ABSTRACT
Recently, I spoke with an eighth grader who was having an unexpected problem with a narrative he was writing: he didn’t know how to end it. “I can’t think of a good way to conclude the story. I don’t want to just stop the action, but I don’t want to write a summary either. This is harder than I thought it would be!” While I was unhappy to hear about this student’s troubles, I was heartened by how seriously he was taking the writing tool of crafting a strong conclusion. The Common Core State Writing Standards also acknowledge the importance of this aspect of narrative writing, as Standards W.3.3.E, W.4.3.E, W.5.3.E, W.6.3.E, W.7.3.E, and W.8.3.E call for students to craft effective conclusions to their narratives. In this chapter, we’ll explore the following: what “crafting a strong conclusion” in narrative writing means; why this concept is important to the effectiveness of a narrative; a description of a lesson on this concept; and key recommendations for helping your students craft strong conclusions to their own narratives. While delving into these concepts, we’ll look at conclusions from published narratives and consider what makes those conclusions effective.
