Narration
.What is narration? Narration is a type of writing that “tells a story by presenting events in an orderly, logical sequence” (Kirszner and Mandell 71). A picture can also tell a story. Through narrative writing, one can record those pictures like a director records images to tell a story on film; however, you will tell the story with words.
Chapter 6 of your textbook addresses "Narration". Read the chapter.
Notes: Plan your narrative-- include enough detail.
* Vary your sentence structure so that not all of your sentences sound alike.
* Maintain a clear, narrative order. This may mean sticking to a strict, chronological order or beginning in the present and using flashbacks. Whichever you choose, make the narrative order clear & flowing.
* Use accurate verb tense. Some shifts may be necessary (from present tense to an actual past event), but avoid all unwarranted shifts, as they may confuse the reader.
* Structure your essay: You will follow a 5 paragraph format with an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph must contain a minimum of 5 sentences.
* Revise your essay. Use the revision checklist on pg. 87 of "Patterns" & the editing checklist on pg. 89.
* Use the peer editing worksheet on pg. 93 for in-class revisions.
TUTORIAL-- NARRATION: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwqEkgOI-3k
Read the following essays in your book for reference: "Finishing School" (101) & "Playing by the Rules" (115).
Here's your graded assignment:
First, read the following poem, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost (1915)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This famous poem is about a "traveller" who comes upon a fork in the road; he has two paths to choose from. After choosing one, he contemplates what would be had he chosen the other path.
We are all travellers on the road of life. I want you to think of a time in your life when you had to choose between two paths and write an essay about that decision. Many students will choose a BIG decision -- like starting college, becoming a parent, etc. However, do not overlook the LITTLE decisions as well; little decisions can have as much impact on our lives as the big ones do.
You will NARRATE the story of your decision. In formal writing, the first person should be avoided; however, since this is a NARRATIVE essay, writing in first person is okay (if you choose to). Your essay should be thoughtful, descriptive, and gramatically correct.
The requirements of the essay are as follows:
MLA formatted (upper left header, centered title, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, times new roman font in 12 point, 5 space indentions between paragraphs...), 5 paragraphs (at least 5 sentences in each), balanced paragraphs, approximately 2 pages in length.
M 27 September: Narration Notes / Brainstorming
W 29 September: Narration Draft (Storyboard/Outline) F 01 October: Narration Revisions (complete draft due)
M 04 October: Narration Final Typed Copy Due; ComparisonNotes
For W 9/29: Your storyboard should contain at least 5 pictures (drawn or cut out) with multi-sentence captions explaining how the image relates to the story you are telling. Here's an example (although it isn't great): http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/DigitalStorytelling/Shark%20Sample%20Storyboard.htm
http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/pdf/storyboard.pdf
You should also have an outline that includes at the very least, the thesis/topic that belongs in each paragraph.
There are SEVERAL different ways to go about this essay. I will accept both a more formalized, structured essay format or a story format (please still structure this -- 5 paragraphs, approximately 5 sentences per paragraph, etc.).
Example "Rough Outline":
Title: The Phone Call
Introduction: I would discuss the prompt-- the question/poem-- then transition to my specific topic. THESIS- At age 17 I was faced with a choice that most people can relate to; I had to follow either my heart or my head in pursuit of either stability or excitement.
Body 1: The Beginning. TOPIC- The boredom and anxiety of being a teenager in a small southern town led me to consume my thoughts with boys and dating as early as junior high.
Support: The first boys that I "dated" were local; they provided a new and more interesting way to pass the time either on the school playground, at youth dances, and at other parties and festivals common in the south.
Transition: One night at a festival, the proverbial lightening struck; that is the night I met "him".
In this essay, this might be the BACKGROUND.
Body 2: He was Jay, an out of towner (he lived the next town over, but that is far when you are 13 and lacking transportation), and from that first glance, I was convinced that we were soulmates.
Support: I'd describe the night & the meeting.
Transition: The day he told me on the phone that he was moving, I was devastated.
In this essay, this might be the BRIDGE.
Body 3: The relationship continued, never seriously, but serious to me, for years; everytime he'd come to town, all of the feelings would come rushing back. However, while he was gone, a new friendship was building; his name was Joe.
Support: Tell the story of meeting/dating Joe & his proposal when I was 17.
Transition: I had come to love Joe; he was my best friend-- but marriage? Marriage meant exclusivity forever, and that meant breaking up with Jay forever.
In this essay, this might be the MOMENT.
