish their narratives

Resources for the Lesson:

• • Copies of The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein

  • Intro Google Slides presentation

  • paper /art supplies

  • Notebook / writing utensils

  • Computer (with lab time) to work on drafting process and publish final drafts

  • Image of The Two Fridas

Instructional Plan:

• 1. Before sitting down to write a 3 page essay, students will engage in a series of events that build on their sense of nostalgia and lead them to self discovery about personal growth and change throughout their lives.

  2. The first activity is a journal about their favorite song, they will answer the questions “Why is it important to you? Why is it your favorite? What does it make you think of? Are there specific people or times in your life that it makes you think of? What kind of feelings does it bring up in you?” After students finish writing I will invite them to share their favorite songs.

  3. We will then read and discuss The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein. The shape in the book goes through a journey of personal discovery in a fairly abbreviated timeline. He starts the book singing a song which symbolizes longing and a feeling that something is missing, after his personal discovery he sings the same song but there is a sense of nostalgia about it since his understanding of himself has changed. I will ask students to apply this realization to their own lives. How have they changed since that song first came into their lives and became significant.

  4. The next step will be for students to create a Body Biography of their two selves paying attention to symbols and colors that represent significant details about their lives.

  5. As a class we will look at the painting The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo and try to decide what details/message she is trying to convey through the images she has created. I will then share my body bio and invite students to show theirs on the document camera also.

  6. I will then do a brief introduction to Personal Growth Narratives and their conventions. Students will free write again about the “problem of Autobiographical Narratives”.

  7. The culminating formal assessment for this unit is a 2-3 page narrative essay about personal growth.

Other Resources:

Other examples of Autobiographical narratives I have used come from the David Sedaris books Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. David Sedaris is a frequent contributor to This American Life and many of his narratives can be found as audio pieces. My students have also read excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass as preparation for this lesson. I have also used the painting The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo to have students analyze what argument she is making about personal change/growth in her work.

Web Resources:

This American Life podcast

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

The Moth Podcast

https://themoth.org/podcast

Teacher Assessment/Reflection:

Autobiographical Narrative writing has lead to some of the most authentic moments in my classroom. It gives students a new perspective on writing; it is not just an essay that they have to suffer through, but instead an opportunity for them to tell their own stories. This assignment also gives me an opportunity to get to know my students quickly through their writing; they often share details in narratives that they would never have the opportunity to express to me otherwise. These essays help students build their craft, explore rhetorical devices like pathos, experiment with narrative conventions, and express themselves in a writing class in ways they may not have been allowed to before. The creative intro gets them “doing” instead of just diving into the material, and it allows them time to develop their ideas.

Indiana E/LA Standards (11-12th grade):

11-­‐12.W.1: Write routinely over a variety of time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences; apply reading standards to support analysis reflection, and research by drawing evidence from literature and nonfiction texts.

11-­‐12.W.2: Students are expected to build upon and continue applying concepts learned previously.

11-­‐12.W.3.3: Write narrative compositions in a variety of forms that–

• Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters.

• Create a smooth progression of experiences or events.

• Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

• Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).

• Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

• Provide an ending that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

11-­‐12.W.4: Apply the writing process to–

• Plan and develop; draft; revise using appropriate reference materials; rewrite; try a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience; and edit to produce and strengthen writing that is clear and coherent.

• Use technology to generate, produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

11-­‐12.W.6.1: Demonstrate command of English grammar and usage, focusing on:

11-­‐12.W.6.1a: Pronouns – Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously

11-­‐12.W.6.1b: Verbs – Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously.

11-­‐12.W.6.1c: Adjectives and Adverbs – Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously.

11-­‐12.W.6.1d: Phrases and Clauses – Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously.

11-­‐12.W.6.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling focusing on:

11-­‐12.W.6.2a: Capitalization – Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously.

11-­‐12.W.6.2b: Punctuation – Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously.

