Fourth grade is my next stop. When I get to Mrs. Klinnert’s room, the kids from Mrs. McEachran’s class next door have also come to participate in the lesson. The two classes are together today to explore a challenging topic; the difference between personal narrative and personal essay. I feel unsure if I can adequately define the difference myself.
What I learn . . .
Personal narrative is the telling of a story, in sequence, from beginning to end. Essay, has a main idea, focuses on that one idea, and lets you inside the author’s thinking. And although you could write a narrative and an essay based on the very same event, they are distinctively different types of writing.
To introduce the lesson Mrs. Klinnert offers an example of both a narrative and an essay about winter that she has written herself. During the course of the lesson, Mrs. McEachran offers her own personal narrative about falling through a snow pile and getting trapped next to the house when she was a small child. Then, after participating in the work session alongside the students, she shares the essay she created from the same event. The main idea of the essay; “Snow piles can be dangerous.”
Since the writing workshop is an “apprenticeship model” it is essential that teachers write alongside students every day. If we are to successfully teach writing, we must be willing to stick our own necks out by showing samples of our own writing with each mini-lesson.
The personal narrative is a mainstay of the primary years in our building and this shift to personal essay (or non-narrative) appears to be extremely challenging for the majority of the students. I am anxious to come back and check in on their progress as these fourth grade writers work to master a new genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment