Your home-school teen will write, yes. But what will he or she
write? They have lived their own story; they know themselves. But how
will the reader know and see and touch what they have experienced? Show
your teens to look at their own story with the eyes of the reader.
Always start with a personal narrative. Your child will select some event or activity they participated in or something that happened to them, sometime in the last few years. You want them to pick an event that has interest and action, with a little suspense if possible. Narratives with no "problems" are usually not interesting. Difficulty and solution is what makes any personal narrative enjoyable reading.
I always have my students write their narrative rough draft in one sitting. The more prepared they are beforehand, the better success they have in writing that first Paper. There is a pre-writing process that will make it much easier for your children to write their own story. But first, what event should they pick?
Ideas for a Narrative Topic - think about:
The narrative chosen should cover one event only. Do not try to include more than one event. Some events do happen over time, for instance, a school year. When this event happened should be clear in a general way such as, "A couple of years ago," or "Last summer," and so on. The setting should also be clear - where things happened.
(Sadly), accidents always make great topics for personal narratives. It is easy to write about an accident and craft it into a powerful paper. Getting stranded in a bus depot far away from home, or catching that big fish, or winning the big game all make good topics. Tense and difficult times such as hurricanes or house fires are easy to write about. Humor is difficult to pull off well, but humorous narratives, done well, certainly never fall into the "boring" category.
The best topics, however, are those events or incidences that have the deepest meaning to your child. I still remember well the 14-year-old girl who was asked to sing at her beloved grandmother's funeral. She was certain, all the way up to the moment she stood in front of friends and family, that she could not do it, that she would fail in tears. But something happened, there, on that platform. She sang from her heart, more beautifully than she had ever done. There was not a dry eye in the room.
That paper was written over ten years ago. I, the reader, remember it well, out of hundreds of other narratives I have forgotten since. I remember it because of how much that moment meant to this teenage girl.
The lives of your teens are filled with more stories and meaningful things than they realize. The right topics for their personal narrative papers will set them on the course of writing well.
Always start with a personal narrative. Your child will select some event or activity they participated in or something that happened to them, sometime in the last few years. You want them to pick an event that has interest and action, with a little suspense if possible. Narratives with no "problems" are usually not interesting. Difficulty and solution is what makes any personal narrative enjoyable reading.
I always have my students write their narrative rough draft in one sitting. The more prepared they are beforehand, the better success they have in writing that first Paper. There is a pre-writing process that will make it much easier for your children to write their own story. But first, what event should they pick?
Ideas for a Narrative Topic - think about:
- a time of overcoming adversity
- an event that altered the course of one's life
- a period of uncertainty or great fear
- a thrilling experience
- an accomplishment that brought acceptance, recognition, or a feeling of pride
- an unexpected or dramatic happening
The narrative chosen should cover one event only. Do not try to include more than one event. Some events do happen over time, for instance, a school year. When this event happened should be clear in a general way such as, "A couple of years ago," or "Last summer," and so on. The setting should also be clear - where things happened.
(Sadly), accidents always make great topics for personal narratives. It is easy to write about an accident and craft it into a powerful paper. Getting stranded in a bus depot far away from home, or catching that big fish, or winning the big game all make good topics. Tense and difficult times such as hurricanes or house fires are easy to write about. Humor is difficult to pull off well, but humorous narratives, done well, certainly never fall into the "boring" category.
The best topics, however, are those events or incidences that have the deepest meaning to your child. I still remember well the 14-year-old girl who was asked to sing at her beloved grandmother's funeral. She was certain, all the way up to the moment she stood in front of friends and family, that she could not do it, that she would fail in tears. But something happened, there, on that platform. She sang from her heart, more beautifully than she had ever done. There was not a dry eye in the room.
That paper was written over ten years ago. I, the reader, remember it well, out of hundreds of other narratives I have forgotten since. I remember it because of how much that moment meant to this teenage girl.
The lives of your teens are filled with more stories and meaningful things than they realize. The right topics for their personal narrative papers will set them on the course of writing well.
Daniel Yordy is Your Editor at The Writing Conservatory. He has
taught writing to students - and learned writing - for almost 30 years.
His effective writing course has been hammered out inside of junior
high, high school, and college classrooms.
Academic Papers
Academic Papers
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