11-­‐12.W.6.2c: Spelling –

Students are expected to build upon and continue applying conventions learned previously.

Body Biography

Choose colors, graphics, designs that represent each trait carefully.

Place the following:

• • Heart: What represents the heart of the person and where should it be placed to identify what the person loves most? What should it look like and what shape, color, pictures, or symbols should be included?

  • Eyes: Where is this person’s focus? What does this person see?

  • Backbone: What motivates this person the most? What gives them strength?

  • Hands: What does this person hold in their hands – literal and figurative?

  • Feet: On what foundation is this person standing? What are their fundamental life beliefs?

  • The Background: what elements make up this person’s environment/background

  • Virtues and Vices: Admirable and unadvisable qualities of this person

You can use text or labels to clarify any of your choices.

Essay #1: Autobiographical Narrative

Overview:

Autobiographical writing can help us explore, deepen, and complicate our perceptions of the world. Some of the most profound and influential writing in the world is narrative based, with the writer telling the story of intellectual discovery or narrating his or her own wrestling with a problem. In addition to telling stories to convey the complexity and significance of phenomena, we use stories to reveal ourselves.

Your assignment is to identify a current event or issue that is controversial, then write an autobiographical narrative that connects a significant moment in your life or in your thinking to that event. The best narrative will focus on a key moment or event, or a series of key moments or events, which shapes or reveals the writer’s emerging character or growth in understanding. Remember that narratives include dialogue. Be sure to include insightful dialogue in this narrative. Finally, keep in mind that this genre must have a reflection!

Exploring Autobiographical Narratives:

Problem-solving is not only at the center of thesis-based writing but also of narrative writing. In effective narrative, the problem usually takes the form of a contrary, two or more things in opposition-ideas, characters, expectations, forces, worldviews, and so on. Consider the following three kinds of contraries as you form the plot of your autobiographical narrative:

• • Old Self vs. New Self. The writer perceives changes in himself or herself as a result of some transforming or breakthrough moment or event.

  • Old View of Person vs. New View of Person. The writer’s perception of a person changes as a result of some revealing moment; the change in the writer’s perception of person X also indicates growth in the writer’s self-perception.

  • Old Values vs. New Values that threaten, challenge, or otherwise disrupt the old values. The writer confronts an outsider (or a new, unfamiliar situation) that challenges his or her worldview, or the writer undergoes a crisis that creates a conflict in values.

Possible Focuses for Autobiographical Narratives:

• • Moments of enlightenment or coming to knowledge: understanding a complex idea for the first time; recognizing what is meant by love or jealousy or justice; mastering a complex skill, seeing some truth about yourself or your family that you previously had not seen.

  • Major choices: about the company you keep and the effects of those choices on your integrity and the persona you project to the world.

  • Moments of crisis or critical choice: moments that tested your mettle or your system of values.

Grading and Submission Guidelines:

All drafts and the final paper should be typed, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12 point font, and reflect MLA format. The final draft should fall between 3-4 pages in length. This is an informal paper, so you may use first and second person. Because this is a narrative, you may use contractions.

Deadlines:

Proposal: ________________________________________________________________________________

Pre-writing: ______________________________________________________________________________

1st Draft Due (Peer Review):__________________________________________________________________

2nd Draft Due (Peer Review & Self-Edit):________________________________________________________

Grading Draft Due: _________________________________________________________________________

Autobiographical Narrative Proposal

Name ________________________________________________________________

It is important to run ideas for writing past outside people to see how well the topic will work before investing much time into writing. Below, propose two different topics that would fit the autobiographical narrative project.

Topic #1: Describe what you wish to write about below. Be sure what you want to write about has tension in it!

Why do you wish to write about it?

Who SPECIFICALLY would be interested in reading about your experience?

Topic #2: Describe what you wish to write about below. Be sure what you want to write about has tension in it!

Why do you wish to write about it?

Who SPECIFICALLY would be interested in reading about your experience?

Instructor Feedback: