What Is Genre?
Narrative Fiction
Narrative Nonfiction
Descriptive Writing
Summary
Appendix B: Elements of Literature
Elements of Literature in Fictional Narratives
Elements of Literature in Nonfiction Narratives
Summary
Appendix C: Literary Devices and Figurative Language
Literary Devices
Figurative Language
Summary
Appendix D: Sentence Structure: Complex Sentences
Appendix E: Professional and Student Resources
General Writing
Grammar and Conventions
Literary Devices and Figurative Language
Performance Assessment Tasks
Student Writing Models
Rubrics
Calibrating to Student Work
Peer Review and Feedback
Sources for Complex Text
Autobiography, Memoir, and Personal Narrative Resources
Unit and Lesson Examples
Essay Contests and Submissions
Graphic Organizers
Organizations and Associations
Appendix F: List of Figures and Tables
About the Author
Kathy Tuchman Glass, a consultant, is an accomplished author and former classroom teacher with more than twenty-five years of experience in education. She provides professional development services to K–12 educators with a focus on areas concerning curriculum and instruction.
She is recognized for her expertise in differentiated instruction, standards work around English language arts, literacy, instructional strategies, assessments, teaching methods, and backward planning for unit and lesson design. She is a member of the International Literacy Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Learning Forward.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University–Bloomington and a master’s degree in education from San Francisco State University.
To learn more about Kathy’s work, visit Glass Educational Consulting (www.kathyglassconsulting.com).
To book Kathy Tuchman Glass for professional development, contact [email protected].
Introduction
If you’re reading this, you may have already read The Fundamentals of (Re)designing Writing Units (Glass, 2017a), the foundational book to this (Re)designing Writing series. If so, you already understand the critical importance of writing to enhance student learning, no matter the subject. The second book in the series, (Re)designing Argumentation Writing Units for Grades 5–12 (Glass, 2017b), continues that discussion, emphasizing devising and conducting units of study centered on students writing an argumentation piece. This book, (Re)designing Narrative Writing Units for Grades 5–12, is all about writing a form of narrative and all it entails to produce a well-crafted piece. Although students can write an informational or argumentative piece based on narrative text, such as a literary critique or an essay, this text focuses on generating a narrative fiction or nonfiction written product.
Authorities in the field of writing have espoused the need for teaching narrative writing. In Carol Lee’s foreword to George Hillocks Jr.’s (2007) book Narrative Writing: Learning a New Model for Teaching, she encapsulates this importance:
Learning to write rich narratives offers access points for understanding the rhetorical moves employed by writers of great fiction, expands what students understand about rhetoric more broadly (i.e., critical semantic manipulation, functional uses of sentence structures, elements of narrative genres), and shows how this can transfer to writing in other genres. (p. vii)
In his text, Hillocks (2007) provides this compelling reason for teaching narrative writing:
First and perhaps most important, work on narrative, if we make it personal, is a way to examine the stories of our lives. Beyond that, it allows students to contribute to the body of literature they will study, understand more fully how the works of professional writers are constructed, and learn techniques that will be useful in other kinds of writing. (p. 1)
In English language arts, students might craft a contemporary realistic fiction piece with invented characters, setting, and plot. However, opportunities for crafting a narrative abound within many disciplines—not just English class. For example, in social studies, students can write historical fiction to demonstrate their understanding and educate readers on a particular time period with factually accurate events and characters. In science, students can compose science fiction to explore and speculate about topics such as environmental issues and natural disasters. They can also write detailed descriptions to accompany a model, such as one that describes the ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact. In mathematics, students can write a biography about a famous mathematician and the impact of his or her work.
About (Re)designing
I title these books (Re)designing because my goal is to help you rebuild or newly design and develop writing curriculum and deliver instruction with depth, rigor, and clarity. These books give you the guidance, tools, and wherewithal to be judicious and intentional about the following.
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