1. Do Now Tuesday, October 8, 2013 One morning on the way to school...
Personal Narratives
Day 2: "Snapshots"
Do Now
Directions: You will write for 5 minutes on the prompt below.
Take 2 minutes to think about what you may write while you wait to begin.
Please do not begin until I give you the signal to do so.
One morning on the way to school...

2. Today's Objective take a look at the overall Untold Stories Unit.
create a personal list of vivid snapshots.
write independently.

3. Untold Stories: Personal Narrative
The project timeline:
Day 1
Monday, October 7
We will:
identify our personal “vampires.”
write freely for 5 minutes and share our “vampire” taglines.
Day 2
Tuesday, October 8
complete a 7-minute pre-writing assessment. create a list of personal snapshots.
Day 3
Wednesday, October 9
list and define the attributes of a powerful personal narrative. compare and contrast different styles of personal narratives and their
resulting effect on the audience.
Day 4
Thursday, October 10
use graphic organizers to visualize ideas and create outlines for our personal narratives.
Day 5
Friday, October 11
develop the characters and events in our personal narratives by incorporating authentic vocabulary and relevant phrases through dialogue.
Day 6
Monday, October 14
complete a 5-minute progress monitoring writing sample. identify and avoid common comma confusions.
Day 7
Tuesday, October 15
draft an illustration, diagram, chart or other visual to illustrate an aspect of our personal narratives.
Day 8
Wednesday, October 16
revise sentences to provide engaging and specific details.
Day 9
Thursday, October 17
create attention grabbing beginnings and reflective endings.
Day 10
Friday, October 18
share our personal narratives.

4. Project Details:
Our final project for this unit is to write your own personal narrative! It will be due in it's "final for now" ("FFN") form on Thursday, October 10th.
You will select a snapshot from your own life to write your personal narrative.
You can choose how you will organize your personal narrative around your snapshot.
The snapshot must be described in detail and must show what you experienced, as well as how this moment affected or changed you as a person.
In addition to your snapshot, you will write an introduction to your personal narrative. This introduction will be engaging and hook your reader! (You will write the introduction after you finish writing the details of your snapshot!)

5. A quick look at the personal narrative rubric...
Component
4 A Classic
3 Best New Author
2 Still Revising
1 Drafting
Ideas & Content
Creates a specific, focused, and very detailed picture of a place; expresses fresh insights about a sense of personal belonging.
Crafts a clear description of a place; details help convey key ideas and insights to the reader.
Attempts to describe a place, but may not give details; details may be general or unrelated to the story.
Does not tell a personal story; writer may go off in several directions without a sense of purpose.
Organization
Unfolds a carefully- organized narrative, in a sequence that moves the reader smoothly through the text; ideas, sentences, and paragraphs are tied together.
Shows a well-planned narrative strategy; story is easy to follow; ideas are evenly tied together; events and details fit where they are placed.
Crafts an incomplete story structure, or may have trouble tying ideas together; reader may be confused by poorly-placed events or details.
Writing is extremely hard to follow; story sequence, if any, is disorganized or incomplete; ideas and details are not tied together.
Voice
Conveys a reflective personal message that speaks directly to the reader; is deeply involved with the topic; shares a range of feelings.
Makes a strong effort to share an original personal message; connects with the purpose and audience; attempts to explore a range of feelings.
Tells a story, but in a predictable way; gets the basic message across, but does not seem very involved with the topic or the audience.
Is not involved in sharing an experience with a reader; does not focus on anything of personal
importance or interest; writing is flat and lifeless.
Word Choice
Uses both original and everyday language in a natural way; uses sophisticated vocabulary that is specific to the experience, creates a striking picture and brings the story to life.
Uses words that fit the story and creates an accurate picture of a place; experiments with some unique words.
May not use words that convey strong feelings or images; some words are overused or may not fit the story purpose.
Has a hard time finding the right
words; may use words that do not fit the topic; some vocabulary detracts from the meaning of the text.
Sentence Fluency
Well-crafted simple and complex sentences flow in a smooth rhythm; dialogue, if used, sounds natural and strengthens the story; sentence lengths and patterns vary.
Crafts easy-to-follow sentences; may effectively use dialogue to enhance the story.
Simple sentences work, but may have trouble with more complicated structures; sentences are understandable, but may be choppy, rambling or awkward.
Sentences are incomplete, rambling, or confusing; may have trouble understanding how words and sentences fit together.
Conventions
Is skilled in most writing conventions; correctly uses subjects, predicates, and sentence combining; proper use of the rules of English enhances clarity and narrative styles.
Spelling, capitalization, punctuation and usage are mostly correct; minor errors don’t interfere with following the story; some editing may be needed.
Makes frequent, noticeable mistakes, which interfere with a smooth reading of the history; extensive editing is needed.
Makes repeated errors in spelling, word choice, punctuation and usage; sentence structures may be confused; few connections made between ideas.

6. Visualizing my life's snapshots!
During my early childhood or elementary school years.
Quick Sketch:
Quick Description:
Snapshot 2:
During my middle or high school years.
Quick Sketch:
Quick Description:
Snapshot 3:
During my adulthood.
Quick Sketch:
Quick Description:
Which snapshot would you like to hear more about?

7. Let's visualize a classroom snapshot
A memorable event that happened in our class.
Quick Sketch:
Description:
Now, let's talk details!

8. Discovering your snapshots!
Directions: In order to write your personal narrative, you first must decide on a snapshot to focus in on. Use the graphic organizer to help you sort through possible snapshots of your life through various time periods.
Snapshot 1:
During your early childhood (through age 10).
Quick Sketch:
Quick Description:
Snapshot 2:
During the last 3 years .
Quick Sketch:
Quick Description:
Snapshot 3:
Since coming to this facility.
Quick Sketch:
Quick Description:

9. Writers at Work! Tasks at hand:
Select 1 snapshot from your brainstorm that you believe is most salient.
During our writing period you will write everything you can remember about your snapshot.
Here are some questions to guide your writing, once you are able to decide upon your snapshot:
Where were you where?
Who else was there with you?
What did you see, hear, touch, smell or taste?
How did you feel?

10. Wrap it up!
Organize your papers in your writing folder. We need them all!
Tomorrow we will learn about the attributes of powerful personal narratives!