Standard 3: Critical Reading and Writing Students will apply critical thinking skills to reading and writing.

2.3.W.1 ​Students will write narratives incorporating characters, plot (i.e., beginning, middle, end), and a basic setting (i.e., time, place). 

Student Actions

Teacher Actions

• Students write narratives that include characters.

• Students write narratives that include a beginning, middle, and end. 

• Students write narratives that include a time and place. 

• Teachers use mentor texts of narratives, pointing out and discussing the incorporation of setting and  characters to make the plot more interesting/clear.

• Teachers model how to establish the setting and characters for a story when writing.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to begin writing narratives that incorporate a basic setting of time and place and characters.

• Teachers provide graphic organizers or anchor charts that support incorporating characters and setting in narratives. 

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback about the setting and characters as students are writing.

• Teachers provide examples of narratives, pointing out and discussing the plot of a story (beginning, middle, and end) and an organized sequence of events.

• Teachers model how to establish the plot of a story and an organized sequence of events when writing.

• Teachers provide graphic organizers or anchor charts that support incorporating an organized sequence of events in narratives. 

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to begin writing narratives that incorporate plot through writing a specific beginning, middle, and end.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback about the plot as students are writing.

• See Recursive Writing Process in Appendix.

Recommendations

Key Terms & Related Objectives

When students struggle with writing narrative stories, teachers can…

• use a mentor text to demonstrate how authors incorporate characters, plot, and setting into narratives. 

• have students tell the story aloud before writing. 

• Have students illustrate the story first and then begin writing.

• use a graphic organizer to help the student think through the elements of a narrative before writing.

When students struggle with incorporating characters into narratives, teachers can… 

• have students describe the characters aloud or draw them to help students get a clearer idea of the character.

• assist students in adding information about the characters in their writing. 

When students struggle with incorporating time and place into their narrative, teachers can…

• discuss that time means a season, time of day, or time of year.

• read the first lines of a mentor text and ask if it is describing the time, a place, or both. 

• discuss where the story takes place and have the student describe the place aloud.

• Help students find ways to add a description of the place in the narrative. 

When students struggle with incorporating plot (beginning, middle, and end) in narrative writing, teachers can…

• have students tell the beginning, middle, and end out loud before writing.

• have students draw the beginning, middle, and end before writing. 

• have students put a sequence of pictures in order, explain the sequence of pictures out loud, and then write what is happening in the pictures. 

• Narrative Writing: writing that tells a story and is often anecdotal, experiential, and personal.

• Plot: the sequence of events or actions in a literary text.

• Setting: the time and place in which events in a literary text take place.

• Writing Modes: the major types of writing—narrative, informative, opinion, and argumentative.

• 2.2.R.3: Sequence the plot

• 2.4.W.2: Use purposeful vocabulary in writing