“When the cold manacles bit my wrists, I knew this was real; I didn’t run fast enough this time…”
Reading Ric’s personal narrative – it was clear he was really writing a personal narrative. I had only been at this school and teaching this class of 8th grade students for a couple of weeks when the curriculum mandated the first full writing process. Over the years, I’ve found a personal narrative usually works for the first prompt assignment – it allows me to teach the steps of the writing process and my expectations of depth and quality while the content remains familiar to the student writer: their own story.
Unfortunately, many narratives chew on a big topic or event while glossing over what made it so memorable. I’ve read so many “Day at the Park” with lists of family members in attendance and, “this ride, then this ride, then… It was a fun day.” At a professional conference I came across the work of Nancy Atwell and her In the Middle and Lessons that Change Writers materials –they have been such a gift to my teaching. Using some of her strategies I have been able to get some better writing from most students.
Having students just list topics, events, ideas that appeal to them in no particular order starts their brainstorming. While they are writing in their Writer’s Notebooks, I’m modeling by writing my list to display on the front board or screen. Another time we return to that list of interests and I have them free-write (keeping pen to paper non-stop) for two minutes, even if it sinks to, “I can’t think of anything else, this is stupid…” And yes, they groan the first time, but then they see the benefit. When they go back and read their free write, they suddenly see what might become details on one topic where they ended up writing more. Now they are ready to write about that Day at the Park: “The moment the ride takes off, your head snaps back and you realize you left your stomach behind (sometimes literally!)” – yes this was the wording that a student shared during his writing conference, and proceeded to describe what happened when that stomach was left behind… yuck!
This time, however, Ric had missed these mini-lessons – he’d been absent more than a week. I heard rumors around that he’d been in trouble. Unfortunately, not new for him or several classmates – my class size fluctuated wildly. So, as Ric entered class on the day students were writing/drafting their first attempt, I welcomed him back, then sat and conferenced with him. Once I was able to get him re-oriented (two weeks in class, 1 week out), he began to talk about the narrative he thought he’d write. As he shared some of his fright and pain, I touched his arm and said, “I think you have your story…”