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50 min
Student Lesson
Lesson 39: Stories for the Future, Orienting Readers to Your Narrative
Content
Students will engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and an initial conflict in the opening of their narrative.
Language
Students will use connective phrasing to draft opening events in logical sequence and show cause and effect.
How does memory help us understand who we are, and what is lost when memory disappears?
How do stories help communities survive change and imagine a future worth building?
Knowledge-Building:
Students continue to apply the knowledge they developed about narrative writing craft to their own narrative openings.
Enduring Understanding:
Stories shape how humans remember the past and imagine the future.
Future Lessons:
In Lessons 40 and 41, students will continue to draft their narratives for the Performance Task.
Unit Performance Task:
Students draft the opening and first key scene of their final narrative.
| Lesson Flow | Purpose of Learning Experience |
|---|---|
Launch5 Minutes | Students will discuss what makes a strong narrative opening. |
Literacy Lab10 Minutes | Students will learn how narrative openings orient the reader, establish point of view, and introduce conflicts and events. |
Learning in Action30 Minutes | Learning in Action: Drafting the Narrative Opening (W.8.3.a, W.8.4) Students will draft their narrative opening by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and conflict. |
Material List
Unit 4 Lesson 39 Student Edition
Routines
Think-Pair-Share
Turn and Talk
Say: In Lesson 38, you planned the arc of your narrative. Today, you will draft an opening that pulls the reader into that world immediately by orienting the reader to the context, situation, and point of view of your narrative.
Display and read aloud the following sentences:
This story is about a girl who lives in the future and has to protect old stories from the government.
The last story her grandmother ever told her was illegal by the time she turned twelve.
Instruct students to think independently about the question before discussing it with a partner.
Say these Directions: Read the two opening sentences, then discuss the following question with your partner.
Ask: Which opening makes you want to keep reading, and why?
The second opening makes me want to keep reading because it already sounds like a real story instead of a summary. It places me in a future where stories can become illegal, gives me a relationship that matters, and makes me wonder what happened to the grandmother and why the story is dangerous.
Invite a few students to share with the class, then facilitate a brief class discussion.
Guide students to notice that the first sentence summarizes the story, while the second places the reader in a specific moment and hints at conflict. Reinforce that effective openings orient the reader by showing context, point of view, and a situation the reader wants to understand.
Say: Today, you will start drafting your story by writing an opening that brings your reader into a specific moment. Instead of explaining what your story is about, you will show the world, introduce a point of view, and give your reader enough context to keep them reading.
Remind students that they learned about and practiced writing a strong narrative opening in Lesson 7.
Display and read aloud the opening of “The Comet”:
He stood a moment on the steps of the bank, watching the human river that swirled down Broadway. Few noticed him. Few ever noticed him save in a way that stung. He was outside the world—“nothing!” as he said bitterly. Bits of the words of the walkers came to him.
“The comet?”
“The comet—”
Everybody was talking of it. Even the president, as he entered, smiled patronizingly at him, and asked:
“Well, Jim, are you scared?”
“No,” said the messenger shortly.
Display the chart.
Say: Let’s break this opening into parts. Each chunk shows how the writer builds the opening step-by-step—first placing us in a setting, then showing the point of view, and finally hinting at conflict.
Chunk | Meaning | Function |
|---|---|---|
He stood a moment on the steps of the bank, | A man pauses in a specific place. | orients the reader in the setting and starts to establish a point of view with the use of he |
watching the human river that swirled down Broadway. | He observes a busy crowd moving through the city. | develops a setting and establishes a distant, observant perspective |
Few noticed him. Few ever noticed him | People ignore him. | introduces the character’s social position and isolation from others |
save in a way that stung. | When people do notice him, it is hurtful. | hints at emotional conflict and builds early tension |
“The comet?” | Something is going on with a comet that people are commenting on. | hints at a possible conflict or event that is to come |
Guide students to connect each chunk to its function: how the setting is established, how the point of view is revealed, and how tension begins to build.
Say: Notice that the author does not explain the whole story first. Instead, the reader enters through a specific moment, a character’s perspective, and a hint of conflict. Strong openings do not separate these elements; they integrate setting, point of view, character, and initial events or conflicts at the same time.
Display the narrative opening from the Lesson Launch:
Say these Directions: Evaluate the following opening from the Lesson Launch.
The last story her grandmother ever told her was illegal by the time she turned twelve.
Ask: How does this opening establish a point of view, characters, and a context?
It introduces a third-person point of view, the relationship between a young girl and her grandmother, and a world where stories are illegal. The word illegal creates tension and makes the reader wonder what happened.
Say: Now you will use your Story Arc Planner to begin drafting your narrative opening. Start with one or two sentences that place the reader in a specific moment, then continue the scene by showing what happens next.
Instruct students to take out their Story Arc Planners from Lesson 38, and explain that they will use them to begin drafting a narrative opening.
Display the following writing model:
Writing Model: By the time the memory inspectors reached our apartment tower, the hallway lights had already turned red.
Say: Notice how this opening places the reader in a specific moment, introduces a world, and hints at danger right away.
Conduct a Think-Aloud to model how to begin a narrative opening:
Say: I use my Story Arc Planner to choose one detail that quickly places the reader in the world. Then I decide who is telling the story and what problem begins right away. I want the reader to enter a moment where something is already happening, not a summary of the whole story.
Instruct students to review their Story Arc Planners and discuss the following questions with a partner.
Say these Directions: Review your Story Arc Planner, and then discuss the following questions with your partner.
Ask: Which detail from your planner will orient the reader to the context of your story immediately?
The detail that will orient the reader is the school memory scanner at the gate because it shows right away that the story takes place in a controlled future world.
Ask: What question do you want your reader to have after the first few lines?
I want the reader to wonder whether my narrator can hide her grandmother’s banned recording before the scanner detects it.
Circulate and encourage students to name a specific moment that they will begin with. Prompt students to move from summary (“This is a story about . . .”) to scene (“By the time . . . ,” “When . . . ,” “At the . . .”).
Say: Now you will use your Story Arc Planner to begin drafting your narrative opening.
Check for Understanding (W.8.3.a) |
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As you write, pause and reread your work to make sure it includes:
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Provide time for students to write their narratives. Circulate to ensure students are continuing from a clear opening into a connected sequence of events and showing the conflict through action. Prompt students to move from explanation to description if needed.
Provide students with a Reflection (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.
Reflection |
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Reflect on your ability to draft a narrative opening and develop the first scene using the Reflection routine.
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Say these Directions: Exchange your narrative opening with a partner. Read your partner’s opening, and identify a glow and a grow:
One moment that clearly orients you to the setting, character, or situation (glow)
One suggestion to strengthen the opening or make the conflict or situation clearer (grow)
Glow: The line “By the time the scanners lit up the hallway, I was already hiding the recording under my jacket” clearly orients me to the setting and shows something is happening right away. It helped me understand that the story takes place in a controlled environment.
Grow: You could make the conflict clearer by adding what might happen if the character gets caught. This would increase the tension and make the situation feel more urgent.
Instruct students to continue drafting their narrative openings, incorporating their partner’s feedback. Encourage them to draft the first scene to show how the conflict develops.