Monday, November 1, 2010
Personal Narrative Writing
Describe in detail one challenge in your writing that you had to overcome to draft your personal narrative. Then, describe (also in detail) what strategy or strategies you used to overcome that challenge. Pretend that you are teaching someone who is having a similar writing challenge how to get through it.
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Something I had trouble with while drafting was the "show don't tell" technique. I would be writing with detail but then look back and realize that my writing was beginning to tell. Something I used to "show" was my 5 senses, (touch, taste, smell, hear and see). This helps to describe my surroundings with more detail. Ex:
ReplyDeleteTell- I walked up 10 stairs
Show- I walked up the small steps counting each step,1 2 3 4 all the way up to 10.
One challenge that I had to overcome in order to continue drafting my personal narrative was how I was going to end it. At first I was going to write about the entire wedding but I realized that my problem was going to be resolved a while before the wedding ended.
ReplyDeleteI overcame this challenge by asking myself when my problem was resolved, then I decided how I wanted to end the narrative. I decided to end it when, in the narrative, I got to my seat and all of my nervousness was abated. That was how I overcame my challenge, in steps, and asking questions in order to organize my thoughts. I also thought which one would be the most interesting for the reader.
One challenge that i faced was to get over all the good times i had with my cat for all those years but i managed to get the narrative down on paper but i didn't have any problems with the realistic sound affects on paper. I came over that challenge by starting to put stuff on the paper that i know i did to calm him down from thunderstorms.
ReplyDeletei get stuck on finishing my work to early and i help that by adding in details
ReplyDeleteWhen you are writing, it may seem like your writing has no detail, like mine didn't before something I learned called "show, not tell". After I learned this greatly needed strategy, I was able to extend and add TONS and TONS of detail to my personal narrative. Compared to 1/2 of a page with "It was cold out..." now it is about 2 1/4 of a page but with "The wind blew towards me, with a slight freeze. My face was like an icicle."
ReplyDeleteIt really works!
A serious challenge that i had writing my personal narrative draft was that I wanted to have a lot of simile's but i couldn't think of any!! how i overcame this challenge was that i thought of something that would go along with it. For example: my knees were bouncing like ( i thought of something that bounces) a kangaroo. And thats how i overcame my challenge!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I had to overcome was "Show don`t Tell",I was good at writing Personal narratives but the only problem was that I didn`t` knew how to "Show don`t Tell", but the after practicing and listeninig to my teacher carefully,I was able to write a four page personal narrative.The only trick Is that you have show what,Is happening In your brain and make the reader think that he/she was standing with you when you were perfoming the activity and a write the personal narrative in such a way that the reader thinks that you are using your five senses to tell the story.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge in my writing that I had to overcome is writer's block. I couldn't figure out what I should write about, and I ended up choosing one that didn't quite have a beginning, middle, and end, so I had to start over from square one and figure out what I should write again. The strategy I used is going back through my life and seeing what I remembered. I know that the earlier things that I remembered in detail are the important things, because they stuck with me. I chose one of the things that stuck out as important, checked it for a beginning, middle, and end, then began to redraft.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge that I had while writing my personal narrative was whether or not I should name names to tell my story. In order to overcome this fear, I thought about how those certain people would react to my personal narrative, and how they would feel about me putting them on the spot like that, so intead of using names I used:someone, somebody, or a kid. This way those certain people won't realize that I wrote about them.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge that I had to overcome in my personal narritive is showing the story not telling it. Showing the story was a little hard for me because I had to write alot of detail in a five munute period. I have never writen something like that before but as I was writing it, it was easier for me to show because I got use to it.
ReplyDeleteThe strategy that helped me was pretending that I was in my story and remembering what the smell was and how shinny the floor was and how it was such a beautiful day. That is the strategy that I used.
What i had trouble with is adding detail and zooming in on small moments. What i did to help that was flashing back to the moment it happened and writing about what i saw, heard, and felt in that moment.
ReplyDeleteOne challange I have in my personal narrative is using "show, not tell". The reason I struggle with it is because I just never know when it is a good time to put it in. Sice that is a stratagy I struggle with I don't use a stratagy to fix it. I go through the story and find the parts that I can express the emotion to. There are alot of parts so I don't give it too much. I say about every other time you should express your fellings by showing them and not telling.
