Navigating NAPLAN - Lesson Nine - Structure and Ideas in Narrative Writing

Resource Description

Our Navigating NAPLAN resources are designed to help Australian English teachers prepare students for the annual NAPLAN writing assessments.  These resources focus on narrative and persuasive writing, and are aligned with the Australian Curriculum (Years 7 & 9).  

Developed and reviewed by a team of educators including senior Australian English teachers, these resources have been professionally designed to create a high quality learning experience.  

Lesson structure

1. Ask students to reflect on themselves as writers, with specific reference to considering the characteristics and qualities of beginning writers and maturing writers (terminology used by ACARA). Discuss the two categories of writers as a class. 
2. View the slide for ‘beginning writers’ in the Lesson 9 Narrative Writing PowerPoint slides. Explain that beginning writers typically structure a narrative by adopting a ‘beginning, middle and end’ approach to story-writing with a simple problem and resolution. Contrast this with the fact that as students mature, their writing reflects a growing understanding that the middle of the story needs to involve a problem or complication that introduces conflict, danger or tension that must be resolved. It is this uncertainty that draws the reader in and builds suspense. 
3. Use this as an opportunity for students to explore the different ways that a narrative can be structured, with specific reference to both ideas as well as language.  
4. Refer to narrative structure, and differentiate the writing experience for beginning writers and maturing writers. Consider these aspects as part of the NAPLAN marking criteria. 

This Australian Curriculum alignment statement is based on the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) materials, which are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The material has been modified from the Australian Curriculum website (accessed January 2020).

All activities have been created by educators for educators and are linked to the Australian Curriculum (Version 8.4). We advise teachers to consult the ACARA website for the most up-to-date curriculum outcomes.