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Explore this comprehensive website that covers various aspects of narrative writing, including plot, character development, and setting. It includes activities and worksheets to help students practice their writing skills.

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It always felt like the genre of writing that was quick to veer off course, leaving me feeling like I was attempting to nail Jell-O to a tree.

I would feel defeated as a teacher and I felt disappointed in myself.

If you've ever felt that way, I get it. I really do. If you haven't, I admire you.

I love writing and because of that, I have been (and continue to be) relentless in finding ways that work.

Essentially, hear me when I say I am far from an expert. I'm passionate and stubborn and constantly asking myself how I could modify my instruction.

For starters, you can read a general overview about writing in upper grades HERE. That will help with overall scope but to see my pacing guide, you can grab that HERE.

My district has many writing resources available and I've been trained in several from my previous district, too. And again, this is just what works for me. Maybe it'll help you, too!

The overarching model that I employ faithfully is that of a writing workshop.

For us, this means we gather as writers each day and spend the first 12-15 minutes engaged in a mini-lesson. Writers are then sent back to their spots (or, in this year of pandemic teaching, they remain in their seats the whole time) to apply, write, and work.

At the beginning of a narrative unit, I need to decide what I want to cover and explicitly teach. I literally sit with my planner, a pencil, and a page of notes. For our first narrative, we spent six weeks, from the first lesson to sharing the final, published piece.

For about four of those weeks, we are doing mini-lessons everyday on writers craft. I use our state standards and district expectations to map out what my teaching points will be. Among many other things, I teach:

-zooming into one small moment

-sketching/visualizing each scene

-introducing characters and developing them

-story mapping (beginning, conflict, attempts to solve/fix, resolution)

-details and descriptions

-internal dialogue (show, not tell)

-conclusions (lesson learned, emotion)

Again, I would recommend consulting your grade level writing standards but also, I always look at the prior grade, too. I like to see where they're coming from and what we might need to review (either heavily or lightly).

I like to keep paper options in THIS container from Ikea. I label it with THIS label maker.

Now, as students head off to write, that's when I lean in and meet with writers. In a typical year, I pull small groups to the rug or small group table. This year, I meet primarily one-on-one with kids. With a shield between us. And masks on. But, it won't be like this forever (that's some self-talk right there!).

When I meet with writers, we always first check in and do a general temp check. They show me where they're at, what they're working on, or what their goal is that day.

Now, onto maximizing your time with that student. I honestly think this is an area that I've learned the most through practice over the years. I try to lean in and help. I either re-teach or I help guide or we make a plan together. It truly depends on the situation and the writer and I've never found a resource that will guide this because it has to be intuitive and linked to the student.

For our first narrative, students selected five pieces of writing paper and we used the structure below:

Page one: setting, introduction/lead, characters

Page two: problem/conflict arises but there is no solution

Page three: another problem or conflict but again, no solution

Page four: another problem (or issue or hardship, ect) occurs but this time there is a solution

Oftentimes, we will look together at a specific page together, which definitely provides structure to the conference.

I spend anywhere from 5-7 minutes with each student. I typically have 32-36 students so I do my best to maximize my time so that I can meet with the most readers as possible.

The last couple weeks of the unit, we spend time in the revision, editing, and publishing process. THOSE are also mini-lessons!

Eventually, my conferring moves to assisting with revising and editing. My students usually have a writing partner they will regularly meet with, especially during this period of time.

To publish, I love to be able to give my students the option to handwrite or type on Google Docs. We love to have celebrations, allowing those that want to share to do so.

Whew! That was 100x longer than I intended. If you made it this far, you are my favorite and I really hope there's something in here that will help you and your writers!

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Narrative Writing in Upper Elementary - Hello Fifth

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I used to dread narrative writing units. There. I said it. Ha! It always felt like the genre of writing that was quick to veer off course, leaving me feeling like I was attempting to nail Jell-O to a tree. I would feel defeated as a teacher and I felt disappointed in ...

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This website provides a variety of tips and techniques for students to enhance their narrative writing. It includes a section for teachers with lesson plans and printable resources.

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If you're unsure of what narrative writing techniques your middle school students should know and be able to use, read on to see my top seven techniques for middle school writers!

For many teachers, myself included, teaching writing can be one of those gray areas where we're not always sure we're nailing it. It's not like math or science where there is one definitive answer we are working toward. This gray area can sometimes be uncomfortable. Let me tell you about one of those gray areas for me.

