“Write narratives,” states the Common Core, “to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.” In So, What’s the Story? James Fredricksen, Michael Smith, and Jeffrey Wilhelm share lessons and unit frameworks on narrative writing that help students not only meet the standards, but do important real-world work. “Narrative is about much more than the form of a story, identifying a protagonist, or naming its climax,” they write, “it’s about doing functional work not only in the classroom and school, but in the community and the world.”
With ideas for teaching autobiography, narrative nonfiction, imaginary narratives, and narratives that employ both words and images, So, What’s the Story? provides practitioners with ways to help students make the leap from composing stories to understanding how stories and narrative concepts can help them to identify, critique, and change how their world works.