Narrative Basics curriculum

This lesson pack contains four introductory lessons and three detailed-practice lessons. The overview lessons examines foundational elements of narrative writing using examples from multiple sources, while the detailed-practice lessons each take a longer snippet from a single source and model it in more detail. While these lessons were designed with middle years students in mind, they will be challenging and useful for older students. The entire set takes 10-20 hours to complete, however, every lesson can be completed in small chunks.

Australia

Australian National Curriculum F-10

Understand how authors often innovate on text structures and play with language features to achieve particular aesthetic, humorous and persuasive purposes and effects

Understand how ideas can be expanded and sharpened through careful choice of verbs, elaborated tenses and a range of adverb groups/phrases

Investigate how vocabulary choices, including evaluative language can express shades of meaning, feeling and opinion

Recognise that vocabulary choices contribute to the specificity, abstraction and style of texts

Investigate how evaluation can be expressed directly and indirectly using devices, for example allusion, evocative vocabulary and metaphor

Understand that authors innovate with text structures and language for specific purposes and effects

Explain how authors creatively use the structures of sentences and clauses for particular effects

ACELA1569

Year 10

Analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of a wide range of sentence and clause structures as authors design and craft texts

ACELA1570

Year 10

Analyse how higher order concepts are developed in complex texts through language features including nominalisation, clause combinations, technicality and abstraction

Identify and explain characteristic text structures and language features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience

Re-read and edit student’s own and others’ work using agreed criteria for text structures and language features

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience

Re-read and edit students’ own and others’ work using agreed criteria and explaining editing choices

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subject matter and particular language, visual, and audio features to convey information and ideas

Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that raise issues, report events and advance opinions, using deliberate language and textual choices, and including digital elements as appropriate

Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual choices that authors make to present information, opinions and perspectives in different texts

Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features

Review and edit students’ own and others’ texts to improve clarity and control over content, organisation, paragraphing, sentence structure, vocabulary and audio/visual features

ACELY1750

Year 10

Identify and explore the purposes and effects of different text structures and language features of spoken texts, and use this knowledge to create purposeful texts that inform, persuade and engage

ACELY1757

Year 10

Review, edit and refine students’ own and others’ texts for control of content, organisation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and/or visual features to achieve particular purposes and effects

Analyse strategies authors use to influence readers

Experiment with text structures and language features to refine and clarify ideas to improve the effectiveness of students’ own texts

Create literary texts using realistic and fantasy settings and characters that draw on the worlds represented in texts students have experienced

Identify and explain how choices in language, for example modality, emphasis, repetition and metaphor, influence personal response to different texts

Identify, describe, and discuss similarities and differences between texts, including those by the same author or illustrator, and evaluate characteristics that define an author’s individual style

Create literary texts that adapt or combine aspects of texts students have experienced in innovative ways

Compare the ways that language and images are used to create character, and to influence emotions and opinions in different types of texts

Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and settings are combined in narratives, and discuss the purposes and appeal of different approaches

Create literary texts that adapt stylistic features encountered in other texts, for example, narrative viewpoint, structure of stanzas, contrast and juxtaposition

Identify and evaluate devices that create tone, for example humour, wordplay, innuendo and parody in poetry, humorous prose, drama or visual texts

Create literary texts that draw upon text structures and language features of other texts for particular purposes and effects

Experiment with the ways that language features, image and sound can be adapted in literary texts, for example the effects of stereotypical characters and settings, the playfulness of humour and pun and the use of hyperlink

ACELT1641

Year 10

Analyse and explain how text structures, language features and visual features of texts and the context in which texts are experienced may influence audience response

ACELT1642

Year 10

Identify, explain and discuss how narrative viewpoint, structure, characterisation and devices including analogy and satire shape different interpretations and responses to a text

ACELT1643

Year 10

Compare and evaluate how ‘voice’ as a literary device can be used in a range of different types of texts such as poetry to evoke particular emotional responses

Interpret and analyse language choices, including sentence patterns, dialogue, imagery and other language features, in short stories, literary essays and plays

Experiment with particular language features drawn from different types of texts, including combinations of language and visual choices to create new texts

Create literary texts, including hybrid texts, that innovate on aspects of other texts, for example by using parody, allusion and appropriation

Create literary texts that experiment with structures, ideas and stylistic features of selected authors