For the past seven years, I've known that my students should be able to "...use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters." I've had no problem grasping onto the concrete words in that standard: dialogue and description. Cool, we can do those things! But the way the standard is written, " such as," has left me wondering - what else is considered a narrative technique?

If you've also felt a bit perplexed with what narrative writing techniques you should be teaching your middle school writers, then this post is for you! I've worked hard to research all the narrative writing techniques and narrow my findings down into seven manageable techniques all middle school students should master!

Technique #1: Mastering The Narrative Hook

The narrative hook is the first narrative writing technique middle school students should study. The narrative hook is the opening of a short story or a novel that "hooks" the reader's attention and makes them want to keep reading. Students need help starting their stories in an engaging way, and it can be beneficial if we give them concrete strategies and examples to imitate.

I like to introduce my students to the following ten narrative hook strategies and provide examples of each one:

1. Ask a Puzzling Question

2. Drop a Hint

3. Create an Atmosphere

4. Paint a Picture

5. Crack a Joke

6. Interrupt a Conversation

7. Jump into Action

8. Establish a Mysterious Setting (More on this later)

9. Introduce Engaging Characters

10. Learn a Lesson

I encourage students to try to use each narrative hook strategy one time in their writer's notebooks. They essentially end up with 10+ different story starts - and that's okay!

Teaching students different ways to begin a story helps to drive home the importance of an engaging beginning and helps curb the "Hi, my name is _____, and I'm going to tell you about ____," starts introductions.

You can view my narrative hook writing prompts here.

Technique #2: Establishing Rich Backdrops

Students understand how important setting is to fiction. We have to help them make that connection in their writing. Building rich and vivid settings that allow readers to visualize the time and place is a narrative writing technique students will enjoy working on!

I like to give students various opportunities to show, not tell, when a story is taking place. This might be the time of day, year (season), era, or a point in a person's life.

Next, we try writing scenes that occur in different locations. We focus on building various settings through our descriptions ( show, don't tell).

Finally, we try to create different moods through our words. We want our readers to know where and when the story takes place, but we also want them to feel a certain way. So we discuss the impact of word choice and how it affects the atmosphere of a story.

You can view my setting writing prompts here.

Technique #3: Developing Characters

Real talk: this narrative writing technique is challenging. Middle school students are still working hard to describe characters they read about ( who are developed by expert writers), so getting them to write about characters without making direct statements is difficult. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't try!

To develop this narrative writing technique, I take students through a variety of short exercises. We might:

Describe the stranger on the sidewalk

List a character's pet peeves

Write about the character's bad habit

Or, my favorite, use visual prompts to:

Describe the person these shoes belong to

Describe the person this lunch belongs to

Describe the person who lives here

And so on.

Through our writing, we work hard to reveal various characters directly and indirectly. Working on this narrative writing technique will help students focus on character development instead of just jumping right into the action.

You can view my character writing prompts here.

Technique #4: Using Dialogue {Authentically & Purposefully}

Middle school students LOVE using dialogue in their writing. What they don't love is using dialogue authentically and purposefully. This narrative writing technique requires students to reign it in just a bit. Scenes that benefit from the use of dialogue are those that:

Establish a character's voice

Reveal conflict

Move the story forward

Present different perspectives

Provide background information

Convey character traits

Show character intentions/motivations

Reveal a character's understandings

That's a lot of scenes! But if students are writing personal narratives or short stories, they won't need to use dialogue for all of these scenes.

With this technique, I think it's helpful to look at various mentor texts and estimate how often authors use dialogue. Usually, it's less than 20% of the time! I caution students to show everything they can through detailed descriptions and only use dialogue when necessary.

You can view my authentic, and purposeful dialogue writing prompts here.

Technique #5: Incorporating Imagery & Sensory Language

Another powerful narrative writing technique that gets students to show, not tell, is through imagery and sensory language. Taking students through writing exercises that bring them to engage their sense of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell creates rich writing that is enjoyable to read!

I like to show my students excellent examples of authors who use sensory language well. Take, for example, this scene from The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman:

"I took the orange and turned it around. It glowed like a small, pale sun. I felt its weight, its perfect ripeness-not too soft, not too firm. I breathed in its citrus scent. I started to peel it, noticing things I've never noticed before: how the leathery peel isn't colored the same all the way through, how the papery sections inside feel like leafy veins, how the pulp is shaped like raindrops. When, at last, I placed a section in my mouth, I could hear it burst as my teeth my the flesh, squeezing the juice out onto my tongue, tart at first and then sweet."

An entire paragraph about an orange that engages all five senses - incredible!

