WRITING PERSONAL NARRATIVES

NAME: _______________________________ YEAR & SECTION: __________________ DATE: ____________

In this lesson you will write a personal narrative. In a personal narrative you relate an incident from your experience that has affected you in some way.

A. Read the personal narrative, and answer the questions about it.

Giving Life

It was a hot summer day. My dad and I were getting ready to go out for a ride on the boat with my friend Katie and the dog. That’s when the phone call came, the call that made that bright, beautiful day a cold, dark, gloomy one.

I had just put on my suit, shorts, and tank top, and packed my bag with sunscreen and everything else I would need for the day. I ran into my parents’ room to find Dad. When I saw him on the phone, he was crying. I’d never seen my dad cry before. My heart sank. What possibly could have happened?

“Max, I’m so sorry,” I heard him say. That’s when it hit me. I knew that Suzie had died.

Max has been my dad’s best friend for years. Suzie, his daughter, had a rare disease that mainly affected her body. Her brain was OK. She knew what was going on; she knew that she had problems and was different than other kids. Once she told her dad that she wished she could die and be born in a different body. Yet although she couldn’t live a normal life, she was still happy.

When Suzie and I were little, we spent quite a bit of time together. As we grew up, we grew apart. She lived in New York, and I lived in the Midwest. When Suzie was ten she had to live in a hospital in Virginia. About eight months before she died, Max gave us her number at the hospital and we talked at least twice a week until the end. Suzie was always so excited to talk to us and wanted to know every detail about my life. She wanted to know everything I did and everything I ate. In a way, she lived through me.

After we found out about her death, we made our plans to go to New York for the funeral. When she was alive, I sent her a Beanie Baby and she sent one back to me. I had bought her another one but never had the chance to send it to her, so I took it to put in her casket.

Her funeral was very different than any funeral I’d ever been to. After they lowered her casket, each one of us put a shovelful of dirt over her. I remember crying so hard, I felt weak. My cheeks burned from the tears. My whole body was shaking as I picked up the shovel, but I’m glad I did it.

When Suzie and I first started calling one another, I thought it would be more of a burden on me, but I was completely wrong. I learned so much from her. She gave me more than I could ever give to her. I will never forget her or the talks we had. I now know that I must never take anything for granted, especially my health and the gift of life.

How did the narrator feel during the incident?

What do you think the writer would want you to learn from reading her narrative?

Who are the main characters of the essay?

What details let the reader “see and feel” what’s happening?

What helps you understand how the writer is feeling?

What is good about the ending?

B. Complete this personal narrative by filling in the blanks with the correct transitions.

EVEN THOUGH LATER THEN TODAY FIRST

One of my most unforgettable experiences was seeing a tornado. My husband and I had spent a day in

Zamboanga and were on the way back to Cagayan. It was an unusually hot day for the early summer. _______

in the afternoon the temperature dropped, and a few dark clouds gathered. _____ I saw the twister. The great

funnel moved extremely fast and constantly changed its position and shape. _______, it became tall and

skinny, and later, it shrank back to a smaller size. __________ it must have been miles away from us, we could

see the flying and swirling pieces of objects in the air. The twister lifted them up and threw them all over the

countryside. Later that night we learned the tragic news about Xenia, Ohio. The swirling objects that we had

seen were houses, roof tops, and cars. _________, when an announcement of a tornado warning is given, I

search for a hiding place. Seeing the incredible power of the tornado made a believer out of me, and earned

my everlasting respect.

Remember, a personal narrative has the following characteristics: A. tells about something that happened to the writer B. tells the events in sequence (time order words such as now and later) C. mentions the times, places, and people involved D. is told from the writer’s point of view and uses personal pronouns such as I, me, and my E. tells the writer’s thoughts and feelings about the experience

C. UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE OF A PERSONAL NARRATIVE: Read the two essays below, and complete the personal analysis chart that follow.

Indy’s Life Story

I am going to tell you about my dog and how I got him. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but at some point my parents asked if I wanted to have a dog. I, of course, said yes. We couldn’t decide what kind of dog to get at first, but at last we found a great breed, the Shetland sheepdog. We called a good breeder. I was so excited about getting a dog!

Before I knew it, I was on my way to the breeder. I went inside and saw dogs everywhere. It was so hard to pick which one to get. I saw one I liked. It was a small blue merle. He looked perfect, so I asked if we could get him. It turned out that he was too young to sell. So I kept looking. When I finally decided on one, we were all very happy. It still took a few weeks until he was old enough to bring home. It seemed to take forever until the day came, but it did.

It was so exciting. We were on our way to pick up our newest family member. When we went to pick him up, we realized that we had everything except the most important thing, a name! On our way home, we came up with what seemed like the perfect name: Indiana. This name came from his head coloring, believe it or not. His head was the same color as Indiana Jones’s hat. Like all dog names, it was shortened to Indy and eventually shortened to Ind.

We loved Indy, yet it wasn’t all fun and games. We had to make major adjustments for him. When he was young, we had to blockade parts of the house because they were too dangerous for him. Another reason we had to block things off was that Indy was not yet housebroken. We also had to move my cat’s food because Indy kept eating it. Finally, we had to build him a kennel.

