Kennedy Robinson

ENGL 3690

Professor Meussen

31 January 2023

The first topic in these two chapters that was discussed were narratives. According to

Culham, a narrative is the structure of fiction or nonfiction events. It is the architectural design of

the story or series of stories that are often open-ended. An example of a narrative piece would be

an autobiography or a fairy tale. Typically, the author will write a narrative with a purpose. There

could be many purposes for the author to write a narrative including providing information,

creating an argument, entertaining, or even teaching. Culham mentioned 3 sub-categories in the

text that would define a narrative; stories, fiction narratives, and nonfiction narratives. A story, as

defined by Culham, is the sequence of events that includes characters, the setting, the plot, the

problem, and the resolution. A nonfiction narrative is one which comes from the imagination (ex.

science fiction), while a nonfiction narrative is one which is based on facts (ex. memoir). There

were also a lot of mentor text/ book suggestions that were given in order to help us instruct

students on how to write a narrative. There were a lot of examples that I wrote down for my own

sake, which I plan to use in my own classroom someday. A few of these examples are: Tuck

Everlasting (creating the lead/ grabbing the writer's attention from the start), Marshfield Dreams:

When I Was a Kid (Convying the Purpose), Jangles: A Big Fish Story (focusing in on the topic),

Grandpa Green (finding a topic), and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (using effective

language.) There are all books that I plan to keep in my future classroom library and will be sure

to include in a lesson centered around narrative writing.

 The second reading that we completed was based on informational (sometimes also

called expository or explanatory) writing. According to Culham, the “main purpose of

informational writing is to relay facts and information in a cohesive and thoughtful way by using

formats such as essays, books, journals, blogs, brochures, how-to manuals, signs, and lists.”

Culham discusses the 7 traits of informational writing. The first trait would be ideas, or the

content of the piece. The second trait of informational writing as described by Culham is

organization. Organization in this sense is described as the internal structure of the piece. Next,

we have voice, which is the tone or tenor of the piece. The fourth would be word choice, which

is characterized as the “way the writer uses accurate and specific words” in their informational

writing. The next two are sentence fluency (the way words and phrases flow through the piece)

and conventions (the mechanical correctness of the piece.) The last trait of informational writing

is presentation, which is the final meat of the piece. It is defined by Culham as “the physical

appearance of the piece.” As with the description of narrative writing, there were mentor texts

that were suggested that would best help students understand how to create an informational

piece. A few of these suggestions are Not Just Any Gum Tree (focusing on the topic), On a

Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein (ending with a sense of resolution), Locomotive

(developing the body), Eight Days Gone (using language effectively), and Kid-Friendly Fun,

Rain or Shine! (incorporating text features.) I chose to mention these books because they have

the most interesting stories and also seem helpful in teaching about informational writing!