Pairing mentor texts with powerful writing prompts that intentionally evoke the senses is a great way to get students writing with imagery. Here are a few examples of sensory-provoking prompts:

You ate it soggy...

The sounds that make your ears ache

In the palms of your hands, you hold a handful of ripe raspberries...

It washed up onshore...

You can view more of my imagery writing prompts here.

Technique #6: Finding a Place for Figurative Language

Figurative language doesn't just belong in poetry. That's one of the biggest misconceptions to overcome when teaching narrative writing techniques! Using figurative language in other writing genres can be a great way to convey emotions, experiences, and more.

I like to quickly review literary devices such as similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, and oxymorons and then jump into a few different examples of authors using them in a narrative. Then comes the fun part of trying to imitate that craft in our writing!

Here are a few different examples of authors using figurative language in narratives:

"Wes stared at the phone in his hand, put it back to his ear, held it there until the noise was gone, and he finally heard the call end. Then Wes turned it off, stuck it in the top drawer of his nightstand, turned off the lights, and got into bed.

The whole day had been money, he thought.

Until it wasn't." Mike Lupica, No Slam Dunk

Another example:

"I listen to the ice. It speaks to me of scouring winds, of cloudless nights, of endless cold. It measures its loneliness by the weight of its layers, the years and years of snow falling unobserved. I've been told its lament is loudest at the beginning of winter and the coming summer, as if it knows that is the closest it will ever come to warmth and thaw. As if it yearns for its own demise." Matthew J. Kirby, Icefall

It's also fun to challenge students to use figurative language with sentence starters, such as:

Finish the sentence "Because she lied..." with hyperbole.

Write about what the two-way mirror saw using personification.

You can view more of my figurative language writing prompts here.

Technique #7: Playing with Perspective and Point of View

This last narrative writing technique middle school students should experiment with is perspective and point of view.

Students must understand the difference between perspective and point of view and their purposes.

Point of view is how a narrator tells a story. The types of narration are first person, second person, and third person, and each type can either bring the reader closer to the character and story or create distance. I like to encourage students to try to write from all three types.

Perspective is who the narrator is and how they understand and experience what's happening in the story. We experiment with taking on different perspectives and finding our voice as that character.

Here is an example:

"All day, I watch humans scurry from store to store. They pass their green paper, dry as old leaves and smelling of a thousand hands, back and forth and back again. They hunt frantically, stalking, pushing, grumbling. Then they leave, clutching bags filled with things - bright things, soft things, big things - but no matter how full the bags, they always come back for more.

Humans are clever indeed. They spin pink clouds you can eat. They build domains with flat waterfalls. But they are lousy hunters." Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

After reading this mentor text, we try writing from the first-person perspective of an animal.

Playing with perspective and point of view is quite entertaining. Students have a hoot shifting from telling a story as an 80-year-old man to telling a story from the perspective of a frightened little girl.

You can view more of my point of view and perspective writing prompts here.

Give These Narrative Writing Techniques A Try

I hope you feel some clarity towards teaching your students a variety of narrative writing techniques. Students respond well when a strategy is given a name, and they are shown examples of how to execute it. If you'd like to download a sample of the quick write writing prompts I use in my classroom to teach these narrative techniques (and many others), you can subscribe to my email newsletter below and receive a free copy.

If you like what you find in the free download, you can save planning time and purchase additional quick writes here.

What other narrative writing techniques do you teach to your middle school students? Drop a line below, share your thoughts, or continue the conversation and find me on FB or IG! I'd love to hear your thoughts or any questions you might have.

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7 Effective Narrative Writing Techniques Your Students Should Master

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If you're unsure of what narrative writing techniques your middle school students should know, here are my top seven techniques!

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Watch this video that explains how to write a narrative essay, step by step. It includes examples and helpful tips for young writers.

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Narrative Writing for Elementary Students

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Narrative Writing for Elementary Students

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This video breaks down the process of narrative writing in an engaging and easy-to-understand manner. Perfect for visual learners!

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Writing a Personal Narrative - Episode 1: Brainstorming a Story for Kids

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A visual chart that outlines the key elements of a narrative story, including setting, characters, plot, conflict, and resolution. This can be a handy reference for students while writing their stories.

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An infographic that explains the narrative writing process—from brainstorming ideas to drafting and editing the final piece. Great for classroom display!

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ELAGSE5W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

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IXL | Choose the best topic sentence | 5th grade language arts

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Improve your language arts knowledge with free questions in "Choose the best topic sentence" and thousands of other language arts skills.