EES86 NX Performance Task #3: Narrative Writing
Your Task: Create a narrative, or story, that develops an idea you have on the following theme: The Modern World. Your narrative can be a personal memoir OR a fictional short story. Whether drawn from your life or a work of imagination, your story should develop your chosen theme through a richly drawn setting, complex characters, and a strong point of view. The action of your narrative should be fueled by a conflict that contributes to the rising action, a climax, and a resolution. You may present your narrative as 1) a written composition three to five pages (900-1200 words) in length OR 2) a presentation using a digital medium of your choice (e.g., video recording, slideshow with multimedia, podcast, or another option you discuss with your teacher in advance that is five to ten minutes in length).
Guidelines: Be sure to:
Pre-writing before you draft your story: brainstorm ideas, outline your story using Freytags pyramid, quickwrite to explore your characters voices.
Develop your theme through your storys conflict, characters, and structure (i.e., rising action, climax and resolution).
Employ a strong narrative voice and a carefully chosen point of view.
If your final form is written, use spelling, grammar and syntax choices to further your creative goals. When incorporating dialogue, format and punctuate correctly.
If you choose a medium other than writing for your final form, make thoughtful decisions about how to best use the qualities of that medium to showcase your ideas about this theme and the story you have to tell.
Include a brief authors note (a paragraph in length) in which you lay out the theme you are trying to communicate and explain some of the key decisions you made as a writer in crafting a narrative that develops that theme.
Resources:
There is an explanation and graphic organizer for Freytags Pyramid here.
Pre-writing prompts (page 89)
Consider other pieces in Collection 6 from the 11th grade e-textbook of HMH Collections as examples.
Standards:
11-12W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
11-12W3a: Engage the reader by presenting a problem, conflict, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters.
11-12W3b: Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and plot lines to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
11-12W3c: Use a variety of techniques to sequence events to create cohesion, a smooth progression of experiences or events, and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).
11-12W3d: Use precise words and phrases, explicit details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
11-12W3e: Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.
11-12W4: Create a poem, story, play, artwork, or other response to a text, author, theme or personal experience; demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a variety of techniques and genres. Explain connections between the original and the created work.
