About the Narrative

Mrs. Davison’s first-grade class has been writing “small moment stories” where they take a moment in their lives and expand it into a story making sure that they have answered the 5W’s – Who, What, When, Where, Why.

The second graders in Mrs. Ambersley and Mrs. Duffy’s classes brainstorm in their “Tiny Topics” idea books to transform one of their small moments into richly detailed and descriptive narrative stories.

Mrs. Haarlow’s third-grade class was asked to choose the best parts of themselves.  Students read the book “The Best Part of Me” by Wendy Ewald. The young writers then brainstormed and planned their writing projects. After finalizing ideas, students met with partners to share the best parts of themselves.  Students then drafted, edited, and finalized their “Best Part of Me” story. The published writing includes a picture of their best part to take home and share with families.

Mrs. Hardy’s sixth-grade English class has been learning to map places that matter to them with small moment stories as one of the many strategies for generating ideas for personal narratives. As in the lower school grades, they too will be crafting powerful life stories through the Writer’s Workshop –a writing curriculum students begin to use while in the Lower School.

O’Neal has implemented the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) Units of Study in kindergarten through eighth grades for several years.  Developed, researched, and led by Lucy Calkins of Columbia University, the mission of TCRWP is to “help young people become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers.”

The Writer’s Workshop curriculum introduces students to a variety of styles of writing.  Students learn how to brainstorm ideas efficiently and how to develop their “seed ideas” into larger pieces.  Students write many “flash drafts” before settling on one that they will take through several revisions and eventually publish.  Students begin by writing stories based on their own experiences.  This provides them voice and choice in what they write as opposed to being required to write on a topic about which they might not be interested or might not have any information or understanding.  This curriculum and the strategies that teachers use to develop young writers put the students at the center of the learning by allowing them to choose their subject matter.

The curriculum is divided into three units and the narrative is the first unit. For each grade level, students engage in developmentally age-appropriate projects.

The writing doesn’t stop in 8^th grade. The mastery of writing is polished in the Upper School. For instance, in Mrs. Ravenscroft’s Upper School English class, students read over personal narratives on the program Actively Learn in preparation for writing their narratives. Students are encouraged to add sensory details and dialogues to make their writing more interesting. 

Across divisions, O’Neal is paving the way for young authors actively and collaboratively.