Reading Personal Narratives

Before you share a story about a time when you learned a valuable lesson, you'll want to see how other students explored their topics. Read the sample paragraph and narrative essay in this lesson and answer the questions about them. Think about how the writer puts ideas together and how you might do so in your own narrative.

Reading a Narrative Paragraph

A narrative paragraph briefly shares a story about something that happened in the writer's life. It includes three parts: The topic sentence introduces the story. The body sentences describe what happened in time order. The ending sentence tells why the experience was important, possibly by stating a lesson learned.

Sample Narrative Paragraph

Warm-Up for Personal Narratives

When we tell stories about things that happen to us, we share what makes us unique. You can connect with others by writing a personal narrative.

What Is a Personal Narrative?

Assessing with an Explanatory Rubric

Test graders will use a rubric to judge the quality of your writing for assessment. By using the following rubric to judge your own writing, you can become aware of what testers are looking for and can improve your scores in the future.

Viewing for Assessment

Some tests ask you to watch a video and respond to it in a paragraph or essay. Often, you'll need to refer to details from the video and any readings you have done. The following activities will help you practice viewing for assessment.

Writing an Essay for Assessment

Some tests ask you to write an essay response to articles you have closely read. The following activity will help you practice.

1. Read the writing prompt.

Imagine that your teacher has assigned you to write an explanatory essay about the lives of monarch butterflies. You will be using the sources in this unit. Focus your thinking about monarch butterflies and create an essay. Include details from the sources to support your ideas.

2. Answer the PAST questions.

Purpose?

Audience?

Subject?

Type?

Writing a Paragraph for Assessment

Some tests ask you to write a paragraph in response to sources you have read or viewed. The following activity will help you practice responding.

1. Read the writing prompt.

You have just read three articles and watched a video about monarch butterflies. Write a paragraph that explains how the additional sources expand your understanding from Source 1. Include at least two examples, naming the title and author of each source that you use.

2. Answer the PAST questions.

Purpose?

Audience?

Subject?

Type?

Practicing for Assessment

Reading and writing tests measure important learning skills. You can do your best on such tests by reading and writing every day. You can also get a better score if you practice for assessment.

How Can I Practice for Assessment?

© Thoughtful Learning 2016

The best way to practice for a reading and writing assessment is to take a practice test. This unit asks you to closely read information and write about it, just as you will do on actual assessments.

You’ll find interesting articles to read and respond to. You’ll also get to watch a video. In the end, you’ll need to take the information you discover and use it to write an informational essay of your own.

If you would like more help with close reading and informational writing, see the unit “Reading and Writing for Assessment.”

Reading a Practice Assessment

Some tests ask you to closely read and respond to explanatory articles and then use them to write an essay. One technique for reading closely is SQ3R:

• Survey the headings, illustrations, beginning, and ending of the text.
• Question what the text is about and what you expect to learn from it.
• Read the text carefully.
• Recite the main points covered in the text.
• Review the material, thinking about how it relates to other things you have learned.

Source 1

Writing On-Demand Essays

A writing assessment gives you a short time to write a response to a prompt.

To do so, you should use a shortened form of the writing process:

Prewriting (5 Minutes)

Answer the PAST questions.

Purpose? Explain how it’s made

Audience? New person

Subject? A favorite food

Type? Essay

Write a focus statement.

Most Americans like tacos, but they haven’t had Mexican tacos.

List supporting details.

—Using cilantro, goat cheese, homemade white corn tortilla

—Making tortillas

—Cooking meat, cutting cilantro

—Putting taco together

Analyzing Writing Prompts

Often tests contain writing prompts that you must respond to. Your first step is to understand the writing prompt. You can use the PAST questions:

• Purpose? Why am I writing? (To explain? To demonstrate?)
• Audience? Who will read my writing? (Tester? Classmates?)
• Subject? What subject should I write about? (Games? Pizza?)
• Type? What type of writing should I create? (Essay? Letter?)

Sample Writing Prompt

Answers to PAST Questions

• Purpose?

  To explain the meaning of the sayings and give examples

• Audience?

  A person who is learning English

• Subject?

  Animal sayings

• Type?

  Essay

Understanding Vocabulary

When you read an unfamiliar word, you need to figure out its meaning based on how it is used. You can use the following context clues to guess a meaning.