Personal Narrative Writing Assignment

A personal narrative is a short story about something that has happened to you in your life. For this assignment you are to write a 2 to 4 page personal story.

Submission Guidelines:
Cover SheetThis should include your first and last name, title, and date. You can add an image of yourself or be as creative as you like on this part. Final DraftTwo to four pages long, typed. FormattingFollow these requirements for the paper format 12 point font Double-spaced Black ink Times New Roman, Arial or Verdana 2 cm or 1 in. margins Rough DraftsAttach all rough drafts when you turn in the final copy. Your first draft must be written by hand. The next drafts may be typed. DialogueYour story must include dialogue. E-mailE-mail a copy of your final draft to mrsbernsteinrhhs@gmail.com and bring in a hard copy of the paper on Monday.

Grading: This paper will be graded for these writing traits: ideas, voice, word choice,
conventions. The project is worth 100 points.

Topics: Choose one of the topics below or devise your own topic (please approve the topic
with me first).
1. Lightbulb Moment] Think of an experience when you realized that you suddenly understood an idea, a skill, or a concept you had been struggling with -- it might be something related to a class that you took or a specific athletic skill you were trying to perfect. For instance, you might think about trying to understand how to identify iambic pentameter in a poem or how to complete a Taylor Series problem in your Calculus class. Or you might consider trying to perfect your free throws and suddenly understanding how your follow-through was affecting your success. Write a narrative that tells the story of your movement toward understanding. How did you finally come to understand? What changed your perceptions and gave you a new understanding? Your paper should help readers understand how you felt to struggle with the idea or skill and then to understand. 2. [Childhood Event] Choose a vivid time from your childhood -- You might think of the first time that you rode a school bus, of a time when you went to the principal's office, the first A you earned on a test or paper, earning money to buy something that you really wanted, and so on. Narrate the events related to the childhood memory that you've chosen so that your readers will understand why the event was important and memorable. 3. [The Good and the Bad] Think about an event in your life that seemed bad but turned out to be good. Maybe you got injured and while you were waiting for your broken leg to heal, you learned how to use a computer. What makes the event change from bad to good may be something that you learned as a result, something that you did differently as a result, or something that happened that wouldn't have occurred otherwise. Tell the story of the event that you experienced and help your readers understand how an event that seemed negative turned out to have valuable consequences.

Personal Narrative Essay Template Title: ______________________________________________________ By: ___________________________________________

Introduction Paragraph: Begin with a HOOK: ________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________. Describe the setting: ____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ What people were involved?:_____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ What were you like before the incident/event?: _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ What was the incident you will be writing about?: ____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Beginning/Paragraph 2: Start by describing the beginning of the incident. What were your actions, thoughts/feelings, and others that were involved actions and thoughts? ____________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

Middle/Paragraph 3: Describe the events in order using only important details. The reader should experience/RELIVE the incident with you. __________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ End/Paragraph 4: The last part of the incident (the grand finale). What is the changed experience? What is your life like NOW compared to BEFORE? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion/Paragraph 5: Wrap up the narrative by reflecting on the lesson you learned and how this will impact your future. What knowledge have you gained by this major event/incident in your life? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

Mrs. Bernstein I Had the Time of my Life

Model Essay

I am uncertain what attracted me to Bryan Farley, he was not very handsome, smart, nor kind. Yet, it was he who held my undying devotion in the sixth grade. There were three things that mattered most to me that year: The NY Mets, my best friend Maria Martinez and my first crush Bryan Farley. This, of course, is in no order of importance. The NY Mets won the World Series the year before and everyone in the world seemed to be a Mets fan. Maria and I knew all the players on the current roster and their stats. We were best buds since kindergarten, we were born a day apart and lived up the block from one another. She had the ability to French braid my hair perfectly. My home offered Maria a sanctuary from her overly strict European parents. Maria and I both loved the NY Mets and we both shared a crush on Bryan Farley. Bryan Farley was the class clown and he thrived on being mean to me. Maria seemed to fly under his radar. I was the object of his disdain. He would chase me around the cafeteria, throw paper airplanes at my head in class and call me fire head due to my unnaturally bright head of red hair. The last insult was so grave to me that one day I came home from school and gathered all the cleaning products in my home and took them to the bathroom. I put my head under the sink as I was determined to wash the red out of my hair. Thankfully, my mother walked in before I got to the bleach. Do not get the wrong impression; I was not a withering flower in his presence. I would trip him, hide his book bag and sabotage him any chance I could get. My red hair and Maria were not the only obstacles in my path to my true love. Bryan loved Barbara Aloisie. He was extremely vocal about his devotion. Barbara Aliosie was the prettiest girl in class. She was in gymnastics and dance and was in the popular crowd. Yet, Maria and I could not understand what he saw in her. Our conversations would go something like this: Barbara Aloisie thinks she is so perfect, like the way she walks and says things I know, just because she is blonde and wears new dresses every day, she thinks she is so great. I wish Barbara Aloisies family would move to Japan.

