Graphing Emotions in a Narrative 

English Language Arts & Mathematics/Allison 
Kikkert & Alyssa Migler 
 

Introduction/Overview of Experience  
In this five day interdisciplinary experience, students will be creating 
their own narrative about an experience or specific events/chain of 
events that have happened in their lives and how it made them feel 
emotionally. In addition to that, the students will be working with 
graphing and creating their own graph that corresponds with their 
narrative. They will be allowed to choose their event/chain of events 
 

 
 
 

that will be on their specific axis. This will help the students turn their 
written narrative into a visual that they will use as their final project to 
explain their event/s in their lives to the class and be able to document 
their “highs and lows” of that event. Students will reflect on their 
responses to both the graph and narrative. 

Standards (include ELA and Content)  

Standards (Math): 

A1.F-IF.C.7

● Graph functions expressed symbolically and show key features of the graph, by hand in
simple cases and using technology for more complicated cases.

6.EE.C.9

● Use variables to represent two quantities that change in relationship to one another to
solve mathematical problems and problems in real-world context. Write an equation to
express one quantity (the dependent variable) in terms of the other quantity (the
independent variable). Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent
variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation.

Standards (English): 
● 6.W.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and introducing a narrator
and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop
experiences, events, and/or characters.
c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal
shifts from one time frame or setting to another. d. Use precise words and phrases,
relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to convey experiences and events.
e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
 
ELA Standard

(6.W.4): Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization,
and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations
for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.

 
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(AZ.6.W.4): a. Produce clear and coherent functional writing (e.g., formal letters,
recipes, experiments, notes/messages, labels, timelines, graphs/tables, procedures,
invitations, envelopes, maps, captions) in which the development and organization are
appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

Learning Outcomes 
English:

Day 1: ​SW be able to recall a memory of an event to write about for their narrative and
be able to record their memory/features of it on a Google Form answering all questions.
Day 2: ​SW be able to identify and discuss the features of a model text narrative and
determine distinguishing features by creating a list with a partner with 90% accuracy.
Day 3:​ SW be able to apply features of a narrative and begin to construct their own by
reviewing sample texts to develop their first paragraph via a Google Document.
Day 4:​ SW be able to analyze the writing of a peer during editing and construct valid
and useful feedback using the self/peer editing checklists and completing all questions.
Day 5: ​SW conclude their narrative by interpreting their emotions on a graph and
present these findings to the class while meeting at least 80% of the grading criteria.
Overall Objective: ​SW be able to explain and interpret their memory in the format of a
narrative and display this in a final draft of three paragraphs (minimum).

Math:

Day 1​: Students will be able to define and identify parts of graphs(data, line
graph, title, label, scale, point, etc) using their prior knowledge 9 out of 10 times.

Day 2​: Given online graphing examples and timelines, students will be able to
examine line graph examples and analyze their parts with 90% accuracy.

Day 3​: Given the procedure for constructing a line graph, students will be able to
examine the procedure from a given set of data and describe the procedure for
constructing a line graph with no errors.

Day 4​: Students will be able to graphically represent important life events using
their knowledge of parts of a graph and relationships using both online graphing

 
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tools and paper with 80% accuracy. 

Day 5​: Students will be able to present their graph in how it relates to the event/s
in their life and explain their reasoning to the class using their online
representation of their graph with no errors.

Overall objective​: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe and
create the procedure for constructing a line graph from a given set of data with
80% accuracy. 

Texts/Text Types (list, describe use, include images)  

English- 

Day 1: ​SW use the class P

​ adlet​ to fill out emotional buzzwords regarding the two 
sample videos (​Ms. Kikkert​ and ​Ms. Migler​’s) they watched. At the end of class, SW 
fill out this short ​Google Form Exit Ticket​ that will help the teacher gauge if students 
are on the right track for choosing a memory for their narrative. 

Day 2: ​SW view E

​ xample Narratives​ to notice the features of them. Students will use 
these examples to guide them in what’s expected of the development of their own 
narrative. 

Day 3​: SW use this narrative infographic to help develop their own narrative. This 
will be used as a checklist to essentially make sure students have all parts required 
and understand what’s expected of them. (image included is small, but is in day 3 of 
the digital learning experience Google Slide) 

 
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Day 4​: Before peer editing a partner’s rough draft narrative, students will view their 
own using this N
​ arrative Checklist​ to help save time while peer editing. When peer 
editing, SW will complete the ​Peer Editing Checklist​ to review their classmate’s 
narrative and provide feedback. 

Day 5​: to be determined.. But probably some sort of small group presentation

Math- 
Discuss timelines and ways we can represent real life events/experiences on 
graphs. 

● http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/graphicmap/ 
● http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline_2/ 
● Ask students to think of graphs that they have seen in the real world.
For what purposes were they used? Have students hunt for examples in
books, in magazines, on the Internet, in newspapers, and in business
documents.
● Have students draw timelines and navigate through the interactive ones
to brainstorm ideas for their events 
Video explaining line graphs:  

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YkbdNORp8 

 
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● Have students write key takeaways and things they recognized and didn’t 
recognize from the video (then discuss with a partner) 

Worksheet ideas 

● https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/sponsored-content/Actuarial/1
7-18/af_les3_rep3-line.pdf
● https://www.mathworksheets4kids.com/linear-equation/two-points/graphing-1.pdf
● These worksheets will be incorporated through the lesson and students will work
on these individually and then compare with their partners and peer edit their
work. 

Online graphing tools 

● https://www.geogebra.org/geometry
● https://www.desmos.com
● Both of these tools will be used for practice when students are navigating 
through graphing points and creating a line graph.  
● (if time permits) I will have the students calculate slope both using these 
online tools and on paper 

This is a “create your graph” online tool where students can choose their x and y axis 
labels and scale of graph 

● https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=3ec7f2c71657477bb
b805c77c98cae63 

These are online graphing worksheets 

● https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/ordered-pairs/ 

This is a cool coordinate challenge treasure hunt for students to get more comfortable 
working with ordered pairs before they create their graphs 

● https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/coordinate-challenge-treasure-hunt
/ 

 
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Lesson One: Ask A Compelling 

Question  

Inquiry Question : 
How can an event in one’s life sustain a mood? 

Directions 

Hook:  
● Ask the compelling question to the students and give them a few moments to think 
and process it (just internally). What do students think “sustain” means? Clarify this 
word to students. 
● The teacher will ask student volunteers to share some examples of 
buzzwords surrounding emotions: happy, sad, angry, frustrated, etc., while 
writing these examples on the board. The teacher will elicit a few examples 
of times (or when) it’s appropriate to feel a certain emotion. (i.e. “So if I was 
frustrated about something, what could be a possible scenario for that 
emotion?”) A student may answer with a response such as “You may feel 
frustrated if your favorite basketball team lost the game by one point.” 
● Students will then view both teacher videos of their memories and pick out 
buzzwords or specific emotions that their teachers were feeling during their 
event/memory. 
● Ms. Migler's Memory 
● Ms. Kikkert's Memory  

Activity 

Math:  

● Students will discuss specific buzzwords they picked from Ms. Migler’s and Ms. 
Kikkert’s videos (on their memory) and add them to the classroom ​Padlet 
○ To navigate, tell students they double click on the board to create a post-it. 
○ To connect the post its, click the three dots above the post it and press 
“connect to a post” 

 
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● Students will use h
​ ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YkbdNORp8 
○ Have students write key takeaways and things they recognized and didn’t 
recognize from the video (then discuss with a partner) (3 min) 
● Students will create a graphical analysis of how Ms. Migler was feeling during 
specific aspects of her memory ON PAPER and explain why they chose their labels 
and scale for the graph.  
● Students will then present Ms Kikkerts video using G
​ eogebra​ to use both online and 
paper and explain why they chose their labels and scale for the graph.  
○ When navigating through Geogebra, students can input points that will 
appear on the graph or go to the point tool 
○ When labeling their axis, they go to “text” and can create it there 
○ DON'T FORGET TO SAVE FILE 
● Students will then begin to think of their own memory and the buzzwords or 
emotions they felt.  
○ Have students brainstorm  
● Students will graph their emotions using G
​ eogebra​ on the online graphing tool 
○ DON'T FORGET TO SAVE FILE 

English: 

● Students will discuss specific buzzwords they picked from Ms. Migler’s and Ms. 
Kikkert’s videos (on their memory) and add them to the classroom ​Padlet 
○ To navigate, tell students they double click on the board to create a post-it. 
○ To connect the post its, click the three dots above the post it and press 
“connect to a post” 
● Provide students with 5 minutes or so to think of their own memory. This could be a 
day, a particular event, etc. They may choose to brainstorm or write notes on a 
sheet of paper. This is low stakes and simply a time for them to just think.  
○ Remind students of the buzzwords in the two example videos they watched 
and discussed on Padlet. Does their memory elicit feelings of emotion? 
● After 5 minutes, the teacher will ask 3-4 students to share their memory. As each 
student shares, the teacher will stop students after particular events that can be 
emotional and ask the whole class probing questions. (i.e. “So Sandy said that she 
fell and hurt her knee. How might someone feel or react to hurting their knee?”) 

 
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○ Allow students to respond to this question and remind them that they need 
to be thinking about these reactions/emotions when creating their own 
narrative. 
○ After you ask the probing question to the class, allow that student to 
continue to tell their story, stopping to ask the whole classroom questions 
when appropriate. 
● At the end of class, students will be asked to full out this s
​ hort ​Google Form Exit 
Ticket​ that will help the teacher understand where students are in relation to 
the development of their memory. 

Closing  

English: 

The teacher will ask students if they have any questions relating to their memory 
and what it needs to encompass as well as reminding students that they need to 
come to class tomorrow with a decided memory in mind to continue the process of 
writing a narrative. 

Math​: 

Students will analyze their graphs of Ms. Migler and Ms. Kikkerts memories and 
compare/contrast the data they found when graphing.  

Questions to ask: What emotions were similar? How would you describe these 
emotions in your own words? What differences do you see in the data? Did you put 
different emotions on the y axis for their different memories? 

 
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Lesson Two: Analyze Sources  

Hook  

Activity  

Instruction/Activity  

Lesson Three: Creatively Synthesize 

Claims and Evidence   

Lesson Four : Critically Evaluate and 

Revise  
  Comparing Texts and Peers   

Lesson Five : Share, Publish, Act  

 
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