If you’re an educator, you know how crucial it is to foster your students’ writing skills. Narrative writing is one of the key genres that students must master, as it helps them learn to articulate their thoughts and stories in a structured and expressive manner. That’s where the concept of a ‘Bump it Up Wall’ comes into play.
What exactly is a Bump it Up Wall? It’s a visual teaching tool that helps students understand the different levels of writing quality and encourages them to ‘bump up’ their work to the next level. By presenting samples of narrative writing ranging from basic to advanced, students can visually apprehend what makes each level distinctive and what they need to strive for to improve their own writing.
On Teach Starter’s website, there are examples provided that can serve as a perfect resource for this innovative approach. These examples are designed to showcase a variety of narrative elements such as setting, plot development, character creation, dialogue, and use of descriptive language.
The idea behind using these narratives is not simply for students to compare their work with the examples but rather to analyze each example to understand what improvements or enhancements have been made from one level to the next. This self-assessment method encourages students to critically evaluate their own writing pieces.
Each narrative example highlights key features that are expected at different levels of student achievement. Teachers can use these examples during planning and instruction by:
– Showing students various leveled examples of narrative texts.
– Discussing with students what makes text more effective or engaging.
– Enabling students to identify goals for their narrative writing.
– Encouraging peer-to-peer feedback sessions where students use the wall as a reference guide.
For instance, on ‘Level 1’, narratives might display simple sentence structures with minimum detail. At ‘Level 3′, however, one might observe the inclusion of complex sentence structures and rich vocabulary that provide depth to the story.
The Bump it Up Wall strategy supports differentiated learning as well. It allows students at any level—in need of support or extension—to see clear pathways for enrichment in their writing based on their current capabilities.
Moreover, Teach Starter offers resources aligned with various curriculum standards so educators can ensure that they’re meeting required benchmarks while also catering to students’ individual learning needs.
To conclude, embracing tools like the Bump it Up Wall not only promotes continuous improvement among learners but also instills confidence in them as writers. Teach Starter’s blog on narrative writing examples can serve as an impactful starting point for educators wanting to implement this dynamic technique within their classrooms. As a result, students are likely to become more engaged and proficient in crafting compelling narratives that capture their unique voices and experiences.
