Writing a Biographical Narrative Cornell Notes

Page 61 of your notebook

Bellwork October 1 st :

Make a list of five memorable events in your life. Write a sentence for each event talking about why it was memorable to you.

The Purpose  To share and explain  CA State Standards:  WS 1.1: Organization and Focus: demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse (e.g., purpose, speaker, audience, form) when completing narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive writing assignments   WS 1.2: Organization and Focus: use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, appropriate modifiers, and active rather than the passive voice WS1.9: Evaluation and Revision: revise writing to improve the logic and coherence of the organization and controlling perspective, the precision of word choice, and the tone by taking into consideration the audience, purpose, and formality of the context

Prewriting    Begin by choosing an incident you will write about.

You will write about an event that you witnessed but did not participate in.

The incident needs to be significant to you in some way. (Learned a life lesson, memorable).

Drafting    Get your memory down on paper It doesn’t matter how it comes out. You can make improvements later.

If you find yourself loosing interest in the incident or having trouble telling it, choose another memory.

Drafting (continued)  Consider the following:  Use the story elements  Plot  Character  Setting  Include any background information the reader needs to know  Use dialogue when you can  Use language that appeals to the senses (imagery)  Organize your incident  Chronological order

Structure    Beginning:  Introduces the incident, the people and the setting Middle:  Re-creates the incident, using descriptive details  Makes the significance of the incident clear  Use vivid imagery, details and dialogue Conclusion:  Reflecting on the outcome and the significance

Example  As we read, pay attention to how the example follows the correct format for a biographical narrative.

Summarize  Summarize your notes for today. Talk about what you learned and what you still have questions about.

Bellwork October 2 nd :  Choose one event from the list you made yesterday. Summarize what happened in 7-10 sentences in Your point of view. ( use the word “I”)

Time to Start Planning…  Take out a sheet of paper and begin constructing a tree map listing the people, places and things that happened during the event your are writing about.

Planning Continued…  Take out another sheet of paper and create a flow map sequencing the events in chronological order.

Helpful Hints    Your writing will have more of an impact if the tone is the same throughout. (i.e. humorous, serious, etc.) Your incident will have more impact if you vary the sentences you use to tell about it. To avoid too many short, choppy sentences, combine ideas into one sentence with two or more clauses or punctuation.

Start Writing  Write a rough draft of the events. Follow the format you took notes on with the correct beginning, middle, and end.