Grades 3–5
Teacher-Friendly Scoring Guide for Narrative Writing
Narrative writing captures a real or imagined experience. It usually contains three primary elements: characters, setting, and plot. The writer grabs and holds the reader’s attention by developing believable characters and putting them in interesting situations, establishing a clear sense of time and place, weaving in vivid details and plot twists, and creating a central conflict or problem that is resolved in a compelling way. To accomplish that, the writer must apply the key qualities of the mode with skill and confidence.
6 EXCEPTIONAL
A. Plot : The writer moves the story forward with fresh, original, and logically sequenced events. There is a compelling conflict or problem that is solved thoughtfully and credibly. The writer intrigues, delights, surprises, entertains, and/or informs the reader. B. Characters : The writer creates believable real or imagined characters who are fresh and original. The writer provides direct evidence throughout the piece of how the characters grow, change, and learn. C. Setting : The writer makes time and place work in harmony. He or she creates a visual setting for the reader by establishing the mood or atmosphere using unique and rich details.
5 STRONG
4 REFINING
A. Plot : The writer mingles significant events with trivial ones, and sometimes strays from the main story line, distracting the reader from the major conflict or problem and its solution. B. Characters : The writer uses predictable and ordinary details and anecdotes that don’t bring the characters to life in a memorable way. There is little attention to how their thinking changes or grows. C. Setting : The writer describes time and place but without much imagination or clarity. The details do not stand out as original.
3 DEVELOPING
2 EMERGING
A. Plot : The writer offers simple, incomplete events that don’t relate to one another and/or add up to much. The writer creates no clear conflict or problem to be solved. B. Characters : The writer creates characters that don’t feel real or possible; they are stereotypes or cardboard cutouts. The writer has not developed the characters. C. Setting : The writer does not clearly describe the setting or completely omits it.
1 RUDIMENTARY
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