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My Story Spark

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Lesson Plan

My Story Spark Lesson Plan

Students will brainstorm and organize personal narrative topics and supporting details using a visual web to prepare for writing a short personal story.

This lesson helps struggling 7th-grade writers generate clear story ideas and details, building confidence and scaffolding narrative skills.

Audience

7th Grade Students (working at a 2nd grade level)

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Modeling, guided practice, independent activity

Materials

Prep

Prepare Materials

5 minutes

Step 1

Warm-Up

5 minutes

  • Pose the prompt: “Think of a time you felt proud or excited.”
  • Provide sentence starters: “I remember when…,” or “One day I….”
  • Model filling a topic and one detail using the Story Spark Examples.
  • Differentiation:
    • Show a picture prompt alongside text.
    • Allow verbal responses before writing.

Step 2

Instruction

10 minutes

  • Introduce the Personal Narrative Topic Web Worksheet.
  • Demonstrate filling the center bubble with your topic and adding 3–4 supporting details in surrounding circles.
  • Think aloud: explain how each detail connects to the main event.
  • Differentiation:
    • Provide a partially completed web for students needing extra support.
    • Offer sentence strips with starter phrases.

Step 3

Independent Practice

10 minutes

  • Have each student draw a card from the Personal Narrative Spark Cards Activity.
  • Students fill their webs: center with card topic, surrounding with personal details.
  • Circulate to prompt ideas and guide detail development.
  • Differentiation:
    • Pair stronger and emerging writers for peer support.
    • Give additional time or one-on-one prompts as needed.

Step 4

Closure

5 minutes

  • Invite 2–3 students to share their topic web with the class.
  • Highlight effective use of details supporting the main event.
  • Reinforce the structure: topic in center, details around.
  • Preview next session: drafting the personal narrative using these webs.
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Worksheet

Personal Narrative Topic Web Worksheet

Instructions: Think of a personal story you want to tell. Write your main topic in the center bubble and supporting details in the surrounding Detail bubbles.

(Detail: ______) (Detail: ______)
\ /
\ /
(Detail: ______) -- (Topic: ______) -- (Detail: ______)
/
/
(Detail: ______) (Detail: ______)

Use this web to organize your ideas before you start writing your story. Fill in each bubble with your own topic and details.

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Activity

Personal Narrative Spark Cards Activity

Purpose: Provide students with engaging prompts to kick-start their personal narrative topic web.

Materials Needed:

  • A deck of Spark Cards, each card printed or written on an index card.

Instructions:

  1. Shuffle the Spark Card deck and place it face down.
  2. Each student draws one card and reads the prompt aloud (or teacher reads it).
  3. Students write the prompt in the center bubble of their Personal Narrative Topic Web Worksheet.
  4. Spend 1–2 minutes quietly thinking, then fill the surrounding Detail bubbles with personal memories, facts, feelings, or senses that relate to the prompt.
  5. When time’s up, students can exchange webs with a partner to share ideas.

Spark Card Prompts (Examples):

  • A time I felt proud


  • My favorite family tradition


  • A fun day I had with friends


  • A challenge I overcame


  • My best birthday ever


  • A time I helped someone


  • My first day at a new place


  • A moment when I felt scared but then brave

Differentiation & Supports:

  • Provide picture cues on cards for students who need visual prompts.
  • Allow stronger writers to share aloud and model thinking for emerging writers.
  • Give sentence starters on strips (e.g., “I remember when…,” “It felt like…,” “What I saw was…”) to help students generate details.
  • Offer extra think time or one-on-one prompting for students with IEPs or 504 plans.

Teacher Tips:

  • Model selecting a card and completing a mini-web during the warm-up to set expectations.
  • Encourage students to focus on specific details (what they saw, heard, felt) rather than general statements.
  • Collect webs at the end to inform your next lesson on drafting full narratives.
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My Story Spark • Lenny Learning