ReplyDeleteOne big problem I was having while writing my personal narrative was that I kept telling, not showing! I just kept catching myself over and over making this mistake. They way I overcame this problem was to write the whole story in tell. The go back and change everything! This is what I did and it is really weird to think that all those details could really change a story!
ReplyDeleteOne big problem I had is "show don't tell". Even though I'm still doing my draft, I didn't know how to do it but, it is no problem now. The way I overcame my problem was using "show don't tell" when I get in and out of the rising action.
ReplyDeleteOne problem i had was writing in very small detail. I wasn't able to write small think small enough. One thing that helped was the prompt to show not tell the reader it helped because it made me think to show the reader evarything I saw.
ReplyDeleteMy predicament was how long my narrative was going to be. It's basically about me and 4 other members of my family waiting in this 75 minute long line to Toy Story Midway Mania (Don't jugde me.) and how my anger and boredom were growing like a garden weed. Naturally, this narrative is supposed to be a small moment with excrutiating (Forgive me if that's misspelled.) detail, but I couldn't think of anything smaller than this, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to fit this full 75 minutes in. So, even though you said that we shouldn't skip from 1 area to the next, I just couldn't stop myself from doing that. It may not be an ACTUAL strategy, that is the "strategy" I used to get out of my situation. Besides, if I DID write every single millisecond of this problem at Disney World, there'd be at some points there was nothing to write except me (mentally) complaining like a baby that hasn't had it's nap and/or been fed in days.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I came across was detail. My story involves being on a plane. It was hard describing the engine rumble. I came across this a lot in writing. To overcome that issue I went into a thesaurus when I got home and looked up more describing words for that moment. I read my story with describing words and it made a big difference.
ReplyDeletethe problem I over came was show don't tell I would usually say the leg hurt but now I would say my leg hurt so bad I couldn't bear it.So i went back and rewrote my story. I also need more dialog.but I add a lot more.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge that I had drafting my personal narrative was I wasn't sure if it should be a thought or not. Since it was first person it was even harder. What I did to to help myself was to pretend that I was another person during the conflict. I then would know if that person knew what I was thinking. So know I don't really have any problems with that anymore.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I had that I was always starting my paragraphs with introductions in my personal narrative. I overcame this problem by starting the paragraph with dialogue.
ReplyDeleteOne problem that I had to overcome while drafting my personal narrative was telling, not showing. I just kept telling and not showing. I didn't know how to fix my mistake. The way I overcame my problem was by using my 5 senses. I really thought about how to show and not tell my story. I thought as if I was the reader, reading the story for the first time and seeing the details hat were being told, I tried to make those details into show.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I had trouble with is "show not tell". I was used to just explaining what happened. Now I have to describe whats going on by creating a vision of what is happening for the reader. For example you cant say "I walked down the hall" it has to be like" I moved through the hall quickly". I overcame this by starting by describing the setting and pushed off from there.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I always find myself doing and need to overcome is instead of showing I keep telling! The way I overcame it was after I wrote something I read it from the view point of a reader and made sure the writing showed what was going on and not just telling you. This has helped me a lot and I found that my writing has become much more detailed by showing the reader what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I had to overcome to finish my draft was show dont tell because I had a hard time showing in great detail because as a writer of previous years I would always tell. I overcame it after the mini lesson and I went back and I focused in on that moment and added great detail.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem I had in my personal narrative draft was with the show not tell strategy. I kept on telling things like I was nervous when I should be showing things instead. For example, blood rushed through my veins, my heart pounded and my face turned pale. I overcame this challenge by breaking my draft in to parts with beginning, middle and end and re-writing in better detail and showing not telling.
ReplyDeleteOne thing in my draft that I had trouble with was finding the plotline. I also had trouble showing and not telling.
ReplyDeleteIn my draft I always forget to captalize words like I and the first letter. I resolve that by reading it over and over again and also I ready it really careful. And i always find the problem.
ReplyDeletethe problem that i over came was the one that justwhen we had to show not tell that was my chance to write about soccer and also when i was doing the stragite of the that because thats something that i remember the most.
ReplyDeleteI use the stragey show not tell cause it helps you fill your writing with deatail and not tell. I also like when some one reads my writing that way I can see how my writer reacts AND HE CAN TELL ME IF i have something wrong or not.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge that I had problems with was the show not tell strategy. When I was writing my personal narrative, this strategy was hard for me because I was so used to telling not showing. So I used another strategy (the one that you showed us about the snap shot) and I made the picture in my head and was showing what I saw instead of saying it, like...."I was nervous" to "I was shaking more then ever". That strategy helped me a lot into making it into the show don’t tell strategy.
ReplyDeleteThe most challenging thing I had while writing was the show don’t tell method when I was half way through my writing I got stuck in one part of my story and didn’t have any show just tell, The way I over came this problem was listened to my partners reading and got a idea from her writing!
ReplyDeleteI had the most trouble with the “Show Don’t Tell” the reason I had trouble with it is because in 6th grade we didn’t have to do the “Show Don’t Tell”. The reason I have trouble is when you have to add a lot more details then you did when you where little you didn’t have to add so much detail. I started to do much better after I started to get the hang of it. They way I did it was I wrote some ideas on a piece of paper and I started to get some good ideas and what I wanted to write about
ReplyDelete*ADDING ON*
ReplyDeleteAn example of when I did this in my essay was I wrote "I cracked an egg on the side of the bowl and poured it in". When I realized I wrote that I changed it to "I lightly tapped the egg on the side of the bowl and poured it in".
My one challenge was putting periods in my story. I overcame it by me looking back in my story and finding good places to put them.I know when to put periods their because the sentence is long enough.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I had trouble with was what I was going to write about. My mind was blank I forgot everything that happened when I was a kid. I thought of some stuff but it didn’t have a conflict. , it did not have a problem. The stories I wrote only had good things. I thought and I thought.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did to help that is I closed my eyes and tried to think of stuff, I was still blank . I remembered the trophy I got in 4th grade, I got the trophy because I won an essay contest. It was about the first girl to reach the moon. I jotted down what I remembered, I got so much. A few minutes later I knew what to write for the draft.
One of the challenges I had while drafting was zooming in on small moments .I over came this challenge by adding more details in each paragraph,for example "I pulled my pink dress, while I kissed my dad on the cheek."I knew I improved because before all I had was "I kissed my daddy on the chick
ReplyDeleteOne problem I had was telling not showing so instead of writing my hands were shaking I couldn't feel my legs and I could hear my heart going thump, thump, thump. I wrote I was nervous
ReplyDeleteWhat I did to fix my problem was I rewrote the part of my draft and I madde sure when I was writing to show not tell
The One most recent strategy that a cured the most recent through out my draft was the show don’t tell. Reason being was that the show don’t tell is was easer for me to tell you that for example I started to cry. Made me have to think more and visualizes that very moment to make it a tell instead of just saying I cried I had to explain how. Witch took time through out finishing my draft.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge I have with writing personal narrative is that I find it hard to make my climax long enough. I feel like my Rising action just ended,then my falling action started .I didn't know how to make the moment stretch so I used a lot more detail so it wouldn't seem like the climax only took 2 seconds. My narrative is about my first time on "cliff diver" at "Splish splash".So it was kind of hard to make that climax long.
ReplyDeleteps ( its all good now though ) (:
<3
bye
The part in drafting personal narratives that I have a problem with is make the narrative long. Alot of times I couldnt find enough detail to put in or I couldn't think of enough detail. The stratagy I used to overcome that problem what show don't tell. By rereading and relizing my writing was boring I added more show than tell.
ReplyDeleteFor example: He walked over and came into the back door. Then I saw his bright eyes and shiny chocolate fur trotting towards the faded back door.
A Problem that I had while drafting was finding out where to put new paragraphs. My personal narritive is over a time span of one day, and I didn't know whether to make them hourly or when I went into another room. I overcame this by putting new paragraphs and matching them to my storyline.
