As elementary school teachers, we’re always looking for that thing that is going to magically transform narrative writing in our classrooms. Whether it’s the latest teaching trend or the newest tweak on an old technique (and, if you’ve been around as long as I have, you know that like mom-jeans, everything in teaching comes back in fashion eventually), we want it. Enter the “Roll-A-Story” writing worksheet.
They’re not new.
They’ve been around for a while, and you might’ve even downloaded one to use in your own class. As a lead-in to writing, “Roll-A-Stories” are great, BUT if handing them out to your students and saying, “Go for it!” is the extent of your writing instruction…
WE NEED TO TALK.
What’s a “Roll-A-Story”?
In case you’ve never heard of a “Roll-A-Story”, it is a worksheet that aims to infuse a little fun into the brainstorming stage of a narrative writing project by asking the student to roll a dice and let fate (AKA-the number rolled on the dice) decide the main character, setting, problem, and sometimes the solution to the story a student is going to write.
“Roll-A-Story” gives students a place to begin and helps children who are struggling to come up with an idea for a story options to choose from.
Why can’t I just use a “Roll-A-Story” as an easy writing assignment?
At first glance, you’d think that “Roll-A-Story” gives students everything they’re going to need to sit down and write an entertaining narrative story. The “Roll-A-Story” worksheet kicks off the brainstorming sesh for the students and gets them moving in the direction toward but that’s just the first part of the writing process. It literally tells them who their main character will be, where the story is to take place, and what the problem is that the main character has to overcome. Should be a cinch, right?
Nope.
There’s a lot more to narrative writing than just coming up with the “seed” idea, the teeny, tiny beginning of an idea that blossoms into a beautifully developed and written story. Students need to understand:
The basic plot, including the rise and fall sequence of narrative stories
The difference between how a personal narrative is written versus a story
How to move a story through time using word choice, dialogue, and setting/scene changes
How to craft the events before, during, and after the conflict in the story
And, students need to understand that all writers, including students writers, need to work through a series of steps known as the writing process.
Prewriting or Brainstorming Stage (planning the story)
Drafting Stage (writing the story)
Revising Stage (making alterations to the events, confirming that the story includes a logical sequence of events, guaranteeing the purpose of the story is clear to the reader, and that appropriate details are included to make certain the overall story is clear, understandable, and engaging)
Editing Stage (making corrections to the conventions, grammar, spelling.)
Publishing Stage (finalizing the story with the changes made in the editing and revising stages, and presenting it to readers in a way that is as neat, organized, and complete)
As you can see, there is a lot more that goes into writing a story than one would think upon first glance. That’s why as teachers, it’s important to remember that writing isn’t innate. Our students don’t come to us knowing how to look at a writing kick-off activity sheet like a “Roll-A-Story” and instinctively know what to do.
We have to teach them the steps (over and over and over again!)
So, as teachers, the most important thing we can do for our young writers is set them up for success by giving students access to stories (lots and lots of stories), read to them daily, encourage oral storytelling, and, for heaven’s sake, model the writing that you are asking students to do for them.
Think about it this way—you can watch Michael Phelps swim across the pool, but without ever having taken lessons yourself, all the dog paddling in the world isn’t going to get you from one end of the pool to the other, and you sure as heck aren’t going to feel great about yourself after your dog padding, “swim” session.
Welcome to what it feels like to be a kid when a teacher asks you to write a narrative story without explicitly teaching you how.
You, my friend, are Michael Phelps to your students. You’ve got to jump into the pool, or the writing assignment, right along side your kiddos and show them how it’s done. Then, you have to show them how to do it for themselves.
So what does this mean for “Roll-A-Stories”?
It means they are a tool to help move newer writers along but “Roll-A-Stories” are no substitute for your instruction.
How can I make the “Roll-A-Story” activity work for my students?
Now that you understand that “Roll-A-Stories” are a tool and not an actual replacement for your instruction, the question becomes, “How can I use a “Roll-A-Story” activity page for writing in my class?”
The answer is: as a springboard into the bigger writing task.
Narrative writing is a form of writing that seeks to entertain the reader with characters, that may or may not be real, doing things that may or may not be made up. “Roll-A-Story” offers new writers a jumping off point but it’s the responsibility of the teacher to model how to transform the information from the activity into a story with a beginning, middle, climax, and ending. And, in order to do that teachers must go through the writing process themselves.
(I know…when do you have time, right? But, bear with me for a minute.)
Preparation is the key to any successful endeavor, including teaching, and you may have even heard the expression that students are like sharks in the water—they can sense when you aren’t prepared. So, it’s important to go through the writing process yourself. It will help:
Identify potential areas of confusion for your students
Provide you with your own teacher’s guide to reference back to during your teacher demonstration lesson
Determine ideal places in the lesson to incorporate key skills, techniques, and writing traits that you want to spotlight for students
Streamline your delivery to ensure that your lessons don’t run over time
The good news is that you’re an old pro. You’ve been writing everything from essays to term papers, grocery lists to greeting cards for decades, so writing an itty, bitty story is going to be a breeze and will probably be done and over with before the Starbucks barista finishes making your pumpkin spice latte.
And, just in case you need a little more incentive, here is what daily, purposeful, strategic writing instruction will do for your students. It will:
Improve their writing abilities
Strengthen their reading skills
Allow them to tell their own stories
Provide an opportunity to show others what they know
Empower them to voice their opinions
Modeling writing for your students will also improve your relationship with your students by allowing you to get to know your students on a more personal level. They’ll start to see you as a source of support and someone who understands their struggles because writing is tricky for everyone, including their teacher.
To help you through the teaching writing process, download your FREE copy of my “Roll-A-Story” Writing Unit. Inside you’ll see that I really do practice what I preach. I’ve included everything you need to teach this narrative writing unit to your students—from brainstorming to celebration, including my own teaching plans, exemplars, and “how-to” instructions.
One more thing…will you drop me a comment after you’ve tried this unit with your students and let me know how it went? I’d love to hear about your adventures in writing.
And, if you know someone who would enjoy this post, please share this link (& the FREEBIE) with a friend!
Happy writing!
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