From Structure to Weaving
Dear Dr. Louis,
My takeaways from today's Train-the-Trainer: Narrative session are: I'm seeing how important it is to teach the difference between CD/CM and continually model. I am also very excited to write a narrative I can use as a model with my students!
I do have the following questions:
- Why is the PPT considered narrative writing? Can it be considered expository?
- For students who are dependent on the structure, how do you get them to wean off? What does that process look like?
Thank you,
Melissa F.
English Teacher
Hayward, California
Hi, Melissa,
Here are the answers to your questions.
- The PPT is considered narrative because it's a personal decision, and the writer is providing evidence with anecdotes of what made that PPT special of not special to his/her personal observations, experiences, and/or interactions. If the writer were writing about Thomas Jefferson, it would be expository.
- Student by student. Show them my memoir, your memoir. Show them how to weave with their own writing -- take their structure and show them how to combine CDs and CMs in a sentence -- you have to model this with their writing -- student by student.
Keep reading and writing!
Dr. Louis