I wish she would move to Australia because that is even farther away. For some reason it did not bother me in the slightest that Maria loved Bryan. She seemed equally unconcerned about my feelings for him. This is probably why one day Maria and I came to the conclusion that if Bryan Farley knew of our unwavering love, he would at once forget about Barbara and commit himself to one of us. We decided that the only way to reveal our feelings to him would be through a phone call we would both make together. After school that day we went to the basement of my house and flipped a coin to decide who would call first. Maria lost so she was first up. I felt so nervous for her as she waited for someone to answer. I could not think beyond the moment when Bryan finally got on the phone and Maria said, Bryan, this is Maria and I like you, hold one I believe this is the reason why when Maria handed me the phone I took it and to hung it up. Marias sense of betrayal was so acute she wore it on her face. She glared at me, at that moment in time I could swear I saw the steam coming out of her ears. In the plan we devised, we would both confess our feelings to Bryan. I did feel a sense of shame in not making my declaration.. However, I could not bring myself to do it. In the end my pride would not let me. This is the boy who called me meatball on a daily basis, he tore up the essay I wrote that I earned an A on. All of the terrible things that Bryan did flooded my memory and the words I made a pact with Maria to say were stuck in my throat, refusing to emerge. At first, I was unsure what Maria was doing when she picked up the phone again. Then I understood she was making things right. When Bryan answered a second time Maria had this to say, Hi Bryan, this is Maria again. I just wanted to let you know Bernadette likes you too. She quickly hung up the phone, we looked at each other a beat then burst out into nervous girlish squeals. It was so loud my brother came down threatening us with bodily harm if we did not stop. Our squeals transformed into painful suppressed laughter as we gasped for air. We bonded over our shameless ploy to get Bryan to notice us and perhaps acknowledge his feelings for us.

The next day was the last day of school and the school dance. Although Maria and I knew of Bryans feelings for Barbara, in our hearts a glimmer of hope prevailed that our confession from the prior day might awaken feelings in him. We got ready for the dance with all the exuberance of the young and nave. We promised one another to remain friends despite who Bryan would choose for the slow dance. We arrived to our first school dance and saw our classmates dressed in their finest. I remember feeling so grown up. The lights dimmed setting the stage for the slow song. The film Dirty Dancing came out that year and I Had the Time of my Life was one of the most popular songs on the radio. It was the perfect song for this moment, THE moment that I had prepared for, perhaps my whole life. I looked around for Bryan and there he was in front of me, walking right towards me. I demurely shifted my eyes so as not to appear overeager. I looked up just in time to see Bryan move to the right and walked right past me to Barbara Aloisie. Maria came over and placed a consolatory hand on my shoulder. We looked on as Barbara turned Bryan down. Maria and I had the gratifying experience of schadenfreude or the pleasure derived at others misfortunes. Bryan Farley never did reveal his affection for us. He eventually faded into one of many comical memories for us. Maria and I would fall in love many more times before we graduated and parted ways. Sometimes it was with the same boy, most of the time with different ones. As I look back at this event in my life my memory of Bryan is hazy, but I will never forget my beautiful and loyal best friend. I will never be as good a friend as I was when I was twelve. As you get older you gain responsibilities that require your attention to be on other matters. At twelve I had all the time in the world to obsess about boys and clothes and my hair. Ultimately, I am thankful Bryan did not choose either one of us at the dance. If he did we would never have remained friends and I would have deprived of all of the wonderful memories that would come later. I am sure by now Maria has moved on and replaced me with a new best friend. My husband is my best friend now. He is handsome, smart and kind. Even though I would not trade him for anyone else in the world, he cannot French braid my hair perfectly.