Guide for Writing a Personal Narrative or Short Story based on 
The Warm Place by Nancy Farmer
Prepared by Annie Weissman using the Puffin paperback of the book

The following guide can be used for either a personal narrative or a creative short story. It utilizes the six traits model and assumes the students are somewhat cognizant of the traits of ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. See www.nwrel.org for more information on the six traits. These plans assume the students have read or been read The Warm Place by Nancy Farmer. The lessons on ideas, organization, and conventions are appropriate for all grade levels. Lessons on voice and sentence fluency are appropriate for grades 3-8. The word choice lessons are appropriate for grades 2-8. Some of the lessons may take more than one class period, depending on the reading and writing experience of the class.

Ideas Lesson 1
Review: Ideas for a story or personal narrative have to have main ideas and supporting details
Objective: Students will fill out a graphic organizer to show main ideas and supporting details from the settings of The Warm Place.
Direct Instruction: Put the graphic organizer below on a chart or make a transparency for an overhead projector. Model how to fill out the organizer by showing students how to recall, infer, and look up the required information in The Warm Place for the center bubble of “Africa.”
Guided Practice: Pairs of students fill in the rest of the organizer. Using the book is encouraged.
Closure: Go over the organizer as a group, with the teacher pointing out the main ideas and the supporting details.

Ideas Lesson 2 
Review: Go over the main ideas and supporting details on the graphic organizer for The Warm Place.
Objective: Students will brainstorm a place where they (personal narrative) or an animal (creative short story) were lost from a parent.
Direct Instruction: Put the graphic organizer below on a chart, white board, or overhead. Model how to fill out the organizer by brainstorming either a personal narrative or creative story about being lost. (Remember to prepare this ahead of time although it will look contemporaneous to the students.)
Guided Practice: Students think of a situation for their own personal narratives or creative stories about being lost. They talk the idea through with a partner.
Independent Practice: Students fill out the organizer for their personal narrative or short story. They fill in the main ideas and supporting details
Closure: Ask a volunteer to share his/her organizer. Have the students raise their right hands when a main idea is said, and their left hands when a detail is said.

Organization Lesson 1
Review: Go over the structure of stories and personal narratives; they have a beginning, middle, and end. Pinpoint the beginning, middle and end of The Warm Place.
Objective: Students will organize their personal narratives or creative short stories that were brainstormed in Ideas Lesson 2. 
Direct Instruction: Using the graphic organizer the teacher filled out, show where the beginning, middle, and end are. 
Guided Practice: In pairs, students use their brainstormed ideas and label beginning, middle, and end of their personal narratives or creative stories. 
Closure: Ask a volunteer to share his/her organizer. Have the students put up one finger when the volunteer says his/her beginning, two fingers for the middle, and three fingers for the end.

Organization Lesson 2
Review: Go over the structure of stories and personal narratives; they have a beginning, middle, and end. Pinpoint the beginning, middle and end of the personal narrative or short story you organized the previous lesson.
Objective: Students will write a rough draft of the beginning of their personal narratives or creative short stories that were organized the previous lesson.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model the writing of the first paragraph of your personal narrative or short story. If working in grades K, 1, or 2, have the students encode some of the words with you. If working in grades 4-8, have the students read along as you write. Think out loud about composing complete sentences and making sure the details are included.
Guided Practice: Students write the next paragraph for your personal narrative or short story, using your organizers. Have the students compare their paragraphs.
Independent Practice: Students write the beginning of their personal narratives or short stories. 
Closure: Ask volunteers to share the rough drafts of their middles. 

Organization Lesson 3
Review: Go over the structure of stories and personal narratives; they have a beginning, middle, and end. Have the students chorally read the beginning and middle of your personal narrative or short story.
Objective: Students will write a rough draft of the middle and end of their personal narratives or creative short stories that were started the previous lesson.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model the writing of the end of your personal narrative or short story. If working in grades K, 1, or 2, have the students encode some of the words with you. If working in grades 4-8, have the students read along as you write. Think out loud about composing complete sentences and making sure the details are included. Make sure to make some errors in a specific area of conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.) and DON’T correct them. This will be used for the lessons on conventions.
Independent Practice: Students write the middle and end of their personal narratives or short stories. 
Closure: Ask volunteers to share the rough drafts. 

Voice Lesson 1
Review: Stories and personal narratives have a voice, the personality of the author or main character.
Objective: Students will identify words, phrases, and actions that show the voices of characters from The Warm Place.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model how to find words, phrases, and actions of Ruva’s mother in The Warm Place using pages 1-4. 
Guided Practice: In pairs, students identify the “voice” of Ruva through her words, phrases, and actions using pages 11-12 at the end of Chapter Two, pp. 19-20 at the beginning of Chapter Four, pp. 53 and 55 in Chapter Nine, p.88 near the beginning of Chapter Fifteen, and p.143 near then beginning of Chapter Twenty-three. The groups share their findings.
Independent Practice: Students identify the words, phrases, and actions that show the voice of Rodentus, Nelson, or Troll.
Closure: Ask the students to share their ideas.

