Neighborhood Narrative Due Dates
Neighborhood Map/Illustration:
Tuesday, 10/13
Topic Chosen, Including
Tuesday, 10/20
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fiction or nonfiction?
1st-person or 3rd person?
Setting
Conflict
5. Climax and Resolution
Rough Draft & Peer Conference
Friday, 10/23
Revised Draft
Wednesday, 10/28
Neighborhood Narrative
Over the next few weeks we have and will continue to read, write,
and talk about different narratives: fiction and nonfiction stories by
Gary Soto; one story, “At her Father’s and her Mother’s Place,” by
Natalya Baranskaya; one chapter—“The Chase”—from the book An
American Childhood by Annie Dillard, and sections from the book
Behind the Mountains, by Edwidge Danticat. We have been
discussing the important role that places play in our lives and that
setting plays in our narratives. We have practiced writing short
narratives as part of learning about setting, sensory language, and
different points of view.
Assignment: As a final project for this unit, you will write a
narrative of at least two pages in which you depict an event and
convey a clear sense of place where the event happened. You can
choose to write an autobiographical or fictional narrative. Fiction
writers often use historical events or their own experience as
inspiration for their plots, characters, and settings. Like all good
writers, fiction writers start from what they know, but may change
the stories from their own lives in such a way that they are no
longer true depictions of what actually happened.
To help you get started, you will be creating a neighborhood map
and getting to think about stories you could tell based on your map.
Be thinking about the point of view you want the narrator of your
story to have.
 Will it be a first person narrator?
 Or once you’ve started your basic story, do you want to try a
different approach by rewriting it in the third person?
 If you write in the third person, will your narrator know the
thoughts and feelings of any of the characters? Just the main
character? All the characters (omniscient narrator)?
As you prepare to write, it is a good idea to go back through your
Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook to look at the work you did on setting
and sensory language, point of view, and other notes on the
narratives we read for ideas to help you plan your narrative. Once
you have your first draft finished, we will work on revising your
paper and using the rubric on the back of this page to self-assess
your narrative before you turn in your final paper.
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RUBRIC and CHECKLIST for NEIGHBORHOOD NARRATIVE
CHECKLIST
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Length: two pages, 5 or more paragraphs, 500 or more words
Final Draft submitted on googledocs (or handwritten in ink)
Neighborhood Map or Illustration submitted
Rough Draft attached
Peer Review attached
This Checklist, self-graded, attached
PROCESS GRADE __________________________
RUBRIC for EVALUATION
1-2 = Weak
3-4 = Developing
5-6 = Good
Organizing: Objective B
7-8 = Outstanding
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
Producing Text: Objective C
1. Tells a story that is meaningful to the writer and
includes thoughts and feelings about the experience.
2. Contains an effective plot, with rising action, climax,
and resolution.
3. Includes a well-developed conflict that gets resolved.
4. Gives a strong sense of place (setting) through the use
of sensory details.
5. Closes with a meaningful response to the experience.
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
Using Language: Objective D
1. Uses interesting and specific words
2. Uses sensory language (5 senses)
3. Varies the sentences, short and long, and includes
well-written compound and complex sentences.
4. Avoids beginning many sentences the same way
5. Avoids the overuse of “and,” “and then,” or “so then”
6. Indents at least a half inch to begin paragraphs
7. Capitals at the beginnings of names and places
8. Sentences begin with capitals & end with periods
9. Commas are used correctly.
10. Avoids misspelled words
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
1.
2.
3.
4.
Opens with a clear “lead” that draws the reader in.
Puts events in logical order
Contains at least five logically organized paragraphs
Closes with a meaningful response to the experience
FINAL DRAFT GRADE __________________________
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Directions for Neighborhood Map or Setting Illustration
Step One: As a way of mining for ideas for you Neighborhood
Narrative, draw a map of your neighborhood or a neighborhood
where you have spent time. Include on the map landmarks and
spots that remind you of interesting things that have happened to
you. Use markers or colored pencils to make your map colorful.
What if I never spend time outside of my home?
Then draw a map of the inside of your home.
What if I’ve moved around and haven’t lived in just one place?
Then draw a map of the place where you think a good story is most
likely to come from.
What if I’ve already decided what my story will be about?
Then make an illustration of the setting of your story, using as
much sensory detail as possible.
Step Two: Share your map or illustration with another student,
describing for them some of the spots that are interesting or that
remind you of good stories to tell.
Step Three: On a page in your notebook, begin to make notes for a
rough draft of a story set in your neighborhood. Decide:
1. Fiction or nonfiction? The story should be realistic, something that
really could happen, that talks about things you are familiar with, but
it doesn’t have to be true. You decide.
2. Setting: Where exactly will your story take place?
3. 1st-person or 3rd person? You can tell the story using the word “I”
for the main character, like Annie Dillard and Edwidge Danticat did.
Or you can tell the story in 3rd person even if it’s about you, like
Natalya Baranskaya did.
4. Conflict: What will be the conflict in your story—the driving force for
the action?
5. Climax and Resolution: What will be the highpoint of the action?
How will the conflict be resolved?
6. Conclusion: You should end with a few sentences about why you
chose to tell this story, why it is meaningful to you.
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GOOD TOPICS for your Neighborhood Narrative:
Something with conflict, with rising action, a
climax, and a resolution
A memorable experience from your early life
A lesson you learned the hard way
An embarrassing moment that taught you something
A big misunderstanding
A memorable moment at school
An accident or injury
An unexpected encounter
A story about someone close to you
A conflict or contest
A destructive storm
The first time I . . .
An incident that shows what your family is like
An incident that shows what your pet is like
An incident that shows what your friends are like
An incident that changed how you think about something
A time spent with a parent or grandparent that meant a lot
BAD TOPICS: Ones that DON’T usually work well:
A blow-by-blow description of a day that has no
story to it, no meaningful conflict
A day at the mall (or Valley Fair, or the State Fair)
My trip to Disneyland (or Hawaii, or Paris)
My birthday party
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PEER CONFERENCE, Neighborhood Narrative
Narrative Writer’s Name_____________________ Reviewer’s Name______________________
What really worked well in this neighborhood narrative?
What is something that the writer could do to make the narrative read more
smoothly?
What kind of lead (opening hook) does the narrative use? (Check one)
□ action
□ dialogue
□ reaction (thoughts or feelings)
□ other (explain)__________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Is there something the writer could do to improve the lead?
What is the conflict in the story and how is it resolved?
What is the setting of this narrative?
Identify a place where sensory language is used (see, hear, smell, taste, feel).
Identify a detail in the story that makes the story seem real.
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Does the narrative stop abruptly, or does it end smoothly and in a way that
helps you understand why the writer chose to write the piece?
Does the story have a good title, or is it just a “label.”
Editing Ideas:
Does each sentence start with a capital letter and end with a period?
Are there any sentence fragments? (incomplete sentences)
Are there run-on sentences? (two sentences that have been run together)
Are there at least five logically organized paragraphs?
Is each paragraph indented at least a half inch?
If there is dialogue, has the writer started a new paragraph each time the
speaker changes?
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