Lesson Nine: English, Yr 7/9

Structure and Ideas in Narrative Writing

Curriculum links: Year 7 – ACELT1622 Year 9 – ACELY1742

Resources you will need

Lesson structure

  1. Ask students to reflect on themselves as writers, with specific reference to considering the characteristics and qualities of beginning writers and maturing writers (terminology used by ACARA). Discuss the two categories of writers as a class.
  2. View the slide for ‘beginning writers’ in the Lesson 9 Narrative Writing PowerPoint slides. Explain that beginning writers typically structure a narrative by adopting a ‘beginning, middle and end’ approach to story-writing with a simple problem and resolution. Contrast this with the fact that as students mature, their writing reflects a growing understanding that the middle of the story needs to involve a problem or complication that introduces conflict, danger or tension that must be resolved. It is this uncertainty that draws the reader in and builds suspense.
  3. Use this as an opportunity for students to explore the different ways that a narrative can be structured, with specific reference to both ideas as well as language.
  4. Refer to narrative structure, and differentiate the writing experience for beginning writers and maturing writers. Consider these aspects as part of the NAPLAN marking criteria.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

Learning Area: English
Year Level: Year 7/Year 9
General Capabilities: CCT, L, PSC, EU, IU
Strands: Examining Literature/Interpreting, Analysing, Evaluating
Content Descriptions: 

Year 7 (English Literature) 

Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and settings are combined in narratives, and discuss the purposes and appeal of different approaches (ACELT1622)

Year 9 (English Literacy) 

Interpret, analyse and evaluate how different perspectives of issue, event, situation, individuals or groups are constructed to serve specific purposes in texts (ACELY1742)
Elaborations:

Year 7

Analysing and explaining the structure and features of short stories discussing the purposes and appeal of different authorial choices for structure and language.

Exploring traditional stories from Asia and discussing their engaging features, for example use of the oral mode, visual elements, verse, use of puppets to convey the narrative.

Analysing writers’ depictions of challenges in texts, for example those faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Discussing a text’s intended audience, whether the text is typical of its type and whether it has fulfilled its purpose.

Year 9

Debating the reliability of the coverage in a range of news media of a contentious issue such as commercial logging of old growth forests

Evaluating techniques used to construct plot and create emotional responses such as comparison, contrast, exaggeration, juxtaposition, the changing of chronological order, or the expansion and compression of time

Constructing questions to frame an analysis of differing representations on moral issues in texts, and including a critical analysis of a personal view in the overall analysis of the issue

Identifying whether two texts may share a common purpose or audience, for example a feature article on a particular website or in a particular newspaper

Analysing how issues are debated and reported in the media in different countries, and the possible reasons for this, for example ‘whaling’ in Japan and Australia

Analysing and interpreting assumptions about groups that have shaped or influenced representations of people, places, events and things; identifying how listeners, viewers and readers are positioned by these representations, and supporting identified points with examples.
Cross-Curricular Priority:

Sustainability
Acknowledgments

This Australian Curriculum alignment statement is based on the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) materials, which are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The material has been modified from the Australian Curriculum website (accessed April 2019).

All activities have been created by educators for educators and are linked to the Australian Curriculum (Version 8.4). We advise teachers to consult the ACARA website for the most up-to-date curriculum outcomes.

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