Writing a Personal Narrative


ELAR-Grade-5 Personal Narrative Writing a Personal Narrative
Students apply their knowledge of personal narratives as a genre as they compose their own personal narrative. They move through the writing process as they brainstorm, outline, compose, revise, edit, and publish their personal narratives.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

1:1 Devices
Teacher Pack

The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.

Here are the teacher pack items for Writing a Personal Narrative:

Preview - Scene 1
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Engage


Overview

In this experience, students apply their knowledge of personal narratives as a genre as they compose their own personal narrative. They move through the writing process as they brainstorm, outline, compose, revise, edit, and publish their personal narratives.

At the end of the experience, students will self-evaluate their work based on a rubric. You may review the rubric with them at any point during this experience.

Objectives

  • Choose a topic for writing a personal narrative.
  • Compose a personal narrative, incorporating the major features of the genre.
  • Revise and edit the personal narrative.

Duration

One week. You may want students to draft at home. 


A personal narrative is a story written about a specific moment in your life. As authors reflect back on their lives they will often choose significant moments that lead to a change in them or a moment where they learned something. What are some moments in your life that were important to you?

Objectives

  • Choose a topic for writing a personal narrative.
  • Compose a personal narrative, incorporating the major features of the genre.
  • Revise and edit the personal narrative.


teen thinking

Read the following excerpt from a personal narrative: 


When I was 5 years old my family made our first trip to Minnesota. We were going to visit my aunt, uncle, and two cousins. I was so excited to visit my cousins, especially Alma who is only a year older than me. I knew it was going to be a fun trip with a lot of memories, but I never could have guessed how much that trip would change me. It was our second day there when Alma got news that would change all of us. She was diagnosed with leukemia. I realized how important family is on that trip and how much I need to value my time with her and the rest of my family.


What are your feelings when you are done reading this? Do you want to keep reading the rest of the story? What makes this story powerful? List your thoughts in the table.



Use student responses to spark a discussion regarding what might make a powerful story for a personal narrative. This should lead into the purpose of the experience—writing their own personal narratives.

Students learned the elements of a personal narrative in the experience “Reading Personal Narratives.” If necessary, review the elements now:

  • written in first person
  • about a specific moment
  • uses dialogue or interesting details
  • follows a logical order
  • tells the reader why the event or experience was important


When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.

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The Complete List of Learning Experiences in Personal Narrative Unit.
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