Descriptive Writing

This week's writing class took us a step further on the path of becoming expert writers and teachers of writing.

So far on our journey we have encountered and discussed a wealth of helpful tools, critical to the betterment of our own, as well as the successful development of our students' writing. We've journeyed through, learning how to become expert writers in our classrooms -writing along with our students; reacquainting ourselves with the stages of the writing process and the six traits of writing; implementing and running a successful writer's workshop, and more recently (last week), we ventured into furthering our knowledge and skills in teaching different genres of writing, namely the descriptive genre. 

This week, we explored yet another genre. This is one that I believe is  most basic and common to our primary grade students. It is one that they interact with in all reading assignments in their language arts classes and almost all other content areas across the curriculum. This week we explored the genre of...........🙈

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A look at Narrative Writing👀👀

Simple put, Narrative Writing is telling a story in the order of which it happened (real or not).  This order is developed or sequenced in three parts or stages which are beginning, middle and end.

However, telling a story is often easier said than written. We as teachers can attest to that. We have to equip our students with the skills and know-how of putting what they can so able say into written stories. In order to do so, we must expose them to, and ensure that they fully understand the unique structural elements of a narrative piece and are able to apply its stylistic devices to producing such. We must also provide constructive feed back and use valuable assessment tools to guide their practice.

These are the Structural Elements of which I speak:

Plot:  the sequence of events involving characters in conflict situations, divided into the beginning, middle and end. It should have  all the necessary descriptions and suspense (called exposition), so that the reader can make sense of the action and follow along from start to finish.

The plot contains a 

• conflict- the tension or opposition between forces in the plot and it is usually the element that keeps the reader reading the story. It can be between, a character and nature, character and society, two or more characters and within one character.
• climax - the rising high point or tension that occur just before the solution.
• resolution - the end or solution to the conflict.

Setting: any mention of the dimensions below (that relates to the environment) are all considered part of the setting. 

• location - in the woods
• time - just before dawn
• weather - dark, cold night
• time period - in slavery days

Characters: the people or personified animals and objects in the story. Some characters play the lead role in the story and are called the main character(s), while others play less important roles, contributing to the stories' overall development. They are the supporting characters. It is important to teach our students to provide detailed descriptions of a character’s physical attributes and personality traits and do so in a way that the reader can understand and believe that the actions that are taking place—and perhaps even predict which character may do what next. 

Theme: the underlying meaning of the story. The message the writer is trying to convey. Part of the reason why the write chose to write the story. The theme can be stated explicitly -openly stated or implicitly - stated through the characters' actions, dialogues, and monologue as they try to solve the problem.

Point of View: the perspective chosen to tell the story.

The story can be told from different points of views.

• First-Person Viewpoint - using the pronoun I  the story is told through the eyes of one character.
• Omniscient Viewpoint -  the story is based on the thought processes of the characters as though the author knows all that the characters are thinking.
• Limited Omniscient Viewpoint -  the story is based on merely on the thought processes of one character (usually the main) and is written in the third person, using pronouns he, she or it.
• Objective Viewpoint - the story is based only on what can be seen or heard. (no thought processes are tapped into in this viewpoint). 

Without knowledge of these structural elements, our students may very well be writing in vain.  We often just briefly explain to them what a narrative is and we may use a model as an example to aid their understanding, then give them a topic or prompt expecting that their writing piece would automatically include all that it should have. While there may be some evidence of some of the elements in their work, often times it is a far cry from what it should be. 

These are Narrative Devices of which I speak.

According to the experts, with use of these narrative devices, students make their stories more vivid and memorable. Without them, their writing can be lifeless and dull.

Appropriate mentor texts are necessary to introduce our students to these elements and devices, which will be done so in stages, as minilessons within our writing workshops.

In assessing our student's narrative pieces, the following are some guidelines to follow.

Evaluate students knowledge of the genre - we can check to see if the students are applying the structural elements and narrative devices. We can do so with use of a checklist or by having them compose reflections on how the elements and devices were used.

Monitor Students' use of the writing Process - we observe their drafts and examine notes they would have made about what they are writing.

Assessing their use of the writer's craft - we evaluate the quality of their writing using the six+1 traits.

Sample questions for assessing the writer's craft.

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Of course I cannot say that what I learned of narrative writing was all new to me. I, however, have become more knowledgeable and have gained a better understanding of its structural elements/features, learned tips and ideas on how to introduce and teach it during writing workshops and equally important how to assess my students' narrative pieces. 

Our discussions were again led by our readings from Gail E Tompkins book, Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product. I again urge us all to utilize it as it is quite helpful. We can get more ideas on narrative writing such as tips for helping struggling writers with this genre and use of technology in developing narratives.

I liked the way this book introduces this genre, with a vignette of a real writers workshop activity. This activity is read aloud and expounded upon through our discussions with the lecturer.

 We also read, analyzed and gave brief feedback on sample pieces of writing done by some of our very own students, for the June 2004 Test of Standards. 

This activity was most fruitful for me, as it gave us that practical experience in assessing students' narrative pieces. For the ones I read so far, I think for primary school students they were well written. However a closer analysis of them identified strengths and weaknesses in the use of the writing traits and the application and use of the narrative devices and sensory details. 

I am looking forward to next week sessions to get feedback on our reports, which we are likely to. I am also looking forward to our next stop on the  writing train. I am enjoying these sessions, enhancing my skills in teaching writing, and I really hope to apply all that I've been learning in my own writing assignments for this course.

Thanks again for viewing this blog and reading all our posts as we journey on the writing train, to becoming better writing teachers.