Conclusion: Topic: It was the hardest phone call i've ever made in my life, and for many years, I replayed that call in my head like a bad nightmare. I did make the call, though, and I married Joe when I was only 19. What if I had chosen Jay over Joe? How different would my life be? Sometimes I imagined living in California, sun-bathing on the beach, partying every night with friends (Jay was always popular), but at the same time, I was living life with my best friend, raising my beautiful children in comfortable suburbia. Many years later, I got an email from Jay; not only was he fat and bald, and working at an underwear factory in the northwest, but also, the feelings were gone. I know if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, that phone call that was the hardest I ever had to make would assuredly be the easiest. I love Joe wholly, exclusively, and forever, and I learned that friendship is a stronger foundation than flames.
In this essay, this might be the DECISION AND LESSON.
EXAMPLE:
In story form: Here is a short story (written by a former student of mine) that was inspired by this essay assignment. This piece took first prize in The Gerald Green Goforth McDaniel Memorial Short Story Contest in Spring 2009. [Many of my students have placed in the essay, short story, and poetry contests sponsored by NCTC; if you'd like to enter something, the contest takes place each spring!]
** Notice how we still see 5 balanced (all about the same length) paragraphs. While we get a gist of the "prompt"-- a moment in your life that changed your life-- it isn't stated directly. You can go many ways with this particular prompt-- just make it interesting!
The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives
Amy Hurley
One warm morning about two years ago in June, the two of us woke up fearfully questioning ourselves, "Will he be coming home today for lunch? Do we have enough time?" We just knew that we would have to be gone by lunch, which at the time seemed like an unrealistic task to accomplish. It was just the two of us, my mom and me, mindlessly wrapping up our finest china and all things dear to us with scraps of newspaper and then tightly packing the little treasures into boxes. It took five short hours to load and unload twenty long years of our lives into a hefty orange and white U-Haul truck.
Later on that day after we had unpacked, my mom and I anxiously awaited a phone cal from him. We knew that when the clock hit four-thirty, her cell phone would ring showing his name, and that it did. For those few seconds while her phone was ringing, we could hear each other's hearts pounding with terror. We thought he would find us, and in anger, harm us; that is the reason we left the way we did. We also knew that he would try to stop us, and that was something we were not going to let happen; we were too determined to find happiness.
This was the day that we left my dad, the day we took nearly everything from our so-called "home" while he was at work, the day I wish to believe that my dad realized our importance in his life. I would like to believe that on that day he began to see all of the hurt and pain that he made us suffer. Maybe he remembered all of those nasty comments he used to squawk to us, and every one of those dirty dishes we had to clean for him just because he felt entitled to it. My dad has a belief that since he is a man, he is superiour to women, and since we are women, that meant we had to obey him. All of my life, and all of the life that my mom "shared" with him, we were his slaves and nothing more than that. In his mind we were objects, not there to love and to cherish, but rather to use and to abuse.
My mind had made an assumption that the day we left, I would feel no pain, no regrets, no guilt-- only joy. What happened was the exact opposite; I felt pain, regret, and guilt-- but no joy. The feelings of pain and guilt lasted for months, and during those months, my mom and I felt it woudl never go away. We despised the illusion of happy families when we would go out, so we usually locked ourselves inside our tiny apartment. Happiness made its way into our lives eventually, once we stopped letting him control us, and once we realized that we were not alone. We found many other women who had suffered similar situations and took comfort in their stories.
The two of us have been sharing an apartment ever since, and we now have a place to call home. We do not dread coming to our home each night but instead rejoice in seeing each other's faces. We are no longer slaves to any man, but rather we are independent women with ambitions, standards, and goals. We have become stronger than we ever thought we could be because we no longer have someone telling us we cannot make it; we show each other love and compassiona nd give each other inspiration. We share the greatest gift in the world between us, which is love. The warm June morning that we actually got teh courage to leave my dad marked the first day of the rest of our lives; from now on, we are free to be the beautiful women that we are.
Chapter 6 of your textbook addresses "Narration". Read the chapter.
Notes: Plan your narrative-- include enough detail.
* Vary your sentence structure so that not all of your sentences sound alike.
* Maintain a clear, narrative order. This may mean sticking to a strict, chronological order or beginning in the present and using flashbacks. Whichever you choose, make the narrative order clear & flowing.
* Use accurate verb tense. Some shifts may be necessary (from present tense to an actual past event), but avoid all unwarranted shifts, as they may confuse the reader.
* Structure your essay: You will follow a 5 paragraph format with an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph must contain a minimum of 5 sentences.
* Revise your essay. Use the revision checklist on pg. 87 of "Patterns" & the editing checklist on pg. 89.
