Writing Narratives

SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
Students will understand that creative writing is a craft that takes time, effort, and editing.
Students will know how to use strategies to generate ideas for enhancing writing with figurative
language.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
Students will value the exploration of ways to diversify their writing styles.
Performance (do):
Students will be able to craft narrative scripts that employ figurative language and the concept of
showing not telling
SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]
12.6 The student will develop expository and informational, analyses, and
persuasive/argumentative writings.
d) Adapt content, vocabulary, voice, and tone to audience, purpose, and situation.
g) Revise writing for clarity of content, depth of information and technique of presentation.
CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.C

Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the
text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between
reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
Methods of Assessment:
Diagnostic
Students will discuss the
current states of their scripts
and how they feel about the
process so far. They will be
able to voice any concerns
that they are having.
[Cognitive Skills 1&2]

Formative
Students will be receiving
help on their scripts by Mrs.
Orme, Ms. Pugh, or Ms.
Crawford. They will be
observing the work and
checking for progress and
difficulties. They will also
assist with editing when each
individual student is ready.
We will also monitor students
as they complete the making
it interesting handout.
Ultimately students will be
allowed to keep this handout

Summative
Students will be submitting a
final podcast for a very large
part of their semester grade.
[CCS W12.1, Sol 12.6 d.g.
Performance 1]

as a list of examples when

they are working on their
scripts.
[CCS W12.1, Sol 12.6 d.g.,
Affective 1]
Students will complete an
Exit Card that we will collect
at the end of class.
[Do 1]

Procedures/Instructional Strategies
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]
Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]
Students will be seated in table groups of 4-5.
1. [_2__mins.]Opening to lesson:
Noelle: Hi guys! So, like Ms. Orme said, this will be our final lesson with you all. Were excited
to help you work on your podcast scripts today. Were going to lead you all through some
activities that will help you take your research paper and turn it into a narrative script that will be
interesting to listen to in podcast form. Were going to focus mainly on sensory details today and
how you can make your scripts come to life. After we do some brainstorming and practice, you
all will have the rest of class to either revise a script you already have started or to get started on
recording your script. Ms. Crawford is going to start us off!
2. [_20__mins.] Topic Blasts and Sensory Language Activities {10 min each}
-Brenna to briefly explain what sensory details are
Brenna: So, before we start focusing on your individual topics, we are going to look broadly at
enhancing the words and phrases that we pick to write with. One of the best ways to ensure your
writing is interesting is to follow the rule of showing not telling. What do you all think this
means?
[students reply]
We want to focus on describing settings, people and interactions in a way that makes the reader
feel that they can vividly picture exactly what you are trying to convey. Sensory language is
language that connects to the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) to create an image or
description. It is a way for a writer to help the reader see or connect with an image, description,
action, or scene. We want you to work towards becoming more "precise" and "thoughtful" This
will mean thinking beyond what you come up with at at first try.

-Brenna to lead making it interesting activity. Maybe do the first one together? Then
turn them loose?
Brenna: I want you to take a look at the handout you just picked up. The purpose of this activity
is to take a bland sentence and make it something that would catch your own interest as a reader.
We want to see unique sentences that engage the senses.
In the example, I changed the plain sentence about storming into a sentence that holds a bit
more feeling. How would you have rewritten this sentence?
[students give examples]
Splendid thoughts. Now, take the next few minutes to work on the other three sentences. Focus on
engaging those senses.
-Go over the making it interesting activity.
Would someone like to share what they put for the first sentence? You can read it aloud or come
write it on the board.
[this will repeat with the last two sentences]
While Brenna is finishing the Making it Interesting activity, Noelle will make sure the
document camera is on and ready to show the Topic Blast handout.
Noelle: Great! Now that you have a better idea of what sensory detail are and how to take a
boring sentence and make it more interesting, were going to brainstorm specific examples for
your podcast topics. To do this, were going to do something called a topic blast.
Pause for a second to make sure the topic blast handout is projected on the document camera.
Noelle: As you can see, there is a blast shape in the center of the page with mostly blank space
around it. This blank space is where you will write all of your ideas of specific examples of
sensory details for your topic. This could really be anything. Think about certain colors, shapes,
smells, feelings, emotions, places, people, etc. that could be related to your topic. You can even
think about things you may have already written and how you can make them even better.
The purpose of this is to get everything out of your head and onto the page. Dont worry about
your ideas being bad or something that you might not actually write about. If it pops into your
head write it down.
*When students are working on their actual topic blasts, I will circulate around and scaffold as
needed. Using some of the examples I listed (color, shape, emotion, smell, etc.) I will help them
generate some specific examples until they seem to begin rolling with their own ideas.
Noelle: The first step is to write your topic in the center of the blast. I havent had a chance to
ask you all yet and Im wondering, what are some of your topics? Pause and allow 2-4 students
share out their topics for the podcast. Wow, these are awesome topics. Im going to use ____s
topic to give you a better idea of the blast process. So, our topic is the death penalty. I will write
this in on the whiteboard in the center of the projected blast.Then, Ill have a certain amount of

