Personal Narrative Generation

Tell a personal story about a real event using complete story structure.

Use with a student — free
Card 1 of 12
Tell about a time you felt proud.
Say it out loud
This pass0 correct · 0 cued · 0 incorrect · 0/12
Demo — these marks stay on this screen.Save these marks to a student, free →Sign in

Session summary (SOAP)

Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.

Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.

How to run it

Pick the prompts with trouble in them. Tell about a fun trip produces a list; tell about a time something didn't go your way produces a complication, an attempt and a resolution, which is a story. Ask for a beginning, a middle and an end explicitly, and count them. Twelve minutes covers one narrative told twice, which is better than four told once.

Cueing ladder

Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.

  1. Step 1IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
  2. Step 2Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
  3. Step 3Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
  4. Step 4ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued

Adjust it

Easier

Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.

Harder

Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.

Matching IEP goal

Given a picture or story prompt, Student will tell a story that includes a character, setting, problem and ending in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.

Send it home through the parent portal →

About this activity

Twelve prompts asking for a real story: tell about a time you felt proud; your best birthday; a time you were scared; a time you helped someone; your first day of school; a time you got hurt; a time you lost something; a time something didn't go your way. The last few are the useful ones — a prompt with a problem in it produces a story, and a prompt without one produces a description.

What to listen for

Listen for the internal response. Students give the setting and the events reliably; how they felt about it is the element that goes missing and the one that turns a sequence into a narrative. Watch for stories that end without resolution — and then we went home is an ending in the sense of stopping rather than resolving.

Carrying it home

Dinner conversation is personal narrative. Asking for the best and worst part of the day, with a beginning and an end, is a routine some families already have and is exactly this task.

What's in this activity

  • Tell about a time you felt proud.
  • Tell about your best birthday.
  • Tell about a time you were scared.
  • Tell about a fun trip you took.
  • Tell about a time you helped someone.
  • Tell about your first day of school.
  • Tell about a time you got hurt.
  • Tell about a time you laughed a lot.
  • Tell about a time you lost something.
  • Tell about a time you tried something new.
  • Tell about the best day you had this year.
  • Tell about a time something didn't go your way.

Questions

What grades is this for?
First through fourth, for early narrative discourse.
Is it free?
Yes, all twelve prompts play with no account.
Which prompt should I start with?
One with a problem in it — a time you got hurt, or a time something didn't go your way. A prompt without trouble produces a description, and description does not exercise story structure.

Use this board with your caseload

With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.

Track progress free

Free for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.