* Use the peer editing worksheet on pg. 93 for in-class revisions.
TUTORIAL-- NARRATION: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwqEkgOI-3k
Read the following essays in your book for reference: "Finishing School" (101) & "Playing by the Rules" (115).
Here's your graded assignment:
First, read the following poem, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost (1915)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This famous poem is about a "traveller" who comes upon a fork in the road; he has two paths to choose from. After choosing one, he contemplates what would be had he chosen the other path.
We are all travellers on the road of life. I want you to think of a time in your life when you had to choose between two paths and write an essay about that decision. Many students will choose a BIG decision -- like starting college, becoming a parent, etc. However, do not overlook the LITTLE decisions as well; little decisions can have as much impact on our lives as the big ones do.
You will NARRATE the story of your decision. In formal writing, the first person should be avoided; however, since this is a NARRATIVE essay, writing in first person is okay (if you choose to). Your essay should be thoughtful, descriptive, and gramatically correct.
The requirements of the essay are as follows:
MLA formatted (upper left header, centered title, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, times new roman font in 12 point, 5 space indentions between paragraphs...), 5 paragraphs (at least 5 sentences in each), balanced paragraphs, approximately 2 pages in length.
M 27 September: Narration Notes / Brainstorming
W 29 September: Narration Draft (Storyboard/Outline) F 01 October: Narration Revisions (complete draft due)
M 04 October: Narration Final Typed Copy Due; ComparisonNotes
For W 9/29: Your storyboard should contain at least 5 pictures (drawn or cut out) with multi-sentence captions explaining how the image relates to the story you are telling. Here's an example (although it isn't great): http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/DigitalStorytelling/Shark%20Sample%20Storyboard.htm
http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/pdf/storyboard.pdf
You should also have an outline that includes at the very least, the thesis/topic that belongs in each paragraph.
There are SEVERAL different ways to go about this essay. I will accept both a more formalized, structured essay format or a story format (please still structure this -- 5 paragraphs, approximately 5 sentences per paragraph, etc.).
Example "Rough Outline":
Title: The Phone Call
Introduction: I would discuss the prompt-- the question/poem-- then transition to my specific topic. THESIS- At age 17 I was faced with a choice that most people can relate to; I had to follow either my heart or my head in pursuit of either stability or excitement.
Body 1: The Beginning. TOPIC- The boredom and anxiety of being a teenager in a small southern town led me to consume my thoughts with boys and dating as early as junior high.
Support: The first boys that I "dated" were local; they provided a new and more interesting way to pass the time either on the school playground, at youth dances, and at other parties and festivals common in the south.
Transition: One night at a festival, the proverbial lightening struck; that is the night I met "him".
In this essay, this might be the BACKGROUND.
Body 2: He was Jay, an out of towner (he lived the next town over, but that is far when you are 13 and lacking transportation), and from that first glance, I was convinced that we were soulmates.
Support: I'd describe the night & the meeting.
Transition: The day he told me on the phone that he was moving, I was devastated.
In this essay, this might be the BRIDGE.
Body 3: The relationship continued, never seriously, but serious to me, for years; everytime he'd come to town, all of the feelings would come rushing back. However, while he was gone, a new friendship was building; his name was Joe.
Support: Tell the story of meeting/dating Joe & his proposal when I was 17.
Transition: I had come to love Joe; he was my best friend-- but marriage? Marriage meant exclusivity forever, and that meant breaking up with Jay forever.
In this essay, this might be the MOMENT.
Conclusion: Topic: It was the hardest phone call i've ever made in my life, and for many years, I replayed that call in my head like a bad nightmare. I did make the call, though, and I married Joe when I was only 19. What if I had chosen Jay over Joe? How different would my life be? Sometimes I imagined living in California, sun-bathing on the beach, partying every night with friends (Jay was always popular), but at the same time, I was living life with my best friend, raising my beautiful children in comfortable suburbia. Many years later, I got an email from Jay; not only was he fat and bald, and working at an underwear factory in the northwest, but also, the feelings were gone. I know if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, that phone call that was the hardest I ever had to make would assuredly be the easiest. I love Joe wholly, exclusively, and forever, and I learned that friendship is a stronger foundation than flames.
In this essay, this might be the DECISION AND LESSON.
EXAMPLE:
In story form: Here is a short story (written by a former student of mine) that was inspired by this essay assignment. This piece took first prize in The Gerald Green Goforth McDaniel Memorial Short Story Contest in Spring 2009. [Many of my students have placed in the essay, short story, and poetry contests sponsored by NCTC; if you'd like to enter something, the contest takes place each spring!]
