8 Personal Narrative Topics for Upper Elementary

On the surface, personal narratives seem really simple. Just write about yourself! But there’s a difference between telling a story and telling a good story – and that’s exactly what students are working to master. I’m sharing several personal narrative topics you can use for the ample practice your students need, so you’re never short on ideas. Plus, some of my best tipss for teaching personal narrative essays.

Personal Narrative Topics

Personal narratives aren’t one and done. Your upper elementary students will need to write again…and again to get the skill down pat. Below are several personal narrative topics you can use to help students practice, refine, and master personal narrative essays. 

• Describe a moment when you felt proud of yourself. What led up to it, what did you accomplish, and what did that experience teach you?
• Write about a time you had to make a tough decision. What was going through your mind, and how did you choose what to do?
• Recount a time when things didn’t go according to plan. What were you expecting, what changed, and how did you respond?
• Write about a memory connected to a meaningful object. What is the story behind it, and what emotions does it bring up?
• Write about a time that you felt really nervous. What physical sensations did you experience, and what caused those feelings?
• Narrate your first time doing something new. What did you expect to happen, and how did the reality compare?
• Describe a moment or day you wish you could experience again. What made that moment special, and what events took place?
• Tell the story of a favorite holiday memory. Who was there, what happened, and why does it stand out to you?

Now, you have several personal narrative topics to choose from! You just have to teach your students how to write personal narrative essays that people actually want to read. That’s where my Personal Narrative Writing Unit is helpful. I not only include personal narrative topics, but step-by-step lesson plans that take students from the elements of narrative writing to writing a complete, well-organized essay.

Tips for Teaching Personal Narrative Essays

While you’re here grabbing the personal narrative topics, I wanted to pass along some of my best tips for teaching personal narrative essays. These are things I’ve learned through a lot of practice and experience teaching ELA (and I embed all these strategies in my Personal Narrative Writing Unit as well).

#1 Explicitly Teach Elements of Narrative Writing

Kids are familiar with stories, whether through reading, movies, or simply listening to others, so you might think, “They know what plot is! They know how to write with dialogue.” But let’s be honest, there’s a reason your students’ essays are always a little disappointing. It’s because they don’t fully understand how to use the elements of narrative writing.

That’s why I recommend that you explicitly teach these elements. That means giving mini-lessons and reference pages that walk them through plot, sensory details, character development, and more. Additionally, it means showing these elements in action using mentor texts. 

(PS. My Personal Narrative Writing Unit includes teaching slides, reference pages, and mentor texts to make explicit teaching simple.)

#2 Use Mentor Texts

As I mentioned above, mentor texts are one of the best ways to explicitly teach the elements of narrative writing. It’s also the best way to model for students what good personal narrative essays look like, from the flow to the character development.

Specifically, you can use mentor texts like The Hunger Games or Freak the Mighty to model narrative writing. Or you can use a short story, passage, or even a student example. My best advice is avoid overcomplicating it. If you recently read a narrative in class, use that as the example. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

#3 Host Writing Conferences

I used to hate writing conferences. I tried to host formal conferences where I’d squeeze every student into a class period and ask them a set list of questions. It was stressful for me (and not very helpful for my students). One of the best ways to improve students’ personal narrative essays is with writing conferences, but you have to rethink how you host them.

Through lots of trial and error, I learned that letting go of rigid schedules (AKA meeting with students as you can, instead of rushing through a set number), keeping it casual, and letting their essays guide the conversation made a tremendous difference. I have more tips on hosting narrative writing conferences in this blog post.

#4 Use Alternating Units

One reason personal narrative essays feel so stressful (for you and your students) is that you’re trying to do everything at once: reading, writing, and grammar. Alternating units saved my sanity in the classroom and allowed me to go deeper into reading and writing skills.

Here’s the gist: for a few weeks, you’ll focus on just your writing unit. Then, you’ll focus on just your reading unit. And no, that doesn’t mean you ditch reading for an entire month. Remember those mentor texts I talked about? You’ll be using texts and reading skills as you focus on writing standards.

Narrative Writing Unit for Upper Elementary

Help your students write strong, compelling personal narrative essays with the Personal Narrative Writing Unit! This unit scaffolds the entire writing process, from learning about narrative elements through mentor texts to revising their final drafts.

The unit includes 16 done-for-you lesson plans, teacher slides, reference pages, mentor examples, editable graphic organizers, and a whole lot more. As a result you’ll have all the tools and resources you need to guide students through the essay writing process!