ReplyDeleteOne of the challenges I had while writting my Personal Narrative was really writting down all of the details that happend at that event.What also made it challenging was this event I wrote about was kind of a long time ago, so I really had to think hard.How I helped that was I took a picture in my head and described everything that was going on and that helped everything come back to me .And know I feel that I wrote my personal narrative in good detail.
ReplyDeleteI’m adding on. I started my personal narrative with an introduction. For example I started my paragraph like this “my personal narrative is about my grandmother’s death" here i started off with introduction and this is my problem that i overcame. With starting off my paragraphs with dialogue.
ReplyDeleteone problem that i had with my writing was the"show dont tell" for example i kept on telling in my draft and every time i tried to show i would keep on telling. I fixed it by doing my draft over again and i also used alot more dialog than i had ever did in my writing peices from last year.
ReplyDeletea challenge i faced as I wrote my PN is repeating words such as said, and i felt very relived when Mrs. puccio put up the teaching point and we made the list. if i was teaching someone who had a similar problem i would encourage them to make a list and maybe even ask classmates.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I faced when I wrote my personal narrative was finding where my climax was. In my personal narrative I am on a plane, but I didn't know if my climax was when I changed my attitude on the situation or when I noticed that the sky started to clear up.
ReplyDeleteI overcame this problem by discussing where my climax was to my writing/reading partner. I also looked back on my notes about the plot.
That is my problem and how I overcame it.
when i had trouble with the "show don't tell". I had to read the teaching Point it gave me the thinking of what am i gonna put in my story. and i can add more dioluge in my story just like a book. And if im a teacher i can tell the class to write some notes in their journals. And i can encouge them that a similar problem will be that they can make a very good story about their lifes.
ReplyDeleteone challend that i faced was that I keept say said or I thought and I keept using the same words to describe but I thought of the word and replaced it with a different word.
ReplyDeleteThe problem i had with my personal narrative essay was " SHOW DONT TELL TECHINQUE". I was writing alot of detail then i looked back at my story and said i wasnt doing it wright. Then i started use my show dont tell techinque with my 5 senses.
ReplyDeleteOne challange i had to overcome was to see if my pn was making sense,also if my reader would understand it.While i wrote my story i saw that i was going nowhere so i started writing about something else.
ReplyDeleteA challenge that I had to overcome while drafting my personal narrative was showing, not telling! The startagy I used to overcome my personal narrative of showing, not telling was I read from the point of view of a reader, after i wrote something I would read it as I was reading a book. When I read my personal narrative I looked for my showing, not telling's and then I tried to fix them as much as I could. After I did the strategy of showing, not telling my writing became easier.
ReplyDeleteEx: Tell: I pulled my hair back and walked onto the mat.
Show:I pulled my light brown hair back into my white hair tie and walked on to the royal blue mat.
one problem i have is coming with a idea i can keep moving to many ideas and it is hard to stick to a story and showing and not telling i can to a point were i just get boring and never get to the point and dialect i can use simple words where i should be using big words.
ReplyDelete>_<
One challenge i had to over come, was " the show not tell " expresion because i always use tell in my stories and i dont use show a lot. The strategies i used was a thing called descriptions about my moved from east hampton to flanders.
ReplyDeleteThe Challenge I Had Was Adding Dialouge And Fixing Homonyms. I Over Came The Dialouge Part By Inserting Words That I Would've Said Since I Dont Remember It Exactly Perfect. I Fixed My Homonyms When Mrs.Puccio Taught Us The Diffrences Between The Three Types Of Meanings For The Words There , Their And The're. Also The Words Were,Wear,Where And We're It Really Helped Me With Making Corrections.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest challenge in writing a personal narritive is putting dialouge in where is is suppose to go. I think it is hard for me because, I do not really remember where there was talking and what was said at the time.
ReplyDeleteI helped that by really thinking hard about what happened and had to comprimise the real talking for words that would of made sense at the time.
A challenge i faced the most was to show not tell. I normally just told what happened without any detail. I started to use show not tell better after the mini lesson and i really woked hard on just that.
ReplyDeleteOne big problem I was having when I was drafting my personal narrative was that I was always telling and never showing. The way I overcame this was that I would write a paragragh then go really deep into it and fix whatever I wrote in tell and not show. Like if I wrote that I was tired, I would then go back and add more details like my eyelids grew heavy and my head bobbed as I fell into a deep sleep.
