The following analysis reflects upon a narrative written titled The Weekend. This story is written in poetry form and is designed to show the challenges students face when understanding the varying types of writing (narrative, informational, etc.)
The story can be found at: https://storybird.com/books/3ady7uhwcj/?token=mytjktm7e8
Analysis:
IDEAS: For this section, I gave myself a 4 (Capable). I feel that the main ideas of my story (what people do on the weekend) was clear and included some simple supporting details about specific ways people spend their weekends, however my story did not provide a lot of information that elaborated on my supporting details, so I did not score myself higher in this category. Also, my story did not really fit into any one definition of narrative listed in The Writing Thief by Ruth Culham. For example, the story falls between fiction and non-fiction, but does not strongly fit into either category. Also, the narrative does not follow a traditional “story” with a plot, beginning, middle and end. I feel that this is a common issue with K-2 students as they understand a “story” to be anything found in a picture book instead of something that follows the idea of a true narrative. This is understandable for this grade level as students begin learning the different types of writing (informational, opinion, narrative, etc.).
ORGANIZATION: For this section, I gave myself a 3 (Developing). I believe that my structure is very basic and does not really provide a great deal of transition or sequence. Although the story has a beginning (the beginning of the weekend) it does not follow a sequence of events or include a plot. I chose to write a story like this to highlight what Culham (2014) discusses in The Writing Thief about the word “story”. She states that “It’s interesting to note that the word story is used in reference to writing even when it isn’t actually a narrative in the truest sense of the word” (p. 94). I feel that this is an issue that is common amongst beginning writers. Students will write about a topic without including any type of chronology or true plot.
VOICE: For this section, I gave myself a 3 (Developing) because the voice is fairly basic. The voice does not share a lot of expression and there is not a clear idea of personality. Culham (2014) believes that “The writing should have energy and passion” (p. 108). The story I wrote does not carry either of these traits. The statements coming from the voice in my writing is straightforward and does not provide insight to the reader as to who the voice is.
WORD CHOICE: For this section, I gave myself a 3 (Developing) because my word choices are quite basic. There are not many adjectives in the story, so the picture the reader receives is not very vivid. I do not use any metaphors or similes in the story either. Initially, I wrote in such a basic way because I was imagining the story for young children (about age 5) but after reading Culham’s (2014) ideas about word choice, I recognize that including unknown words in stories for young children create great opportunities to learn new vocabulary.
FLUENCY: For this section, I gave myself a 5 (Experienced) because the story flows really well. The story is meant to be read like a poem and includes rhyming words and rhythm. This story is designed to best be read aloud and includes some of the traits that Culham (2014) explains to be important. For example, Culham states that “The rhythm, the cadence, the musical quality that artfully crafted sentences have, carries the reader from one thought to the next” (p. 115). I feel that this story flows well from idea to idea.
CONVENTIONS: For this section, I gave myself a 5 (Experienced). The story does not have spelling errors and has some areas where punctuation could be used more effectively, specifically in regards to commas. Conventions do not vary too much based on the type of text, but according to Culham (2014) narrative does offer opportunities to be a bit more creative with conventions with the use of dialogue and dialects.
PRESENTATIONS: For this section, I gave myself a 5 (Experienced). The story is written like a poem and is laid out in this style to help the reader read the story with cadence. The pictures that are included with each page relate directly to the sentences and word choice and the page layouts vary throughout the story.
Culham, R. (2016). The writing thief: using mentor texts to teach the craft of writing. Portland, ME: Stenhouse .