Mrs. Price Writes

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You are here: Home / Literacy Resources / Powerful Ideas That Will Spark Literary Nonfiction Excitement

Powerful Ideas That Will Spark Literary Nonfiction Excitement

in Literacy Resources on

Inside: Writing is often a pain point for both teachers and students. This article explores strategies to encourage enthusiasm and ideas in writing literary nonfiction. The hope is that you can start and end your literary nonfiction unit with a smile. If you like my take on the writing process, check out my personal narrative took kit. It contains graphic organizers, writing group direction, and resources for every step of the writing process.

Amazon links are added for your convenience and at no cost to you. Should you choose to purchase a book through the link, I get a small amount to put towards my classroom library. Also, links to my Teacher Pay Teacher account make it easier for you to access resources. 

Every Single Time

“But Mrs. Price… I don’t have memories. I’ve never done or seen anything exciting before.”  We all have that one student. You know, the one who resists every attempt we make to teach personal narrative writing. They don’t have any memories, they’ve never said or done anything worth remembering, and, according to their fixed mindset, they never will.  However, it’s our job is to provide enough inspiration to help them get over the wall that is their writer’s block.

One such 6th grader told me that he hadn’t done anything worth writing about, but after conferencing with him, I uncovered that he had observed a mashed potato wrestling contest in Maine. Ummm… that’s pretty interesting in my book. Some students actually do have very limited life experience, but that doesn’t make their memories any less worth of writing about. We have to normalize a large variety of memories in order to find success with literary nonfiction writing.

To Read!

Before you stress yourself out about writing, read! (Which is totally fun!) Expose students to literary nonfiction, exploring the differences between different styles in the genre.

You’ve probably already heard me preaching about the need for diverse texts. If you haven’t check out this post on the importance of developing diversity in your literature. This concept also applies to literary nonfiction. Validate different life experiences by exposing students to a variety texts.

Picture book biographies are a fast way to embed diverse texts.

Personal Narratives

Memoirs

Narrative Poems

The Writing Process

After reading opens minds to possibilities, students often need help with thinking of memories and organizing their ideas. I teach 6th grade, and find that the majority of students still feel uncertain about writing. They need a little hand holding That’s where the workshop style writing process comes in. If teaching writing isn’t your favorite, don’t feel like you have to try it all at once. Pick your favorite tip and give it a try.      

*Conference with your students throughout the entire writing process! It can be a challenge to make this happen, but I typically give students 2 – 4 reading assignments to work on while I’m conferencing. If you’re looking for resources, consider my personal narrative writing process toolbox. 

Pre-Writing –

A make or break moment in the writing process is idea generation. If students struggle to find something interesting to write about, they may struggle with the entire process. Prewriting strategies work well when they are novel and engaging. Students will work more eagerly if they are excited.  

  • Reading/Writing Connection
    • Brainstorm a list of possible text-to-self  connections for students to choose from.
      • One example is connecting to the poem “How You Gave Up Rootbeer” by Gary Soto. Read the poem and then share about a food memory, a time when you didn’t follow advice, an embarrassing memory (etc)
      • If you read Helen Keller’s “The Story of My Life,” students can write about a time when they were frustrated, or overcame an obstacle.
  • Tangibles: Hand your student a small everyday item to spark a memory.
    • Bandaid – write about a scar story or a time they were injured.
    • Wrapping paper – write about a time when they gave or received a gift
    • Paper plate – write about a food, cooking, or the first time they tried something memory.
    • Ticket – Give students a paper ticket, or a printed ticket. Brainstorm a list of places you use tickets, and memories that they have there.

Organizing Your Narrative

  • Choosing a topic:
    • Students need to understand personal narrative criteria. Reading a focused narrative,  like Fish Cheeks, is a great way to establish criteria. Personal narratives are a true important memory that the narrator remembers in great detail. It is always told in first person and may not be something that occurred in a dream, on a movie, or in a video game. These closed notes available for download on this in my Personal Narrative Toolbox. 
    • I always have my students fill out a graphic organizer that includes their topic, the details they remember, what the memory made them feel, and a life lesson that they learned from it. Before drafting, I conference with them to make sure that their topic is narrow. If it isn’t, I use the following ideas to help them get closer to the memory.  
  • Focusing/Narrowing topic:
    • Zoom (Picture Puffin Books) – Use this picture book or YouTube video to show the detail and focused nature of a personal narrative. I always tell them that you are only telling one slice of the pizza, one piece of the pie, not the entire memory. (Make a pizza or pie visual to help them)
    • Funneling – Kelly Gallagher explains this strategy in Teaching Adolescent Writers. Begin with an unfocused topic – such as an entire vacation. Next you ask what is most important about that vacation. Continue answering – “what is most important” until you narrow down to the most important part of the vacation/memory. (This is the difference between my summer trip to Florida and my first time riding the Tower of Terror.)

Drafting

  • Click here for: Graphic organizer – I’m not a teacher who dictates form, but more students find success with a structure to follow.  Within this organizer, they have freedom to write as many paragraphs and sentences as it takes to tell their memory. I cannot take credit for this anchor chart! The idea came from my coworker, Mrs. Goetzky, and the chart was created by Mrs. Grimes. (Healthy PLCs rock!)  Here is the breakdown:
    • Hook/Setting the Scene
    • Body
      • This is a good place to reinforce plot structure. For a narrative, we use Freytag’s Pyramid to remind students to tell the beginning, middle, and end of their memory. This is typically divided into several paragraphs – depending upon dialogue and plot changes.  
    • Conclusion
      • Transition back to the central theme or life lesson. Here are a few sentence stems.
        • “I’ll never forget the time when I learned”
        • “This was the first time that I realized…”
        • “I never expected to understand…”
      • Reflect with a hope, wish, dream, or give advice.
        • “Next time I _______ I will…”
        • “Now I realize that I will…”
        • “I hope to always…”
        • “If you ever _______ be sure you…:
      • The narrative “Little Things Are Big” has a wonderful reflection/conclusion

Revising and Editing

  • Use this step to meet your required content! Make that effort to teach them how to apply their grammar in context.
  • In 6th grade, we focus on:
    • Homophones
    • Revising first words
      • Draw a box around the first word of every sentence. Make a list of all the words, paying attention to repeated words. We make our goal to change 50% of repeated words. Use subordinating conjunctions to help solve repeated words
    • Ratiocination with Items in a series (pitchfork)
      • Color code every other sentence with a different color highlighter. Collectively share out what you notice about yourself as a writer.
    • For more details, check out the revision codes sheets in my personal narrative toolbox.

Publishing

  • Never underestimate the power of publishing! This may be the most overlooked part of the writing process, but publishing provides a built in way to make writing relevant.
  • Publishing Ideas:
    • Publish a class book using student treasures for a tangible copy and Storybird for an online edition.
    • Host an internal blog that parents can access
    • If you have parents who are involved, host an author’s night where students read their pieces.
    • Campfire time – Everyone gathers around a projected fireplace and reads their text

If you work with your students through the writing process, you will find that they have more confidence in their writing. Show them amazing examples of published text, conference to help keep them on the right track, and more than anything don’t stress about making everything perfect. You are exposing them to the writing process, and that is the important point!

I’ve put all of the graphic organizers, writing prompts, and details together into a personal narrative tool kit. It contains over 33 slides and 15 different processes to increase your success with teaching the writing process. Trust yourself, trust your students, and most importantly, trust the process!

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