Hello everyone, it's blogging time again!!! This week I learned quite a bit about narrative writing. A narrative is basically a story that contain precise components that work in harmony to create interest to both the author and reader. A good narrative piece allows the reader to experience the emotions and events that the writer portrays. A narrative piece has various essential elements that distinguishes it from a descriptive piece. For instance, while a descriptive piece focuses on descriptions of something or someone, a narrative piece captures a personal experience or imagery incident using descriptions of course, but also includes the use of characters, the setting, plot, style, conflict and resolution. The video below captures the essence of narrative writing in a more vivid and simple way. It can also be used to teach children about narrative writing. Enjoy!
Going back to my school days, when I heard story writing, this was a big drag for me. Maybe I was too lazy at the time, hmmm, you never know! But I remember being taught about character, setting, and plot, but never about conflict or resolution. Well, let me not say never, it's safer to say I can't remember learning about conflict and resolution. It was only in this class that I realize that was an essential part in narrative writing. I mean, you know something has to happen to capture the reader's attention in the story, but never did it dawn on me that you must have a conflict or resolution.
In primary school you were told to write about your vacation or your favourite pet, your favourite person in the family or a bad/good experience; but not once were we told to include a conflict or a resolution. You would more or less see these things in movies so this was an eye opener for me; your narrative piece must have a conflict and resolution. Then I learned that there a numerous type of conflict that can be used. Now that I have learned about these important features in a narrative, I realise that as a teacher, I can no longer give my students a topic and let them just free write on it. I have to go through in details all the components of narrative writing and let them understand it fully. Then give them options to choose from, or maybe let the, come up with possible topics, discuss the topics so that ideas can be generated, transfer these ideas to a graphic organiser and then help the students put their ideas together.
I believe these key bits of information is missing piece to the puzzle of narrative writing for my students. I believe this is why writing is so burdensome for them because writing takes on a boring format. Now I know better, I know exactly what I need to do with my students in writing. How about you? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Hi Rowann, thank you for sharing the video on Narrative writing. It has solidify what I know about narrative writing. Your blog have me reminiscing about my primary school days in relation to writing. Like you, I remember being ask to write about summer vacation, Christmas vacation, a trip etc. However whether I enjoyed doing it I cannot remember. I also agree with you that narrative writing can be a bit of a challenge even for adults. I see that there is a dire need in primary school for teachers to properly modelled and expose students to various forms of writing especially narrative. I enjoy writing stories especially fables. The challenge I had was actually teaching creative writing however after the session on Narrative writing I believe I am better able to teach my students the various parts and help them to develop them. On many occasions I have seen students struggle to write stories and everything is put in one paragraph. I think this is due to the fact that sometimes the students are exposed to narrative writing only at the higher grades where the demand for this type of writing is rather high. As a result it is important that students are exposed to the components of narrative and are shown samples of writing to read, critique or even make predictions. I do hope that one day you will start enjoying stories.
ReplyDeleteHi Rowann,The understanding about the meaning of conflict and resolution in narrative writing is a prized vision that can improve your teaching approach. Your commitment to incorporating these aspects in your teaching strategy and making the writing process more appealing for students is commendable. Opening up the conversation for others to share their thoughts fosters a sense of community and collaborative learning. Overall, a well-articulated and insightful post!
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