Mbed English Narrative Genre Yr6

1 This assignment is about using humour so that students can develop their skills in writing narratives, and is aimed at a Year 6 class. Building the field Humour can be an effective tool for engaging students in the classroom learning environment, and can also be useful in promoting a positive learning environment. Of course it can also contribute to the time spent at school being enjoyable for students. While humour can be used at almost any time in the form of jokes and a fun atmosphere in the class, it can also be used as part of the curriculum, especially in literacy teaching. With so many authors being able to tap into a child’s sense of humour, the task of getting children to read books can be a much easier task for teachers if the children are given access to the right books. Not that this is a new concept, with authors such as Roald Dahl or Judy Blume immediately coming to my mind as writing books that I know helped me develop an interest in reading. But at the same time these two authors had quite a different style of humour, with Dahl often being more silly and explicit, while Blume’s humour came from being able to relate to her characters and their predicaments. For this reason students should have access to a whole range of styles to find out what they enjoy the best. Humour in literacy could also be introduced through poetry or through links to the arts curriculum with songs or plays. Many popular books have been adapted into plays and the students could either read or perform them. Also many children’s books have been adapted to television, and while watching a video may almost seem a lazy lesson, it could be valuable if students get to watch a program that the book is available for. Humour could also be used when investigating language forms such as oxy-morons, clichés and euphemisms, helping the students to tune into lessons on these parts of our language and where they are used. Modelling the selected genre The main purpose of narratives is to tell an entertaining story, so need to keep a reader’s attention, and are structured so that this can occur. An ideal way to show students how a narrative is produced is to read a short story as a class and then get Brad

2 the students to identify the features. To demonstrate this I will refer to the short story Without a Shirt, by Paul Jennings, from his book Unreal. The first part of a narrative is the orientation where we are introduced to the main characters for the story, who in Without a Shirt include Brian, Mr Bush, Sue Featherstone, and Shovel the dog.

The orientation can also include when and

where the story is set, depending on their importance. While this may seem similar to a recount, what is important in a narrative is to have interesting descriptions of the characters so that the reader can build up their own mental image of the story. Descriptions can also be of characters’ personalities or experiences, and not just physical appearances. We aren’t given a physical description of Brian, yet find him an interesting person because of his speech problem and how his classmates perceive him. Examples of physical descriptions in the story are Brian’s dog Shovel, with a missing eye and half an ear portraying him as a ragged old dog, and Mrs Featherstone with her blue hair and real pearls telling us she is elderly and wealthy. Next in a narrative there needs to be some kind of complication, problem or dilemma. Quite often there may be a number of these. In Without a Shirt there is Brian’s speech problem, his impending class talk, and the scenario surrounding the sad bones even though the story is only a few pages long. In longer novels there may be several different complications, or similar complications leading up to a larger event later in the book. Again the level of detail in how these issues are described can add much to the way the book engages the reader. Finally these complications need a resolution, so that the story is completed and the reader has answers to the question of ‘what happens next’ that makes them want to read more of the story. Quite often this resolution brings the rest of the story into perspective. For example we find out that Brian’s speech problem was somehow burdened upon him so that when he eventually laid his great, great grandfather’s bones to rest, he wouldn’t do so ‘without a shirt’ to make his head comfortable. This is the structure for a narrative in its simplest form. Writers could even rearrange the story to create more interest. This could be shown to the students with other examples. Some may even have an ambiguous resolution leaving us to work out for ourselves how the story finishes, or if there is more to the story.

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3 Joint construction (Modelled writing) Now comes time to get the students involved in writing, but first of all as a group activity. Choose a different topic to write about so that the students’ already brewing funny ideas don’t get revealed and wasted. For example tell the class that the narrative is to be an adventure story and brainstorm for a few minutes to get an orientation to start the story. Get the students to think of what kind of people would be in an adventure story, and what settings or scenarios they would find themselves in. There would most likely be a hero or heroine, some kind of a side kick, maybe a villain, and some sort of great task or confrontation they are all involved in. Using a white board or smartboard so all students can see, begin to write out the start of the story, saying out loud the descriptive words that can be used for characters or the setting, trying to make the story more interesting. Words can be used from various word activities that the students can participate in. If something sounds more interesting, cross out what is written and add the new part in. This shows the students that writing doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, and is most likely not to be. It can even be enjoyable to develop a story to make it more exciting and fun. Continue to write the narrative, bringing in the complication and moving onto the resolution.

