1

Lesson

What is Narrative Writing?

P
erformance Objective: Without assistance, SW (Students Will) explain
narrative writing scoring at least three out of four on the “What is a
Narrative?” assessment.

Resources or Materials Needed: SW need a pencil, eraser, and two ½ sheets of writing paper. SW also
need a computer or tablet and Internet access to utilize Learner’s Dictionary.

Time: 60 minutes.

Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities: Independently, SW be given 1 minute of Think Time, then

approximately 5 minutes to write. SW be given the following writing prompt: “Think of a time when you
were new at doing something or when you visited a new place. Write in detail about this new experience
(See Lesson 1 - Display Document (1a)).”

Step 2: Content Presentation: TW (Teacher Will) prompt students to lookup the word, narrative and read
the definition using the online dictionary, Learner’s Dictionary. TW add to this definition by explaining four
key elements of a narrative (theme, plot, characters, and setting). TW read aloud “My First Tooth is Gone”
(See Lesson 1 - Display Document (1b)), a narrative example written by a 2nd grade student. CW (Class Will)
identify the key elements in the narrative example.

Step 3: Learner Participation: SW independently review their pre-instructional activity and expound upon
it to ensure that it includes the four key elements in a narrative. SW work with a partner and take turns
reading their narratives aloud. Partners will identify the key elements in the readers’ narrative.

Step 4: Assessment: SW complete the “What is a Narrative?” assessment (See Lesson 1 – Assessment (1)).

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: TW display one student’s narrative on the SMART board. With a
partner, SW refer to the sample to identify the four key themes previously discussed.

Lesson Plan Summary: The main instructional strategies used in this lesson plan are linking to prior
knowledge, demonstrating, modeling, and synthesizing. In the beginning of the lesson, the pre-instructional
writing helps to trigger knowledge that students already have about writing the details of a story. During the
content presentation, the teacher models the skills required using an example. Later, students are responsible
for synthesizing their prior knowledge with the new information. These instructional strategies support the
Cognitivism learning theories, because they help the students to stimulate recall of prerequisite learning, they
help to present the stimulus material, and they elicit the performance which are all a part of Gagne’s Events
of Instruction (Gagne, 1998, p. 190).
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Lesson

Display Document (1a):

P
re-Instructional Activities Writing Prompt.

Directions:

Think of a time when you

were new at doing
something or when you
visited a new place.
Write in detail about this
new experience.
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Lesson

Display Document (1b):

T
he following narrative sample was produced in class, and the writer likely
received
support from the teacher (“Samples of Student Writing”, 2019). This
sample was
written by a 2nd grade student, thus the spelling and grammatical errors are
left incorrect as in the original document.

My first tooth is gone

I recall one winter night. I was four. My sister

and I were running down the hall and
something happend. It was my sister and I had
run right into each other. Boy! did we cry. But
not only did I cry, my tooth was bleeding.
Then it felt funny. Then plop! There it was
lying in my hand. So that night I put it under
my pillow and in the morning I found
something. It was not my tooth it was two
dollars. So I ran down the hall, like I wasen’t
supposed to, and showed my mom and dad.
They were suprised because when they lost
teeth the only thing they got is 50¢.
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Lesson

Assessment (1):

W
hat is a Narrative?” Assessment.

What is a Narrative? Assessment

Directions: Answer each question. Remember to answer

using complete sentences.
1. What is a narrative?

2. Name and describe any three of the four key elements

of a narrative.

1.

2.

3.