ReplyDeleteOne big problem I was having was using the show not tell strategy. The way I overcame that was that I would write the word first and take a minute or more to think about it how would i expressed it. Then I just put it into a sentence. For example I would write out " I was happy." then i would just think about it and I just changed it to a sentence saying " I was jumping up and down with a smile on my face".
ReplyDeleteThe one challange in this writing process was I kept finishing early. To overcome that stratagy I wrote the draft again using more dtails and also using better words for verbs like run and said. If you have the same challange as me I think that instead of looking at the entire draft and revising, revise while writing another draft.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge i had to overcome was show don't tell and the stragetie i used to overcome that challenge was by useing dialog.
ReplyDeleteOne challlenge that I had to overcome in my personal narrative was zooming in on one specifec moment. At first I started writing about 12 hour time period instead of a 10 minute time period.
ReplyDeleteI overcame this problem by focusing on the 5 minutes that I overcame the nervousnes of meeting my grandfather for the first time. I used steps to help me focus on those few minutes, like what was I realy thinking or doing when I was about to meet my grandpa. This realy helped me complete my personal narrative.
one challenge I have is knowing when to end the personal narrative. First I wrote out my draft with way to much show and then shortened my PN, then I took my favorite part of my story and then expanded that part of my story.
ReplyDeleteI overcame this challenge by alistening to my partners advise, and listening to your tips after we were done drafting for the day, or reading different types of books(most like on the internet about PN righting) It helped alot.
one problem ive had and always have had was show dont tell, i could never get into the adding detail type of thing. Ive always thought that telling was just as good if not better than showing. One way i overcame this was by when 1st writing my draft, writing it really plain and just like black and white. Then i would have gone back and number the spots that were plain or in need of improvement. finally i would just revise them and put them all together making sure i used as much detail posssible.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge i had to overcome in my personel narrative was using the show dont tell strategy. The way i overcame this problem was by writting down a word down and making a list in my head of other words that could be used the same way for example; instead of writting "I walked to the corner of the room" i wrote " I curiously walked toward the corner of the room, holding my breath,"
ReplyDeleteOne challenge I had to overcome in my writing while I was drafting was using specific detail like to show not tell I had a real challenge with that but I overcame that challenge by adding small details to describe a place of thing going on the strategy I used was select the best details for the emotion your feeling.
ReplyDeleteI had a little trouble with ending the moment and zooming in to the tiny little detail. I overcame my zooming in the detail problems by flashing back to the moment and wrote down on a separate piece of paper how I remembered the feelings I had during the moment. I also overcame how to end the moment by looking back at the tiny paragraph I wrote for my personal narrative then looking back at the day it happened and zoomed in to when we got there to when we went on stage.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I had while I was drafting was that during the writing session I would finish and think I was done and not know what to do.
ReplyDeleteI overcame that by looking at my beginning, middle and end and how I could zoom in more and use more show not tell and use my 5 senses to make my personal narrative better.
One challenge that I had to overcome in order to continue drafting my personal narrative was how to start it . I started it with dialogue but I couldn’t remember what was really said. I overcame this problem by making up some of the dialogue in the beginning that best fit what was going on.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I had was the show dont tell techique. This was a problem because I could never really see when I needed to tell or when I needed to show.
ReplyDeleteI overcame this problem by trying to compare my writing to a books writing and see if the book told or showed in parts similar to mine.
A problem that I was approched with while writing the Personal Essay, was the idea of the essay itself. I first came up with an idea of one moment to make my PN into, but I remembered It had to be a moment that meant something, that made you realize something. Then I came up with a different idea, and then I knew that I would use that idea, and the words flowed out of my bran and onto the page.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I had a problem with was show don't tell. I had a problem with this because I'm used to writing fast and with a few details. For example, at one point in my story I was writing about walking up to the stage (I am writing about when I tried out for my first play). At first I just wrote, "I stood up and walked to the stage as I looked around curiously". Then I changed it to make it more descriptive,"I slowly lifted myself out of the rough blue theater seat. I could feel my heart get faster as I got farther away from the comfort of my chair".
