Individuals have always enjoyed reading about famous people. Today, most people read gossip columns and watch TMZ, but one of the oldest ways to learn about someone was to read autobiographies and biographies.
Besides learning about celebrities and historically significant people, I've quickly realized that students also like to learn about each other and enjoy sharing their own stories when given the chance.
While an autobiography or biography tells the story of someone's whole life and a memoir shares a portion of someone's life (such as a war experience or time playing a professional sport), a personal narrative tells the story of a specific event that lead to a realization or learned lesson.
Besides learning about celebrities and historically significant people, I've quickly realized that students also like to learn about each other and enjoy sharing their own stories when given the chance.
While an autobiography or biography tells the story of someone's whole life and a memoir shares a portion of someone's life (such as a war experience or time playing a professional sport), a personal narrative tells the story of a specific event that lead to a realization or learned lesson.
One of the best ways to learn about the students this year has been to read their personal narratives.
We begin by prewriting and making a list of events from the following...
We begin by prewriting and making a list of events from the following...
- A childhood event: think of an experience when you learned something for the first time, or when you realized how important someone was to you.
- Achieving a goal: think about a particularly meaningful achievement in your life. This can be as minor as receiving a "B" on a Biography test after struggling through a chapter, or something with longer-lasting effects, like getting into Vianney or making a sports team.
- A failure: think about a time when you did not perform as well as you had wanted. Focusing on an experience like this can result in rewarding reflections about the positive emerging from the negative.
- A good or bad deed: think about a time when you did or did not stand up for yourself or someone else in the face of adversity or challenge.
- A change in your life: think about a time when something significant changed in your life. This can be anything from moving, to starting at a new school, to births of cousins or siblings, or even the death of a loved one.
- A realization: think about a time you experienced a realization. This could be anything from understanding a complicated math problem to gaining a deeper understanding or a philosophical issue or life situation.
From here, we discuss that the importance of the narrative is not only to tell their story using dialogue, and sensory and descriptive language, but to discuss the significance of the event: what realization they had or the lesson that they learned.
There is no length requirement, since stories will vary in length, as long as they follow the outline and guides.
There is no length requirement, since stories will vary in length, as long as they follow the outline and guides.
I've learned a lot about my students from these papers. Many students write about failing a test and realizing how they actually need to study in high school, or how losing a big game taught them the importance of hard work and losing with pride. A few write about being cut from a sport at Vianney, and finding a new passion. Some write about realizing the importance of family after siblings move away or grandparents die. From two students having dads in Afghanistan serving our country, to siblings and parents passing away at a young age.
These papers give me a nice insight to students' lives that I normally would probably never know, and they enjoy sharing a bit of themselves when given the opportunity.
These are our stories!
These papers give me a nice insight to students' lives that I normally would probably never know, and they enjoy sharing a bit of themselves when given the opportunity.
These are our stories!