Name:  _________________________________________     Period:_______________    

Narrative  Essay  (50  points)  

 A  narrative  essay  is  a  story  written  about  a  real-­‐life  experience.  Some  narrative  essays  are  written  about  personal  experiences,  and  some  are  written  about  the  experiences  of  others.  What  matters  most  though  is  that  you  are  telling  a  cohesive  story  that  leaves  an  impact  on  the  reader.    Prompt:  Write  about  an  event  that  happened  in  your  life  where  you  learned  a  lesson  or  had  a  meaningful  experience.  Besides  me,  other  students  will  be  reading  your  paper  and  critiquing  it,  so  please  write  about  a  topic  that  is  comfortable  to  share.    I  will  be  grading  for  the  following:  

• A  sequential  story  with  a  beginning,  middle  and  end.  The  story  must  be  based  on  a  true  event.  It  cannot  be  fiction.  

• A  unifying  theme/lesson  • A  conflict  • A  consistent  voice  (point  of  view  and  verb  tense)    • Appropriate  transitions  between  sections  of  the  story  • Dialogue  with  appropriate  punctuation.  Dialogue  can  help  to  bring  a  story  to  life!  • Adjectives,  adverbs  and  verbs  that  show  the  reader  what  happened,  instead  of  simply  

telling  what  happened.  • Imagery/figurative  language/literary  elements  that  are  used  paint  a  picture  with  words.    

 Length  may  vary,  although  you  should  aim  for  approximately  750  words.  Your  essay  should  be  doubled  spaced  and  typed  in  12-­‐point  publishing  font.