** Notice how we still see 5 balanced (all about the same length) paragraphs. While we get a gist of the "prompt"-- a moment in your life that changed your life-- it isn't stated directly. You can go many ways with this particular prompt-- just make it interesting!
The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives
Amy Hurley
One warm morning about two years ago in June, the two of us woke up fearfully questioning ourselves, "Will he be coming home today for lunch? Do we have enough time?" We just knew that we would have to be gone by lunch, which at the time seemed like an unrealistic task to accomplish. It was just the two of us, my mom and me, mindlessly wrapping up our finest china and all things dear to us with scraps of newspaper and then tightly packing the little treasures into boxes. It took five short hours to load and unload twenty long years of our lives into a hefty orange and white U-Haul truck.
Later on that day after we had unpacked, my mom and I anxiously awaited a phone cal from him. We knew that when the clock hit four-thirty, her cell phone would ring showing his name, and that it did. For those few seconds while her phone was ringing, we could hear each other's hearts pounding with terror. We thought he would find us, and in anger, harm us; that is the reason we left the way we did. We also knew that he would try to stop us, and that was something we were not going to let happen; we were too determined to find happiness.
This was the day that we left my dad, the day we took nearly everything from our so-called "home" while he was at work, the day I wish to believe that my dad realized our importance in his life. I would like to believe that on that day he began to see all of the hurt and pain that he made us suffer. Maybe he remembered all of those nasty comments he used to squawk to us, and every one of those dirty dishes we had to clean for him just because he felt entitled to it. My dad has a belief that since he is a man, he is superiour to women, and since we are women, that meant we had to obey him. All of my life, and all of the life that my mom "shared" with him, we were his slaves and nothing more than that. In his mind we were objects, not there to love and to cherish, but rather to use and to abuse.
My mind had made an assumption that the day we left, I would feel no pain, no regrets, no guilt-- only joy. What happened was the exact opposite; I felt pain, regret, and guilt-- but no joy. The feelings of pain and guilt lasted for months, and during those months, my mom and I felt it woudl never go away. We despised the illusion of happy families when we would go out, so we usually locked ourselves inside our tiny apartment. Happiness made its way into our lives eventually, once we stopped letting him control us, and once we realized that we were not alone. We found many other women who had suffered similar situations and took comfort in their stories.
The two of us have been sharing an apartment ever since, and we now have a place to call home. We do not dread coming to our home each night but instead rejoice in seeing each other's faces. We are no longer slaves to any man, but rather we are independent women with ambitions, standards, and goals. We have become stronger than we ever thought we could be because we no longer have someone telling us we cannot make it; we show each other love and compassiona nd give each other inspiration. We share the greatest gift in the world between us, which is love. The warm June morning that we actually got teh courage to leave my dad marked the first day of the rest of our lives; from now on, we are free to be the beautiful women that we are.
Concept Tutorial: Varying Sentence Structure
Varying Sentence Structure:
Types of sentences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hby4NBOwf7E&feature=related [Texas A&M]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsq2n4VOdzI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMZtsSl4H3U&feature=channel
Independent Clause: part of a unit (sentence) that CAN stand on its own. Dependent clause: part of a sentence that canNOT stand on its own; it is imbedded in the sentence and used as an adv., adj., or noun.
Example: Unpon entering the class, the student quickly sat at the first available desk.
Dep. Indep.
Fragment: Incomplete sentence; it is missing either a complete subject or predicate.
Example: A great show with a great cast.
Run-On/Fused Sentence: Two independent clauses run together without any punctuation.
Example: The movie was great however it was too long.
In order to understand what I mean by "vary your sentence structure", you first need to understand the different types of sentences. This can be found in Ch. 24 of "Little Brown" (your handbook), pg. 211. There are 4 types of sentences, and sentences consist of clauses.
First, there are 2 types of clauses: MAIN- makes a complete statement and can stand alone in a sentence: The sky darkened.
SUBORDINATE is just like a main clause except that it begins with a subordinating word: When the sky darkened, [this signals that more information will follow]. This reduces a complete statement to a single part of speech (an adjective, verb, or noun). We use them to support the ideas in the main clauses.
4 TYPES of Sentences:
1. SIMPLE- consists of a single main clause and no subordinate clause. Examples:
A. My dad was mean. B. My mom and I left. C. We had no place to go.
2. COMPOUND- consists of two or more main clauses and no subordinate clause.
A. My dad was mean, so my mom and I left. B. It was hard, and we had no place to go.
3. COMPLEX- consists of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. & 4. COMPOUND-COMPLEX: has the characteristics of both the compond sentence (two or more main clauses) and the complex sentence (at least one subordinate clause).