Experiment with text structures and language features and their effects in creating literary texts, for example, using imagery, sentence variation, metaphor and word choice

Experiment with text structures and language features and their effects in creating literary texts, for example, using rhythm, sound effects, monologue, layout, navigation and colour

ACELT1814

Year 10

Create literary texts that reflect an emerging sense of personal style and evaluate the effectiveness of these texts

ACELT1815

Year 10

Create literary texts with a sustained ‘voice’, selecting and adapting appropriate text structures, literary devices, language, auditory and visual structures and features for a specific purpose and intended audience

Australian National Curriculum Senior Secondary

ACEEA120

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using some written and oral text forms and grammatical structures, including the linear sequencing of events through the use of simple sentences, conjunctions, punctuation and paragraphs

ACEEA121

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using simple first-person recounts and descriptions

ACEEA143

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using simple written and oral text forms, punctuation and grammatical structures including graphic representations of information

ACEEA144

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using descriptions of people, places and events

ACEEA171

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using appropriate form, content and style for a range of common purposes and audiences

ACEEA172

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using first-person and third-person narration

ACEEA177

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using description, imagery and an awareness of characterisation

ACEEA178

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using cohesive devices at paragraph level, including anaphoric and cataphoric reference, referential pronouns and common conjunctions

ACEEA200

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using imaginative and descriptive language and growing control over direct and indirect speech

ACEEA201

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of common cohesive devices at sentence, paragraph and whole-text level such as referencing, lexical chains and conjunctions

ACEEA202

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using simple, compound and some complex sentences

ACEEA007

Year 11 Year 12

Comprehension skills and strategies including describing linguistic and structural features of a range of more complex text types including literary and transactional texts

ACEEA021

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using appropriate structure and content to communicate ideas and opinions for different purposes and audiences

ACEEA023

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using common language features, for example, subject specific vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, adjectives and adverbs used to create modality, some nominalisation, common collocations and idioms

ACEEA024

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using description, characterisation, and direct and indirect speech

ACEEA049

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using different types of texts to present ideas and opinions for different purposes and audiences in a range of digital, multimodal and print-based technologies

ACEEA050

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using subject-specific vocabulary, nominalisation, and nouns and verbs used to create modality, collocations, idioms and figurative language

ACEEA051

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of cohesive and structural devices

ACEEA052

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using persuasive, descriptive and emotive language as appropriate

ACEEA053

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using experimentation with different registers and tones

ACEEA075

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of genres and digital, multimodal and print-based technologies

ACEEA076

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using language that influences the audience or that privileges certain ideas or perspectives over others

ACEEA077

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using different sentence structures and forms suited to purpose, audience and subject

ACEEA078

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using modality (including modality in a hypothetical past, nominalised language and discourse markers)

ACEEA098

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using a range of types of texts and digital, multimodal and print-based technologies

ACEEA099

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using language appropriate to the context, including imaginative, persuasive and rhetorical forms and features

ACEEA100

Year 11 Year 12

Create a range of texts using stylistic and grammatical choices for effect, including complex lexical elements, modality in the past conditional and subject-specific language forms and features

United States

Common Core

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition).

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.

Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

United Kingdom

UK National Curriculum

Studying the effectiveness and impact of the grammatical features of texts. Drawing on new vocabulary and grammatical constructions from reading, and using these consciously in writing and speech to achieve particular effects.

Key Stage 3 (KS3) – Reading

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Knowing the purpose, audience for and context of the writing and drawing on this knowledge to support comprehension. Knowing how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, presents meaning. Recognising a range of poetic conventions and understanding how these have been used. Studying setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these. Making critical comparisons across texts.

Identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing. Drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence. Identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning. Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader.

Key Stage 3 (KS3) – Writing

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences, including well-structured formal expository and narrative essays, stories, scripts, poetry and other imaginative writing, and a range of other narrative and non-narrative texts, including arguments, and personal and formal letters Applying their growing knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and text structure to writing and selecting the appropriate form. Drawing on knowledge of literary and rhetorical devices from reading and listening to enhance the impact of their writing. Plan, draft, edit and proof-read through: considering how their writing reflects the audiences and purposes for which it was intended; amending the vocabulary, grammar and structure of their writing to improve its coherence and overall effectiveness; paying attention to accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own. In writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed. Selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning. In narratives, describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action. Using a wide range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs. Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing. Proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning.