If you want your students to learn the art of crafting clear, coherent narratives, you must give them opportunities to write nonfiction narratives.

Nonfiction narrative is real writing

People must write nonfiction narratives. Only a very few people write fictional narratives, and they usually do it by choice. In real life settings, the narration people are required to do is factual narration.

Students understand nonfiction narrative; they see it corresponds to real life events. Writing nonfiction narrative gives struggling writers a sense of confidence because they know they can check their work against an observable, real-world standard.

Nonfiction narrative writing prompts avoids the emotional and cultural issues that make writing about personal experiences and feelings a frightening experience for many students. Kids don't need that hassle; neither do you.

While students have no problem with nonfiction narrative, writing teachers may have a problem coming up with narrative prompts on nonfiction topics. The solution lies within the ELA curriculum.

Look within the ELA curriculum

The point of narrative writing is to present a clear and accurate sequence of events. For teaching purposes, the best narrative writing prompts are those that allow a reader to compare the writing to the actual occurrance.

What situations allow comparison of and ELA student's writing to an actual occurrance?

• A plot summary of a piece of literature.

• A description of a strategy or process for doing some class-related task, commonly called a "how-to."

• A narrative of an event that occurred in the classroom.

• An anecdote about an event that two or more class members witnessed.

• An historical account that can be verified by witnesses or primary sources.

None of those sounds particularly exciting, but the goal of teaching is not to entertain teachers; it is to help students master skills.

If we can help students master the skill of narrative writing and simultaneously help students learn other material in our curriculum, we are making our lives easier in the long run.

Click to see some narrative prompts on ELA topics you can use when teaching writing, each guaranteed not to make teenage guys blush.