Being a one lesson activity, the story will essentially be a short plot

summary of what could be a much longer story, but all the required elements of a narrative should be present and pointed out to the students. Rereading and revising parts of the story gives students a better look at how the writing process occurs. At least by using an adventure instead of a funny story the students cannot copy what is on the board when it is time for them to write. Perhaps after they have completed their funny stories some time from now the students would like to revisit and complete the adventure. Independent Construction Independent construction is when the students get to use their own ideas to write their individual narratives. Because the aim is for the students to produce a narrative that is humorous in some way it will be necessary to give them some guidance in how humour can be brought into the structure of the text. The students may initially think that they need to have some sort of funny complication in their story, but there Brad

4 are other opportunities elsewhere to include humour. The characters themselves could have something about them that is funny, which would require the students to construct their descriptions of these characters to convey this. The humour could even come from the language they use in their story, rather than the characters or events. This is where it is important to allow them to look back at the other stories they read earlier, and the ways in which those stories were funny. They could try to write a narrative in a similar style to achieve the outcome. Even the five lines of a limerick are enough to include all the required elements for a narrative, and could provide inspiration. The students should also be given a few guidelines on what would be deemed inappropriate humour if needed. Before starting to write their story they should be encouraged to explore whatever ideas they already have to see how they develop without actually committing themselves to writing draft.

They could create mind-maps, T-charts or even

drawings for each of their stories’ elements.

A pro-forma could be given to them

with the narrative elements used as headings to help them plan an outline. Although in some cases these may appear messy or confusing as students add details or cross them out, it is a good method for getting their ideas recorded so that they can start to see their story take shape without the need to rewrite when they come up with better of more interesting ideas. Now that they have an overall plan for their piece, it is time for the students to write out the first draft. By using the plan they have already constructed, the writing should flow more easily, but some students may still struggle for ideas. Encouraging them to use their brainstorming notes, or reread their piece can help them come up with fresh ideas. They can also share their stories with each other, or ask for a writing conference. The writing conference is a good opportunity for the students to reflect on their work with the teacher. It is important to not focus on any grammatical or spelling errors at this stage, as it would be discouraging for students to have mistakes pointed out in their work at a stage when they are engaged in the process of making an appealing story. These errors will be found and corrected later in editing. The stories are only at first draft stage, and what the students may need more support with is getting their ideas down in the way that they want to within the correct narrative structure. Some may need a recap on how the narrative is structured so that they can continue, while Brad

5 others may just want some reassurance that they are going well. A few students may perhaps prefer to just share their work with each other, feeling nervous about approaching the teacher, but if they observe other students benefiting from the conference they should gain confidence with time. Now that the first drafts are all completed the students can now share their work with the class. It gives them a chance to show others some work that they are proud of and also get some feedback on what they have written. This feedback is to be used to revise their stories, so it is important to model good questioning and suggestions for the students so that sharing is helpful and positive for everyone. With everyone having written a humorous story it should also be an enjoyable part of the writing process. Revision is when the students can fine tune their stories, making sure they have all the elements of their narrative in the appropriate places to suit their story. It is where they can also focus on what they are using to make their stories humorous, such as the complication, their descriptions or just their language, and make sure that they have it all sounding the way they want it to. Next during editing the students can go through their work and correct any mistakes that they find. Because they may need to know what mistakes to look for, and because correcting their work would be certainly more tedious than writing the story in the first place, they should be given a number of lessons to edit. During these lessons different aspects could be focused on, such as punctuation in one lesson, and spelling in another. The more of the editing that the students do themselves, the better chance they have of not repeating the same errors. Now with their stories completed the chance comes for the students to publish them, which can be done in a variety of formats to make writing a rewarding experience for the children. Examples could include putting a story in the school newsletter, or posting the story on a class website or blog. The main point is that the story is available for someone else to read and get enjoyment from. This can also be as simply done as writing it out neatly in their writing books to show their parents at home. Throughout the whole process of this unit it is important to not only inform the students of the elements and style required to write a narrative, but also to allow Brad

6 them to really enjoy the process, so that they will be become keen confident writers at school and beyond. Bibliography Derewianka, B 2008, Exploring how texts work, Primary Teaching English Association, Newtown, NSW. Dyson, AH 1997, Writing superheroes :contemporary childhood, popular culture, and classroom literacy, Teachers College Press, New York, NY. Figg, S 2002, Understanding narrative writing: practical strategies to support teachers, Department of Education, Tasmania, viewed 1 June 2008, Hancock, J & Leaver, C 2007, Teaching strategies for literacy, 2nd edn, Australian Literacy Educators’ Association Ltd, Norwood, South Australia. Hellner, J 2006, Using humour in the classroom, Essential Resources Educational Publishers Limited, Oak Flats, NSW. Hill, KJ 1984, The writing process: one writing classroom, Thomas Nelson Australia, Melbourne, Victoria. Jennings, P 1985, Unreal, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, NSW. Peha, S 2002, The Writing Process, Teaching That Makes Sense Inc, Carrboro, NC, viewed 1 June 2008, Raison, G & Rivalland, J 1994, Writing: developmental continuum, Rigby Heinemann, Port Melbourne, Vic.

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