Yes, we had to make a lot of changes, but Indy has changed a lot since the day we got him. He is no longer a puppy, and he is housebroken! Now he’s pretty much everyone’s buddy. We are so glad we found him.

The Day I Took the Spotlight

Wouldn’t it be superb to have one moment when you took the spotlight, to have everybody clapping for you and cheering loudly? I have had that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—the day I took the spotlight!

Sometime in February, my teacher told us all about the Woodmen of America speech contest. The topic was “people who have overcome obstacles in their lives.” I thought my great-grandma Lorraine Parsley, who has had recurring cancer 13 times and is still living, would be perfect. She has overcome a lot of obstacles in her life.

A couple weeks later, the class gave their presentations. My teacher had to pick three to five students to go on to the next level. I was one of them! Then the top five from each of the three fifth-grade classes competed. The top seven would be the finalists; again, I was one of them! The top seven worked really hard. We had until March 15, 2001, to practice.

March 15 rolled around. Before I knew it, I was in our school gym with people all around, including the judges, listening to every word I said. I was the sixth to present. I was soon done; what a relief! I knew the top seven got ribbons, certificates, and pins; but I still wanted that trophy.

After the seventh person finished, the judges made their final decisions. They announced the winners. The third-place winner was Aunum, the second-place winner was Sarah, and the first-place winner was Kelli! I had just won first place! I was ecstatic.

That was my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The students in the audience were going wild clapping and cheering! That was a moment I will always remember, when I took the spotlight!

Indy’s Life Story The Day I Took the Spotlight

1. What is the interesting experience that the writer shared?2. How did the writer capture the reader’s attention?3. Write down sensory details, specific nouns adjectives and verbs used by the writer.4. Write the transition words used in the essay.4. Did the ending reflect the significance of the experience? How did the writers do it?

PLANNING YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVECharacters: Who was involved in the story? (Include yourself!)

Setting: Where and when did the story take place? What was the mood that day?

Problem: What was the problem I faced in the story?

Solution: Was the problem solved? How did things end up?

Why is this experience meaningful to me? What did I learn from this event?

INTRODUCTION

MIDDLE

ENDING

1. Ideas

What interesting experience did each writer?

Have I included sensory details to make the experience vivid?

2. Organization

Does my beginning capture the reader's interest?

Do the events appear in the order they occurred?

Does my ending reflect on the importance of the experience?

3. Voice

Do I use a pleasant narrative voice?

Does my voice fit the experience?

4. Word Choice

Do I use specific nouns and active verbs?

Have I carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs?

5. Sentence Fluency

Have I written clear, complete sentences?

Have I combined short, choppy sentences?

Have I varied sentence beginnings?

If you're having trouble choosing an experience to write about, take a quick glance through these prompts. They might help you remember or identify a particularly interesting or significant experience to focus on.

A childhood event. Think of an experience when you learned something for the first time, or when you realized how important someone was for you.

Achieving a goal. Think about a particularly meaningful achievement in your life. This could be something as seemingly minor as achieving a good grade on a difficult assignment, or this could be something with more long-lasting effects, like getting the job you desired or getting into the best school to which you applied.

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 could be anything from a move across town to a major change in a relationship to the birth or death of a loved one.

A realization. Think about a time when you experienced a realization. This could be anything from understanding a complicated math equation to gaining a deeper understanding of a philosophical issue or life situation.

4OO -UCH %XCITEMENT

BY 0EDRO -ARTINEZ

-Y SISTER AND ) LOOKED FORWARD TO

OUR SUMMER VACATION THIS YEAR

)T

WAS OUR REWARD FOR WORKING HARD AND

GETTING GOOD GRADES DURING THE SPRING

SEMESTER

7E HOPED IT WOULD BE AN

EXCITING VACATION AND IT WAS

/NE OF

THE DAYS WAS JUST A LITTLE TOO EXCITING

THOUGH

7E WERE VISITING OUR AUNT AND

UNCLE IN &LORIDA FOR THE FIRST TIME

4HEY LIVE IN A BIG HOUSE IN A BEAUTIFUL

AREA ALONG THE COAST

4HEY TOOK US TO

AN AQUARIUM A MUSEUM A MALL AND

A COUPLE OF AMUSEMENT PARKS

7E

SAW A MOVIE AND TWO MUSICAL THEATER

SHOWS

7E WALKED DOWNTOWN AND WE

VISITED THE BEACH A FEW TIMES

4HAT WAS

MY FAVORITE PLACE

%VERY DAY WE DID

SOMETHING NEW AND INTERESTING

/NE DAY THE FOUR OF US WERE

WALKING ALONG THE BEACH WITH MY

AUNT´S 'ERMAN SHEPHERD +EMOO

4HE

WHITE SAND WAS SOFT AND WARM

)T WAS

PEACEFUL AND SUNNY A PERFECT DAY

EXCEPT FOR SOME CLOUDS IN THE SKY

3UDDENLY +EMOO BEGAN TO RUN IN

CIRCLES AND BARK WILDLY

) LOOKED UP

4HE SKY WAS GETTING DARK QUICKLY

)T WAS ALMOST BLACK