“All of our experiences fuse into our personality. Everything that ever happened to us is an ingredient.”: Reading and Writing Personal Narratives
Link: Module 12.1
Module 12.1 includes a shared focus on text analysis and narrative writing. Students read, discuss, and analyze two nonfiction personal narratives, focusing on how the authors use structure, style, and content to craft narratives that develop complex experiences, ideas, and descriptions of individuals. Throughout the module, students learn, practice, and apply narrative writing skills to produce a complete personal essay suitable for use in the college application process.
Module 12.1 Focus Skills & Habits
- Read closely for textual details
- Annotate texts to support comprehension and analysis
- Engage in productive evidence‐based discussions about texts
- Collect and organize evidence from texts to support analysis in writing
- Make claims about texts using specific textual evidence
- Use vocabulary strategies to define unknown words
- Paraphrase and quote relevant evidence from texts
- Independently preview texts in preparation for supported analysis
- Independently develop questions for further textual analysis
- Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
- Produce writing that is appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
- Independently practice the writing process outside of class
- Use rubrics and checklists for self‐assessment and peer review of writing
- Practice speaking and listening skills in preparation for a college interview
Module 12.1 is comprised of three units: 12.1.1, 12.1.2, and 12.1.3. In the first two units, students explore two types of personal narrative writing: an autobiography and a personal narrative essay. As students prepare to draft, revise, and edit their own narrative essays in the third unit of this module, these rich texts provide students with opportunities to analyze how the authors effectively incorporate elements of narrative writing. In 12.1.1, students read The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley in its entirety and analyze how Malcolm X’s experiences shape his character and develop central ideas. Students also explore the structure of the narrative and how style and content contribute to the text’s power and beauty. In 12.1.2, students examine Silko’s personal narrative essay, “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit,”and focus on how the author uses structure and language to build and refine complex ideas. As in the first unit, students continue to analyze how the author uses elements of narrative writing to effectively structure her personal exploration of the way meaningful experiences and cultural history have influenced her identity formation. In the final unit, 12.1.3, students concentrate on the narrative writing process. Students draft, revise, and edit their essays extensively over the course of the unit, further developing their narrative writing skills through peer‐review and discussions. At the end of this unit, students produce a final draft of their personal narrative. Throughout the module, students’ engagement with personal narratives through text‐analysis, independent writing, and interview practice prepares them for the Module Performance Assessment, in which students respond orally to sample questions that may be asked during the college interview process.
Texts (Many Available HERE)
Unit 1: The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Unit 2: “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit” by Leslie Marmon Silko
Unit 3: None. (Writing Unit)
Description Adapted From EngageNY
Updated 1/7/15 (KBW)
Link: Module 12.1
Module 12.1 includes a shared focus on text analysis and narrative writing. Students read, discuss, and analyze two nonfiction personal narratives, focusing on how the authors use structure, style, and content to craft narratives that develop complex experiences, ideas, and descriptions of individuals. Throughout the module, students learn, practice, and apply narrative writing skills to produce a complete personal essay suitable for use in the college application process.
Module 12.1 Focus Skills & Habits
- Read closely for textual details
- Annotate texts to support comprehension and analysis
- Engage in productive evidence‐based discussions about texts
- Collect and organize evidence from texts to support analysis in writing
- Make claims about texts using specific textual evidence
- Use vocabulary strategies to define unknown words
- Paraphrase and quote relevant evidence from texts
- Independently preview texts in preparation for supported analysis
- Independently develop questions for further textual analysis
- Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
- Produce writing that is appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
- Independently practice the writing process outside of class
- Use rubrics and checklists for self‐assessment and peer review of writing
- Practice speaking and listening skills in preparation for a college interview
Module 12.1 is comprised of three units: 12.1.1, 12.1.2, and 12.1.3. In the first two units, students explore two types of personal narrative writing: an autobiography and a personal narrative essay. As students prepare to draft, revise, and edit their own narrative essays in the third unit of this module, these rich texts provide students with opportunities to analyze how the authors effectively incorporate elements of narrative writing. In 12.1.1, students read The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley in its entirety and analyze how Malcolm X’s experiences shape his character and develop central ideas. Students also explore the structure of the narrative and how style and content contribute to the text’s power and beauty. In 12.1.2, students examine Silko’s personal narrative essay, “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit,”and focus on how the author uses structure and language to build and refine complex ideas. As in the first unit, students continue to analyze how the author uses elements of narrative writing to effectively structure her personal exploration of the way meaningful experiences and cultural history have influenced her identity formation. In the final unit, 12.1.3, students concentrate on the narrative writing process. Students draft, revise, and edit their essays extensively over the course of the unit, further developing their narrative writing skills through peer‐review and discussions. At the end of this unit, students produce a final draft of their personal narrative. Throughout the module, students’ engagement with personal narratives through text‐analysis, independent writing, and interview practice prepares them for the Module Performance Assessment, in which students respond orally to sample questions that may be asked during the college interview process.
Texts (Many Available HERE)
Unit 1: The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Unit 2: “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit” by Leslie Marmon Silko
Unit 3: None. (Writing Unit)
Description Adapted From EngageNY
Updated 1/7/15 (KBW)