Webinar Recap: Kelly Gallagher on Narrative Writing

By Jazmin Cruz

"Ask students to write their autobiographies and personal narratives. Students can start with their earliest memories of traditions, education, religion, triumphs, defeats, and so on. Teachers must have permission to read such personal accounts."  -Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

On July 8, 2020, Kelly Gallagher hosted a webinar on narrative writing and how that looks like during online instruction. Although Gallagher's webinar is unavailable for viewing, this blog offers a recap of the resources shared by Gallagher and our learning community of in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, specialists, directors, researchers, and doctoral students. 

Why Narrative Writing?

In his webinar, Kelly Gallagher discussed why narrative writing is crucial for students of all grade levels. He notes that:

1. Students have stories to tell,
2. Narrative writing has been wrongly devalued, and 
3. Narrative is the mother of all modes of writing. 

Gallagher makes a point that students' stories matter to engage, to connect, and to persuade. He also argues that the ability to tell stories that only students themselves can tell is an important life skill. The skills students learn when writing a strong narrative are not genre-specific, rather they will use these skills across genres. 

How can you introduce narrative writing?

"Sometimes an argument is deeply strengthened by someone’s story." - Kelly Gallagher

One of the ways Gallagher suggested to incorporate narrative writing is by weaving it with argumentative writing to create a multi-genre writing assignment. (For more on multi-genre writing, read Jeremy Hyler's blog here) Educators can weave stories into texts

• before argument writing,

• after argument writing, or

• both before and after argumentative writing.

What can student's write about?

Gallagher posed the question, How can we write effectively with sensory details and voice? His response was find a rich idea. In narrative writing, stories arise from places, events, objects, and people. He uses the term responsive seeds. These seeds are photographs, quotes, books, art, videos, or articles that will connect with your students. Teachers should note what is worth talking about and this includes letting students tell you what they are interested in. (For more about students' writing choice , read Jeremy Hyler's blog here.) Encourage students to write smaller (zoom in to a specific scene). 

Keep in mind that students need feedback while they are creating. Gallagher uses peer review and one-to-one feedback with his own students. ​He points out that a teacher's response should place you as an ally to the writer. 

A Writer's Notebok

In his webinar, Gallagher also noted that students benefit from low pressure, ungraded writing. He uses a paper notebook as his students' "workbench, playground, and a collection of ideas" that he may never see (as a teacher). In his book, 180 Days, Gallagher explains that it is easy to trace the writer's moves on paper and putting ink to paper stimulates the Reticular Activating System (Handwriting Trains the Brain, 2010). A paper notebook also ensures it is portable for students who do not have tech at home. This everyday practice encourages students to read and write. 

Gallagher talked about some activities he does with his students to encourage writing in their notebooks. These included 

• the 34-word story,
• 100-word moment, and
• writing from a photograph

Need Mentor Texts?

Resources provided by Gallagher and our learning community are available here.  

​Kelly Gallagher's webinar included many topics from his book, 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents.  His 2019 webinar titled Empowering Adolescent Writers, is available to view here.
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