Creative Writing - Fantasy Narrative Unit Plan & Materials

Save time without sacrificing rigor in the high school Creative Writing classroom with this Common Core-aligned unit plan and these comprehensive materials for engaging students fully in the narrative writing process. Included are the following:

A detailed, standards-based unit plan articulating the unit’s transfer goal(s), essential question(s), enduring understanding(s), learning target(s), academic vocabulary, formative assessment(s), summative performance task(s), and learning plan(s).

A PowerPoint presentation addressing the conventions of the fantasy genre.

Representative fantasy narratives.

Worksheets to facilitate analysis of representative literature.

Detailed project directions.

A comprehensive outline for student planning.

A document to facilitate the editing process.

A comprehensive rubric for evaluating student writing.

By engaging with these materials, students will do the following:

• Develop greater understanding of the conventions of the fantasy genre.
• Analyze how John Collier used figurative language (simile, metaphor, and euphemism), characterization, direct description, and foreshadowing to generate a compelling fantasy narrative in “The Chaser.”
• Analyze how Ursula K. Le Guin used characterization and grammatically improper language to develop an anthropomorphized protagonist in “The Wife’s Story.”
• Organize initial ideas in a coherent manner.
• Engage the reader with a compelling exposition that establishes setting, characters, and conflicts
• Use many appropriate narrative techniques (dialogue, dialect, description, pacing, etc.) to enhance a plot that is consistent with the fantasy genre
• Draft a coherent, cohesive, and appropriate narrative that builds toward a particular tone and outcome (a sense of mystery, suspense, etc.)
• Use precise words and phrases, active verbs, and sensory language to convey a compelling story
• Draft a reasonable and unrushed conclusion that resolves conflicts and conveys a theme
• Show mastery of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.