A. When I was little, my father was abusive to my mother, and as I grew older, I experienced abuse as well.
B. Although leaving was difficult because we had no place to go, it didn't take long for us to realize that it was the right decision.
What is important to note is that compound-complex and complex sentences pack a harder punch than complex sentences alone; simple sentences should be used sparsely in writing --usually for effect. Notice how sample sentences 3a and 3b are far more detailed and engaging than the other examples.
I also want to point out that just because a sentence is LONG does not mean it is COMPLEX! Many longer sentences in student writing end up being run-ons or contain such vast grammatical/mechanical errors that the essence of the point being communicated is lost amongst a "sea of words". Do not make that mistake.
Types of sentences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hby4NBOwf7E&feature=related [Texas A&M]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsq2n4VOdzI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMZtsSl4H3U&feature=channel
Independent Clause: part of a unit (sentence) that CAN stand on its own. Dependent clause: part of a sentence that canNOT stand on its own; it is imbedded in the sentence and used as an adv., adj., or noun.
Example: Unpon entering the class, the student quickly sat at the first available desk.
Dep. Indep.
Fragment: Incomplete sentence; it is missing either a complete subject or predicate.
Example: A great show with a great cast.
Run-On/Fused Sentence: Two independent clauses run together without any punctuation.
Example: The movie was great however it was too long.
In order to understand what I mean by "vary your sentence structure", you first need to understand the different types of sentences. This can be found in Ch. 24 of "Little Brown" (your handbook), pg. 211. There are 4 types of sentences, and sentences consist of clauses.
First, there are 2 types of clauses: MAIN- makes a complete statement and can stand alone in a sentence: The sky darkened.
SUBORDINATE is just like a main clause except that it begins with a subordinating word: When the sky darkened, [this signals that more information will follow]. This reduces a complete statement to a single part of speech (an adjective, verb, or noun). We use them to support the ideas in the main clauses.
4 TYPES of Sentences:
1. SIMPLE- consists of a single main clause and no subordinate clause. Examples:
A. My dad was mean. B. My mom and I left. C. We had no place to go.
2. COMPOUND- consists of two or more main clauses and no subordinate clause.
A. My dad was mean, so my mom and I left. B. It was hard, and we had no place to go.
3. COMPLEX- consists of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. & 4. COMPOUND-COMPLEX: has the characteristics of both the compond sentence (two or more main clauses) and the complex sentence (at least one subordinate clause).
A. When I was little, my father was abusive to my mother, and as I grew older, I experienced abuse as well.
B. Although leaving was difficult because we had no place to go, it didn't take long for us to realize that it was the right decision.
What is important to note is that compound-complex and complex sentences pack a harder punch than complex sentences alone; simple sentences should be used sparsely in writing --usually for effect. Notice how sample sentences 3a and 3b are far more detailed and engaging than the other examples.
I also want to point out that just because a sentence is LONG does not mean it is COMPLEX! Many longer sentences in student writing end up being run-ons or contain such vast grammatical/mechanical errors that the essence of the point being communicated is lost amongst a "sea of words". Do not make that mistake.
Transitions:
Page 43 in your "Patterns" book gives helpful transition words. For narration, sequence words can be effective:
Again, Also, And, Besides, Finally, First, Second, Third, Furthermore, In Addition, Last, Moreover, Next, One, Still, Too...
Time words can also be effective: Afterward, As Soon As, At First, At the same time, Before, Earlier, Eventually, Finally, Immediately, Later, Meanwhile, Next, Now, Simultaneiously, Since, Soon, Subsequently, Then, Until...
Pg 44 gives a checklist for "effective support"; please refer to that, especially for future essays. Also take a look at Arrangement on pg. 45 (the boxes on the bottom); those can be helpful.
Page 43 in your "Patterns" book gives helpful transition words. For narration, sequence words can be effective:
Again, Also, And, Besides, Finally, First, Second, Third, Furthermore, In Addition, Last, Moreover, Next, One, Still, Too...
Time words can also be effective: Afterward, As Soon As, At First, At the same time, Before, Earlier, Eventually, Finally, Immediately, Later, Meanwhile, Next, Now, Simultaneiously, Since, Soon, Subsequently, Then, Until...
Pg 44 gives a checklist for "effective support"; please refer to that, especially for future essays. Also take a look at Arrangement on pg. 45 (the boxes on the bottom); those can be helpful.
