Endings for Your Personal Narratives

1
Endings for Your Personal Narratives

• Miss Mallory
• English III

2
Different Types of Endings from Barry Lanes
Revisers Toolbox

• The Loop EndingA loop ending ends at the same
  place it begins and is probably the most popular
  way to end a story
• Does your story want to end the same place it
  began?
• This is something that works in conjunction with
  an Action Lead.

3
Happy and Sad but True Endings

• The Happy EndingLike a fairy tale this leaves
  the reader with no feeling of sadness.
• The Sad Ending--Sometimes our narratives end
  sadly but that is, perhaps, the reality of our
  situation.

4
Surprise Endings

• Surprise EndingClues lead to the ending of this
  mystery story. Is your story one that wants to
  throw the reader a curve ball in the
  last inning?

5
Summary Ending

• Summary EndingThis is where you point out all of
  the highlights from your story in order to tie
  together the loose ends. Works well when you are
  trying to hammer home a point.

6
NO MATTER WHAT

• your ending must include reflection-- where you
  explain to your audience
• of 8th graders how this experience changed you.
  
• Remember this is a real audience

7
Think about the message or purpose of your story.

• Which ending works best for your story?
• Is the action intriguing? Action Lead and Loop
  ending
• Is the lesson you learned a sad one? Sad ending
• Is the lesson you learned a happy one? Happy
  ending
• Did something really surprising happen at the end
  of your story? Surprise ending
• Do you want to reinforce the main points of your
  story in order to make sure your audience gets
  it? Summary ending

8
Personal Narrative Prompt

• You are writing a personal narrative for the
  incoming freshmen of Campbell County High School.
  They are your audience. Your purpose for
  writing this is to allow the incoming freshmen to
  learn from one single experience you have had in
  your life. This will be done by creating an
  interesting lead, grabbing their attention and
  allowing their 8th grade minds to want to hear
  more. Then you will show them your experience
  using sensory details and interior monologue to
  guide them through the event (But be careful to
  include only those details important to your
  message). You will lead them gracefully into a
  reflective conclusion. The reflective conclusion
  is your messagethe advice you give them in the
  hopes that they will learn from your experience.

9
Reflective element---20 points total

• On a separate sheet of paper you must type your
  name, my name, the title of your paper and the
  date in the upper left-hand corner and then
  answer these questions as completely as possible
  in a paragraph
• What do you like best about your narrative?
• What do you like least about the narrative you
  wrote?
• What could you do to improve this narrative?

10
Personal Narrative Checklist

• Content 20 points total
• Have I maintained my purpose throughout my
  narrative?
• Have I met the needs of my audience by
  considering what they want to know and what I can
  do to help them learn from my experience?
• Have I used my own voice by describing what I was
  thinking (interior monologue) and using my mood
  to create the appropriate tone?
• Have I applied the characteristics of the
  personal narrative genre?
• Is this an event that happened to me?
• Did I focus on one single event?

11
Personal Narrative Checklist (cont.)

• Structure 20 points total
• Is my narrative in chronological order?
• Did I create a strong, interesting lead, thereby
  grabbing the attention of my audience?
• Did I create a strong, reflective conclusion
  discussing the lesson I have learned?
• Did I use different kinds of transitions as
  discussed in class?
• Did I use simple and complex sentences?

12
Personal Narrative Checklist (cont.)

• Conventions 15 points total
• Did I use the most accurate and precise words for
  my purpose and audience by eliminating any Dead
  Words?
• Did I re-read out loud and have someone else read
  my narrative for spelling, capitalization and
  punctuation errors?
• Have I eliminated passive voice by making sure my
  subject is performing the action and eliminating
  the verb to be where appropriate

13
Participation Grade

• Worth 25 points
• Participation Grade Note-taking and use of Life
  Map, Think Sheet, Edit Sheet, Planning sheet.
  I will look at these things throughout the week.
• Your TOTAL GRADE will be worth 100 points! Keep
  working hard!!

14
Resources

• Lane, Barry. Revisers Toolbox.
• Shoreham, VT Discover Writing Press, 1999.