time to get out all of my thoughts on the death penalty and how I can make that appeal to my
audiences five senses. So, I might write:
I will write theses around the projected blast on the whiteboard as Im saying them. This is just
an example based on a possible topic, but I will actually make up examples for whichever
students volunteers their topic.

Look of terror or fear

Shiver at the sight of the needle
Hear the zap
Feel the tension - no one spoke, chilling silence
Loud pop

And then, I would just keep going until I run out of time, writing down everything that comes to
mind. Even if its not fully a sensory detail yet, I can still write it down and tweak it a little bit
later.
Ok, what questions do you have about this activity? I dont anticipate that they will
misunderstand what they need to do, but just in case, I want them to have a moment to ask. At
this time I will also distribute the Topic Blast handout and answer any questions.
Im only going to give you 3-4 minutes to do this, so really dig in and try not to filter yourself.
No one is going to read this unless you ask us to, so seriously write down everything that comes
to your mind about your topic. Ok, lets get started. I will keep time based on the clock in the
room/my watch. I will give students a 30 second warning before time is up. If I notice that they
seem to be really focused and could use an extra minute or two, I will add that in naturally
without telling them.
Noelle: Ok, lets come back together. Take just a few seconds to look over your blast and choose
one or two details you came up with that you really like a lot and could share with the class.
Pause to let students look over their blasts. Can I have 2-3 people share first your topic and then
your detail? Pause for students to share. Great! Those are awesome ideas. Thanks for sharing
and working through this brainstorming.
Your next steps in class are to use both of these handouts to guide you as you are working on
your scripts. If you already have a draft, read through it and mark some places where you could
use the sensory details you just came up with. If you dont already have a draft, use these
examples to get yourself started. Ms. Crawford, Ms. Orme, and I will be around to help you with
both of these tasks wherever you are in the writing process.
3. [_45-65__mins.] Student Work Time (this may be on the shorter end if we
have SSR & iWrite)
While students are working, we will circulate around the class and assist them with whatever
stage of the writing process they are in.
For students struggling with revising we will:

 Help them read through drafts and mark places for sensory details
Talk with them about how they could use their topic blast ideas
Help them structure new sentences that are more interesting
For students struggling to get started we will:
Utilize both of their handouts
Talk with them about some of their examples and what they could use them for
Help students break their topic into smaller pieces that they can then support with
sensory details from the topic blast
For students who may already be recording their podcasts:
We will provide any technical support we can!!
4. [_5__mins] Closure:
By the end of class, each student needed to share 4 power sentences with Mrs. Orme. She ended
class today.
Materials Needed (list):
Topic Blast Sheet
Make it more interesting Sheet
Index Card
Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,
handouts, etc.)
See below.

Make it More Interesting:

We want you to takes these sentences and add sensory language or
important details. Show instead of telling what is happening.
Make it a sentence that you would want to read.
Example:
Original- It was storming.
New- The angry sky continued to throw out its frustrations on the unsuspecting town.

Tyler walked down the street towards the farmhouse.

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Eugene loves Kelly.
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The room was abandoned.
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Name:
Topic Blast