Book excerpt: This guided workbook will develop all the skills needed for effective narrative writing and give students practice creating a wide range of narrative texts. It will also prepare students for the narrative writing tasks on the M-STEP English Language Arts tests. The first section contains sets of exercises and writing prompts that will develop the narrative writing skills listed in the Michigan Academic Standards. The second section gives students practice applying the skills by writing a wide range of narrative texts. Section 1: Developing Narrative Writing Skills - focused sets develop key narrative writing skills one by one - covers sequence, plot, setting, characterization, theme, dialogue, and descriptions - each set introduces the skill, guides students to complete a task, and then provides independent practice - examples, guided tasks, and hints teach students how to produce effective writing - additional warm-up exercises prepare students for each set - tasks teach students writing techniques like using effective descriptions, writing first-person stories, and using transition words and phrases Section 2: Applying Narrative Writing Skills - 10 sets of writing prompts allow students to apply narrative writing skills - each set focuses on one style or one genre of narrative writing - includes practice writing personal narratives, diary entries, letters, science fiction, adventure stories, mystery stories, and more - hints and tips guide students through the tasks - students are encouraged to edit and revise their completed work Key Benefits - develops all the narrative writing skills described in the state standards - focusing on each skill one by one encourages strong skill development - students apply skills by writing complete narratives in different genres - examples, guided tasks, and hints guide students through the tasks - prepares students for the narrative writing tasks on the M-STEP ELA tests