Language Arts Lesson 4
Writing Applications

 

Instruction 4-1

Narratives | Expository Compositions | Word-Processing | Research Reports | Summary

Pre-Test
Discovery logo
Post-Test
Grammar Basics: The Harold Syntax Guide to Words

Narratives (Printer friendly version)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative 
CCSTD GR4  W  2.1.a, b, c, d   GR5 W 1.1.a, b, c

In our last Lesson, we talked about what you read. In this Lesson, we're going to talk about what you write. In school, you will mostly be asked to write essays. There are several different types of essays:

Narrative A narrative tells a story. There are two different kinds of narratives. One is a story you make up, which is called fiction. The other is a story about something that actually happened to you -- which is called nonfiction, description, or autobiography.

Exposition Expository essays (see: http://library.thinkquest.org/10888/expos.html) are written to communicate information. We'll talk more about exposition in the next Instruction.
Persuasive  A persuasive essay (see: http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/persuasive.html) is written to try and convince somebody of something. It also often tries to persuade the reader to take some kind of action.

 

The subject of today's Instruction is the narrative. A narrative is a story. As you learned in Lesson 3, all stories have plot, character and setting. You may wish to review the Instructions on each of those topics now. There is almost always a point to a story, too. The point of a story is called the theme. (Also see: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/book_buddy/rosie/skill_pre.html)

As you may also remember from our last Lesson, all stories are about conflict. So when you pick an event to write about -- imaginary or real -- pick a moment of tension or conflict.

There are three main parts to a narrative -- the introduction, the body and the conclusion. Here's what you should do in each of them:

Introduction Grab your readers' attention. Start off with an opening sentence that makes people want to keep reading. Introduce your characters (in an autobiographical essay, of course, you are the main character). Describe the setting. Use concrete sensory details (how things look, feel, smell or taste) to bring your readers into the story.
Body Write about what happened -- the event or events -- in chronological order. Relate your own ideas, observations or recollections. Build tension as you work toward your conclusion. Remember that the problem or conflict should reach its highest point (climax) in the middle of the narrative.
Conclusion Reveal the final outcome. Tell what happened as a result of the main character's experience. If you can, tie it up with a general statement about the human condition that can help all your readers relate to that experience.

The narrative, more than any other form of writing, offers writers a chance to think and write about themselves instead of about someone else. For more information on how to write a good narrative, narrative prompts and examples of narratives, click on any of these links:

Links for Students, Parents and Teachers

Now let's do Practice Exercise 4-1 (top).

  

Next Page:  Expository Compositions (top)