Lesson Plan
Lesson 7: Writing a Narrative – Sensational Story Starters
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate exciting, attention-grabbing methods of starting a story.
This lesson plan includes the following resources:
Lesson Plan
Tuning In
- Revise the content of the unit so far. Remind the students that narrative texts follow a specific structure, use specific language and have specific features to help keep the reader engaged with the story.
- Choose a selection of picture books or short stories from your class library (or school library). Read the first few lines, or the first paragraph, to the class. Ask the students:
- How has the author started this story? Have they used description? Action? Dialogue?
- Have the first few lines of this narrative captured your attention? Why or why not?
- How could the beginning of this story be improved?
Teacher Instruction
- Display and discuss slide 3 of the Seven Sensational Story Starters PowerPoint. Ensure all the students understand the idea of the ‘hook’ to capture the reader’s attention from the outset.
- Display and discuss the seven sensational story starters, as outlined on slides 4-10. Ask the students whether or not they feel ‘hooked’ to read on by each example.
Guided/Independent Learning
- In their writing pairs, ask the students to choose one of the seven sensational story starters. Allow each pair to write the first paragraph only of the narrative they planned in the previous lesson. Monitor and support the students as required.
Wrapping Up
- Allow each pair to share their story starter paragraphs with the class. Encourage the students to provide positive feedback, or suggestions for improvement.
Differentiation
Extending Students
- Allow more confident writers to work individually, rather than in pairs (if they wish to do so).
Supporting Students
- Allow students who find writing challenging to work with a teacher or teacher aide during the pair activity.
Assessment Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
- used strategic whole class or individual questioning
- observed student participation during learning activities
- recorded student progress on a checklist
- annotated student work samples
- collected and reviewed student work samples
- facilitated whole class or peer feedback sessions
- encouraged student self-reflection
- administered formal assessment tasks.
NSW Curriculum alignment
- EN3-2A
Composes, edits and presents well-structured and coherent texts
Victorian Curriculum alignment
- VCELY329
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience
- VCELY358
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience
Australian Curriculum alignment
- ACELY1704
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audienceElaborationsusing research from print and digital resources t...
- ACELY1714
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audienceElaborationscreating informative texts for two ...
Find more resources for these topics
EnglishWritingText TypesImaginative WritingNarrative Writing
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