Voice Lesson 2
Review: Stories and personal narratives have a voice, the personality of the author or main character.
Objective: Students will revise their personal narratives or short stories for voice.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model how to read through your rough draft to see if the “voice” of one of the characters comes through. If it does, underline those phrases in a color. Think out loud of words and phrases to add to enhance the voice.
Guided Practice: In pairs, students underline the words and phrases in their own personal narratives and stories and show voice in one character. They brainstorm how to add more.
Independent Practice: Students revise their personal narratives for voice.
Closure: The teacher reads the first draft, then the second draft of her personal narrative or story. Students discuss how the voice was enhanced.

Sentence Fluency Lesson 1
Review: Stories and personal narratives should flow with a variety of sentences: simple, compound, and complex. 
Objective: Students will identify simple, compound, and complex sentences in The Warm Place.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector and a transparency copy of pages 7-8 of The Warm Place, have the students chorally read the paragraph on p. 7 that begins with “Time passed.” Underline the simple sentence sentences in one color, the compound sentences in a second color, and the complex sentences in a third color. 
Guided Practice: Provide a copy of the pages 7-8 for each student. In pairs, students read the next paragraph on the page that goes onto p. 8. Have the students use three crayons to identify the simple, compound, and complex sentences. The groups share their findings.
Independent Practice: Provide students with copies of p. 103. Students read the paragraphs and use three crayons to identify the simple, compound, and complex sentences. 
Closure: Volunteers use the overhead to color code the sentences in paragraphs used for independent practice.

Sentence Fluency Lesson 2
Review: Stories and personal narratives should flow with a variety of sentences: simple, compound, and complex. 
Objective: Students will revise their personal narratives or short stories for sentence fluency.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model how to read through your rough draft to check if your writing has a combination of simple, compound and complex sentences so the writing “flows.” Underline the different types of sentences by using three colors of pens. Think out loud which places could use a different kind of sentence and write it. Change at least three sentences
Guided Practice: In pairs, students use three crayon colors to identify the three types of sentences in their own personal narratives and stories. They brainstorm how to change at least three sentences.
Independent Practice: Students revise their personal narratives for sentence fluency.
Closure: The teacher reads the first draft, then the second draft of her personal narrative or story. Students discuss how the sentence fluency was enhanced.

Word Choice Lesson 1
Review: Authors try to choose the best words and phrases to enhance meaning or paint a picture of a place or character.
Objective: Students will identify the words and phrases that show excellent word choice in The Warm Place.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, and a transparency of page 40 of The Warm Place, underline the words and phrases in the paragraph “Is there anything I can do?” that help paint the picture or capture an idea or character. (“gazed,” “splayed,” “concrete,” “buggy eyes pointed in opposite directions.”)
Guided Practice: Give each student a copy of page 40 from The Warm Place. In pairs, students identify the words and phrases The groups share their findings.
Closure: Students share their ideas. Make sure to highlight the simile “It looked like a little arm shooting out of his mouth.”

Word Choice Lesson 2
Review: Authors try to choose the best words and phrases to enhance meaning or paint a picture of a place or character.
Objective: Students will revise their personal narratives or short stories for word choice.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model how to read through your rough draft to see where the word choice could be improved. Choose at least two or three words and replace them with a more specific one. Make sure to put in a simile (comparing two unlike things using “like” or “as.” An example would be “The people crowded around me like a school of fish that found some food.”) And a metaphor ( comparing two unlike things but not using “like” or “as.” An example would be ”the tall building was a forest that hid my house.”) 
Guided Practice: In pairs, students brainstorm three words that could be changed for the better and places where they could add a simile and a metaphor.
Independent Practice: Students revise their personal narratives for sentence fluency by changing at least three words and adding a simile and a metaphor..
Closure: Students share the paragraphs where they added a simile or one where they added a metaphor.

Conventions Lesson 1
Review: It’s important to use correct grammar, capitalization, and punctuation so the author’s message is understood by the readers.
Objective: Students will identify the conventions in The Warm Place.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, and a transparency of page 76 of The Warm Place, underline the conventions in the first two paragraphs that are appropriate for the grade level. Suggestions are:
First and second grades: 
· Capitalization of proper names and the first world in a sentence
· Punctuation at the end of sentences 
· Paragraphing instead of lines of sentences 
· Indentation of paragraphs
Third grade and above add:
· Use of quotation marks
· Choices in end of sentence punctuation
· Spelling

Guided Practice: Give each student a copy of page 76 from The Warm Place. In pairs, students identify the specified conventions in the next two paragraphs. The groups share their findings.
Independent practice: Students identify the specified conventions on the rest of the page that enhance meaning. 
Closure: Students share their ideas.

Conventions Lesson 2
Review: Authors use conventions such as standard grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, and capitalization to ensure that readers understand the work.
Objective: Students will revise their personal narratives or short stories for conventions.
Direct Instruction: Using an overhead projector, white board, or smart board, model how to read through your rough draft to see where the conventions could be improved. Choose which conventions will be the target for correction. More specific one. 
Guided Practice: In pairs, students go over each other’s rough drafts to find corrections for the conventions being targeted.
Independent Practice: Students revise their personal narratives for specified conventions.
Closure: Students share changes they made in conventions.

Copyright 2003 by Annie Weissman