Narrative
- develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly communicates the purpose of your narrative to the audience;
- describe the characters, setting, plot, and conflict using sensory language and details that help the reader to visualize the experiences in your narrative;
- organize your narrative in a clear and logical manner, including a beginning, middle, and end;
- use transitional strategies to show relationships and signal changes in the narrative;
- use well-structured sentences and appropriate language for your audience;
- edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English.
Focus and Purpose
- Revision Goal 1: Understand the purpose, audience, and task.
- Read the prompt. Find the topic, purpose, and audience. Write them on your focus checklist or on a blank sheet of paper.
2. Review your draft and think:
What is my main event? The main event of YOUR story should be the SAME as the topic of the prompt.
Why did I write my story? Am I writing to entertain? Am I writing to make a statement? The purpose of YOUR story should be the SAME as the purpose in the prompt.
To whom am I writing? The audience to whom YOU are writing should be the SAME as the audience in the prompt. If not, then you should write in a formal manner with proper grammar and conventions.
- Revision Goal 2: Focus details on the main event.
- Try to highlight the main event in teal .
- Underline details that are NOT about your main event.
3. Move or remove any parts of your story that are not about the main event.
Content and Development
- Revision Goal 1: Create a detailed setting.
- Highlight, in green , the words that tell when and where your story took place. Add more specific details about where your story took place and when it happened. For example, you can use your five senses to describe the place, the weather, the time of day or year, or the season. You can also describe how the setting looks, feels, smells, or sounds.
- Revision Goal 2: Create realistic characters.
a. Underline the characters in your story. Give them names if they do not have them.
b. Highlight, in green , details about your characters. Now, add more details to help your readers "see" and "hear" your characters: How do they look, sound, and act?
c. Dialogue (what characters say) makes characters seem more real. Find a place in your story where your characters can talk or think out loud. Add dialogue to show what your characters would say to themselves or to each other.
- Revision Goal 3: Build a well-developed plot.
- Highlight the main event (what you want your readers to know the most) in teal . Add important information about what happened during the event. For example, you can describe how the characters feel, how they act, and what they say.
Content and Development
- Revision Goal 1: Create a detailed setting.
- Highlight, in green , the words that tell when and where your story took place. Add more specific details about where your story took place and when it happened. For example, you can use your five senses to describe the place, the weather, the time of day or year, or the season. You can also describe how the setting looks, feels, smells, or sounds.
- Revision Goal 2: Create realistic characters.
- Underline the characters in your story. Give them names if they do not have them.
b. Highlight, in green , details about your characters. Now, add more details to help your readers "see" and "hear" your characters: How do they look, sound, and act?
c. Dialogue (what characters say) makes characters seem more real. Find a place in your story where your characters can talk or think out loud. Add dialogue to show what your characters would say to themselves or to each other.
- Revision Goal 3: Build a well-developed plot.
1. Highlight the main event (what you want your readers to know the most) in teal . Add important information about what happened during the event. For example, you can describe how the characters feel, how they act, and what they say.
Organization
- Revision Goal 1: Give your story a proper beginning.
- Number each event in your story.
2. In the beginning, did you tell what took place first?
- Revision Goal 2: Use transitions to show how your events are connected.
- Highlight, in orange , the transitions (words such as first, second, next, then, before, after, today, yesterday, in addition) in your story.
2. Add more transitions to show how your events go together. Use the word bank to help you!
Language Use
- Revision Goal 1: Write complete sentences.
- Underline the subject (person or thing that acts) and the verb (the action) in each sentence. All of your sentences should have a subject and a verb. If they don't, add them now.
- Revision Goal 2: Choose, with care, nouns and adjectives.
1. Underline the nouns (people, places, and things) in your story. Make them more specific. Name the people, places, and things. Tell who and what they are.
2. Add adjectives to tell how the nouns (people, places, and things) look, sound, feel, or smell. Details will help the readers picture your story.
3. Use the word bank to help you.
- Revision Goal 3: Choose, with care, verbs and adverbs.
- Highlight, in red, the verbs (action words) in your story. Replace weak verbs (such as is, was, got, went) with strong verbs (such as ran, hopped, cooked).
- Did you tell how and when people and things acted in your story? Add details about when the action took place and how it happened.
3. Use the word bank to help you.
Grammar and Mechanics
- Revision Goal 1: Eliminate errors in grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling.
- Read your story. You may want to read out loud (to yourself) so that you can hear many of your mistakes and correct them.
2. Correct any spelling errors using the spellchecker. Then, make your readers SMILE by doing the following:
Sentences: Make sure each sentence has a subject and an action.
Marks: End each sentence with a punctuation mark.
Indents: Indent when you begin a new paragraph.
Letters: Start each sentence with a capital letter .