ReplyDeleteI overcame this problem by using the show don't tell examples and practicing them. What I used was the I'm sad example and I wrote a few different ways to write it.Like,"I sat there motionless and weak as a wet tear crawled down my cheek. My lip quivered as I sniffed and slumped in my chair". I did the same thing with my main emotion nervous.Like, "My palms started to sweat as my heart beat faster and faster. I could feel my face getting hotter as I looked down at the floor". I used some of these ideas in my narrative and I think it came out great!
The one problem I mostly had while drafting was picking the story to choose.The stradegy I used to help myself was to pick the story that was shortest.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge I had while writing my personal narrative was that I had trouble showing and not telling. The way I overcame this problem in my writing was I wrote the story pretty much with all tell. Then I went back and asked myself how could I make this statement more interesting by showing and not telling. For example, I wrote a sentence that said I was nervous. Then I went back and rewrote the same statement as, my palms were sweating , I had a million butterflies in my stomach that wouldn't calm down, and my hands were shaking like crazy. This strategy really helped me a lot and I encourage others to use this strategy too.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I had with writing the personal narrative was the show don't tell strategy. I had ths problem becuase I was not used to showing and not telling. I overcame this problem by remembering the time I was there and by using my five senses and that helped me to finish my personal narrative.
ReplyDeletethe one thing that at my draft i noticed alot of is i need to work on is my grammar because when i looked at my rough draft i noticed alot of grammar mistakes i think i have this promblem because i dont think about grammar i just sort of wrote my draft and man did i need to fix alot of grammar mistakes how i over came this was by reading over my draft and making as many grammar corrections as i could
ReplyDeleteOne problem i have while writing is explaning things.Like when i tried to show not tell i dont think the reader will know what im talking about, but after doing mini lessons in Mrs. puccio's class i think i got the hand of showing not telling but explaning it more.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I had writting my personal narritive was when to stop writting. I kept on writing and writing and writing. I finally stopped to read what I wrote. I realized that I needed to keep it short. So I wrote another one and this time I wrote it shorter because I looked at how much I was writting every once in a while. So it looked better than the other time and it made more sense too.
ReplyDeleteIf someone was having a problem like this I would tell them to keep an eye on how much they are writting and to keep it short and simple.
My challenge was to overcome a very tough obstacle.One stratigie that i had to overcome was Dialogue. I never really had enough dialogue until you announced it to the class. I improved that much when i did the Final Copy
ReplyDeleteOne challenge I had writing my personal narrative was doing the repeating strategy. I did not know were or how to put it in my personal narrative.
ReplyDeleteex:wondering wondering about the experience.
the anonymous after natalia mrs.puccio was me Kim Lennon
ReplyDeletethe challenge I had was the showing not telling. The strategy i used to over come it was just going over each sentence and really thinking about if I’m showing or telling, and if I was telling I would try to include the five senses. if I was a teacher I would say to do that.
ReplyDeleteWhile writing my personal narrative and my memoir I noticed similarities. Some similarities I noticed in writing each of the genres of writing were that they both were told in first person narration. Another similarity that both of the genres of writing used the "show" technique. Also, both types of writing use symbolism.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed some differences both genres of writing. My personal narrative took place in a short amount of time maybe only 5 minutes. On the other hand my memoir took a longer amount of time, it took about 2 weeks and it could have gone longer. Another difference between a personal narrative and a memoir that I noticed were that the personal narrative was about a small moment in my life. My memoir that I wrote was about a made up character not myself.
While writing my personal narrative and my memoir I noticed similarities. Some similarities I noticed in writing each of the genres of writing were that they both were told in first person narration. Another similarity that both of the genres of writing used the "show" technique. Also, both types of writing use symbolism.
I also noticed some differences both genres of writing. My personal narrative took place in a short amount of time maybe only 5 minutes. On the other hand my memoir took a longer amount of time, it took about 2 weeks and it could have gone longer. Another difference between a personal narrative and a memoir that I noticed were that the personal narrative was about a small moment in my life. My memoir that I wrote was about a made up character not myself.