1. Getting Your Writer’s Notebooks Ready:
Tape the Anchor Chart—”How to Write Powerful Personal Narratives”—into your Writer’s NB
Tape Fig.1—1 “Personal Narrative Excerpt from Ai’s notebook” onto the next available page
Label the next available page: “My Writing Goals”
Session 1

2. My Writing Goals Set Goals for Writing
Use details that totally transport my readers into my story so they feel like they have traveled back in time to where I grew up.
Write stronger and longer entries—two and half to three pages in one sitting—not pausing to adjust every sentence.
Your turn: set your own writing goals—what is one or two things you could learn to do better?

3. Setting Up to Write
Strong writers use strategies that they’ve picked up from other writers.
Let’s look at a student example and note some things the writer did well.

4. An exemplar is an example of student writing
An exemplar is an example of student writing. As a class, we have marked some things that were great and noted some things that could be improved. Now work with a partner to continue to annotate* what works on the exemplar.
*Annotate means to notice, and make notes about, a word, phrase, or sentence.
Notice the great things about Ai’s excerpt.
Ask yourself: “How did she do this?”

5. Begin writing…
Writers: You have the remainder of class to write a true story about yourself. Refer to the strategies we noted on Ai’s excerpt or the CHART “How to Write Powerful Personal Narratives” in your writer’s notebook. Begin on the next available page of your writer’s notebook. Use as many pages as you need. Don’t stop. Stretch those writing muscles; write as much as you can—Ready, Set…..GO!

6. Studying a Published Author
Newbery Award-winning author Jack Gantos
Small moments
Small Moments matter!
Places
Sometimes, places hold memories for us
Mapping
A hand-drawn map of a place can often inspire our writing
Specific Events
Make sure that the map is of a significant place and that the events you list on the map are specific and important—each note on your map should be important enough to stand alone as one narrative story
Session 2

7. Mapping and Writing
Writers: take 2 minutes to tell the person beside you about a place that matters to you, a place that you could sketch onto your own map. Now, draw a map OR jot down some ideas that include Small Moment stories—Jack Gantos calls these “jumping-off points for writing.” Ready, set….Go! Write about a small moment that you remembered.

8. Writing from Moments that Really Matter
Moments I Realized Something
Strategies for Generating Personal Narrative Topics
Often the moments you come to understand something are pretty emotional ones, so it can help to think about when you have felt strong, strong emotions and learned a lesson as a result.
Think about a place that matters—draw pictures and quick notes about the small moments that occurred there…
Think of a person who matters to you…
Think of the first times or last times you did something…
Other strategies that you have learned and/or used before…
Session 3

9. Your Turn:
On the next page in your notebook, make a quick list of the times when you realized something important. Remember, you probably experienced strong emotions and learned a lesson at those times.
Try to focus on the moment when you were feeling those emotions most intensely, the moment when your realization was most acute. If you look over your list, and it looks like you are planning to tell a whole, very long story, use the margins of your list to jot the thing you really understood in the moment.
Continue jotting notes and then talk about some of your notes with your partner. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now you are ready to write! Look over the list you just brainstormed and write one of those stories, or you might go back to another strategy or story idea you’ve been meaning to put on paper.