Writing a Narrative About Grit
Grade
Grade 7
UNIT
2
•
Grit
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, “Writing a Narrative About Grit,” students will write a narrative that portrays the grit of a character. Students will write a narrative that imaginatively engages with one of the two readings covered earlier in this unit: The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman or “Dashrath Manjhi, The ‘Mountain Man’ Who Spent 22 Years Carving A Lifesaving Road Through A Treacherous Mountain.”
SUGGESTED TIME:
60 minutes of either in-class writing or a homework assignment
RELATED SUBJECT:
English Language Arts
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Write a narrative that develops an imagined experience with effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
- Demonstrate understanding of the character strength of grit.
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- Prohuman Grade 7 Unit 2 Worksheet 3: Writing a Narrative About Grit
ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET
LESSON PROCEDURE
- Have students choose one of the following prompts to write a 2-3 page narrative that focuses on grit:
- Imagine you are a new midwife’s apprentice helping Alyce, the main character in the novel The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman. Write a narrative in which you create an event or series of events where you show grit.
- Imagine you are a volunteer helping Dashrath Manjhi carve a road through the mountains. Write a narrative in which you create an event or a series of events where you show grit.
- Tell students their narratives will be shared with 3 classmates for peer review.
GRADE 7 UNIT 2 WORKSHEET 3: WRITING A NARRATIVE ABOUT GRIT
Choose one of the following prompts to write a narrative that focuses on grit:
- Imagine you are a new midwife’s apprentice helping Alyce, the main character in the novel The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman. Write a narrative in which you create an event or series of events where you show grit.
- Imagine you are a volunteer helping Dashrath Manjhi carve a road through the mountains. Write a narrative in which you create an event or a series of events where you show grit.
Your narrative will be shared with 3 classmates for peer review.
Your narrative will be graded on the extent to which it does the following:
- Meets the length requirement of 2-3 pages.
- Develops real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
- Engages and orients the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
- Uses narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
- Uses a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
- Uses precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
- Provides a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
- Has clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- Demonstrates command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- Demonstrates command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
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