{"id":4933,"date":"2018-05-21T12:51:48","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T16:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/?p=4933"},"modified":"2023-02-22T15:49:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T19:49:19","slug":"value-exploration-and-personal-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/value-exploration-and-personal-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Value Exploration and Personal Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-custom-orange-tint-background-color has-background\"><em>In this lesson on personal narrative, T&amp;W teaching artist Samantha LoCoco helps seventh-graders begin to articulate the values that are most important to them, and to realize how those values shape who they are as individuals.<\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade: <\/strong>7<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Genre:<\/strong> Personal Narrative<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Download:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/LoCoco-Value-and-Personal-Narrative-Lesson-Plan.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Value Exploration and Personal Narrative<\/a><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Common Core State Standards: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>ELA-LITERACY.W.7.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lesson Objectives:<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Define the five senses and sensory language.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identify the use of sensory language in sample writing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Define \u201cidentity\u201d and describe what identity means to students.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discuss the purposes of personal narrative essays.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>LESSON<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ritual (5 minutes):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One Word Check-in: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Start with this low-risk warm-up so that students can learn more about one another and to encourage ownership over their definition of self. Have students stand in a circle if possible, and invite each student one at a time to state one word that describes how they are feeling in that moment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teaching artist will model the exercise to begin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Warm-up (15 minutes):<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Name that sense: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Begin with a brief discussion about the five senses and sensory language.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hang up an image of each of the five senses (smell, sight, touch, taste, hearing) at different points around the room.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read examples of writing that employs sensory language and ask students to stand by the image they think is the predominant sense used in the writing sample.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ask for volunteers to define why they chose that sense.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Repeat until all five senses are established.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ask students: What did you learn about the senses\/sensory language?<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Main Activity (30 minutes):<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Discussion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Introduce and discuss what a personal narrative essay is and why it\u2019s important on a personal level and how it can support students when applying to college.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What is an identity? Who here feels like they have a strong personal identity? What does it mean to have a strong identity?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Could we say that forming an identity is difficult? How could this be true?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read together the sample essay, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/William-J.-Altman-Personal-Essay.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Beard,<\/a>\u201d and discuss the essay. Ask students: Where does William use sensory language? What is William\u2019s central theme? What happens in William\u2019s story?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What are some of life\u2019s important moments? (birthdays, religious events, holidays, etc.) Discuss why each is important to us and why we remember those times.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Explain that we are not writing an autobiography, but instead we are going to focus on developing a personal narrative, a story that focuses on a snapshot of our lives. It is not a factual retelling or a timeline of events. Ensure this distinction is clear before moving on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Writing:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Explain and reinforce that a value is a characteristic that is important to leading a fulfilling life.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Brainstorm a list of words students think of in response to values.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Have students look at the <a href=\"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Values-Activity-Sheet-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Values Activity Sheet<\/a> and define each value in a few words. Then, ask them to put a star next to the five values that are the most important to them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once students complete the sheet, open up to the group for discussion. What five values did you select and why?<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Review and Closing Ritual (10 minutes):<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Ask students to share their reflections by answering one or all of the following questions:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Head:<\/strong> What is one thing you learned today?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Heart:<\/strong> What emotions did you feel after participating in these activities?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Feet:<\/strong> What is one thing that you\u2019re walking away with? What will you do with it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Close with the call-and-repeat: \u201cI have a voice \/ my voice is powerful \/ my voice can change the world.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Materials:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Five senses images<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/William-J.-Altman-Personal-Essay.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cThe Beard,\u201d sample personal essay<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chart paper<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Markers, pens\/pencils, paper<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Values-Activity-Sheet-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Values Activity Sheet<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Values that are Most Important<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":4935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","featured_image_focal_point":[],"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"2498,1768,1388,3665,1762,5180","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[608],"tags":[20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4933"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13199,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4933\/revisions\/13199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}