Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
www.rpdp.net
Endings—How to Conclude Your Narrative
Trait: Organization
A conclusion that leaves a final impression on the reader is just as important as an
attention-grabbing lead. Students fall into traps with conclusions just as they do
with leads. When students don’t know how to end a story, they will wind up saying
something like:
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“And then I went home and went to bed.”
“That is the end of my story.”
“I hope you liked my story.”
“I woke up and it was all a dream.”
To help them avoid these traps, teach the following techniques, first by introducing
them, then by reading examples from mentor texts, and finally by having students
practice writing story conclusions. Often an author will use more than one of these
in a conclusion.
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Recount a memory of the main event
Share a lesson the character has learned as a result of his/her experience
Describe an emotion the main character is feeling regarding something that
happened in the story
Tell a decision the main character has made as a result of the experience
Share the character’s hope or wish for the future
As students are just learning these techniques, many find it helpful to use sentence
starters:
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It was then that I realized…
From now on, I know I will never…
The next time…
As I looked ____, I remembered…
I decided that from now on I…
I can still feel…
From that day on, I decided…
I hope that next time…
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Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
www.rpdp.net
By including setting, action, and dialogue in the ending—like in the lead—the
author can add interest and impact to his/her writing.
Writer’s don’t just end stories, we resolve problems, learn lessons, and make
changes to end them effectively.
Whenever you write a personal narrative, you can get a lot of power by using story
structure (structure similar in Peter’s Chair and Shortcut)…
‘Somebody wanted… but then… and so, finally… ‘
How to write resolution to their story. The part represented by the words ‘and so,
finally…’
 Writers don’t just end stories, they resolve problems, change our feelings,
learn from our lessons.
Questions meant to elicit the story’s real meaning:
 What is my story really, really about?
 What was I wanting or struggling to achieve or reaching towards in my
story?
 How does that story end?
 What is it I want to say to my readers about this struggle, this journey?
Your endings need to link back to the top of your story mountain.
Your endings, like your beginnings, need to help convey what it is we most
want to say.
Based on Lucy Calkins/Mary Chiarella, Units of Study and Anne Marie Johnson-http://www.teacher2teacherhelp.com
515 West Cheyenne, Suite C
North Las Vegas, NV 89030
(702) 799-3828
FAX (702) 799-3821