Personal Narrative Structure

Matching Definitions In this first section, match each key term with the correct definition. Keep in mind each key term has only one correct match. Use phrases within each definition to help you identify the correct definition. Incident The central piece of action that is the focus of the narrative Response The immediate emotions and actions associated with the incident Reflection A description that explores the significance of the incident "My SuperPowers" by: Dan GreenburgRead the short story. Then, answer the following questions. 1 Do you ever wish you had superpowers?2 When I was a kid, growing up on the North Side of Chicago and being picked onby bullies, I prayed for superpowers. Like Superman, I wanted to be able to fly faster than speeding bullets, to be more powerful thanlocomotives, to leap tall buildings at a single bound. Mainly, I wanted to punch bullies in the stomach so hard that my fist came out of their backs.3Winters in Chicago are so cold that frost forms leafy patterns on your bedroom window and stays there for months. The wind howls off Lake Michigan, and a thick shell of pitted black ice covers the streets and sidewalks from December to April. To keep warm in winter, I wore a heavy wool coat, a wool muffler, wool mittens, furry earmuffs and—one of my most treasuredpossessions—a Chicago Cubs baseball cap autographed by a player named Big Bill Nicholson.4On the coldest days of winter, three bullies waited for me after school, just for the fun ofterrorizingme. The biggest one was a fat ugly kid named Vernon Manteuffel. Vernon and his two buddies would pull off my Cubs cap and tease me with it. They’d pretend to give it back, then toss it around in a game of keep-away.5One day in February when the temperature was so low I felt my eyeballs cracking, Vernon and his friends caught up with me on my way home. As usual, they tore off my Cubs cap and started playing catch with it. What made it worse than usual was that on this particular day I happened to be walking home with a pretty girl named Ann Cohn, who lived across the street from me. Ann Cohn had green eyes and shiny black hair and I had a goofy crush on her. As if it wasn’t bad enough that these guys humiliated me when I was alone, now they were doing it in front of Ann Cohn.6I was so embarrassed, I began to cry. Crying in front of Ann Cohn made me even more embarrassed. I was speechless with shame and anger. Driven by rage, I did what only an insane person would do: I attacked Vernon Manteuffel. I punched him in the chest and grabbed back my Cubs cap.7Vernon saw that I had become a madman. People don’t know what to do with madmen. Vernon looked shocked and even a little afraid. He backed away from me. I attacked the second boy, who also backed away from me. Encouraged by their backing away, I ran after them, screaming, punching, flailing at them with both fists. I chased them for two blocks before they finally pulled ahead and disappeared. Breathing hard, tears streaming down my face, I felt I had regained my honor, at least temporarily.8That weekend, perhaps made braver by my triumph over the three bullies, I kissed Ann Cohn on her sofa. I can’t tell you exactly why I did that. Maybe because it wasa cold, cloudy Saturday and there was nothing else to do. Maybe because we both wondered what it would feel like. In any case, I could now brag that, at age eight, I had personally kissed an actual girl who wasn’t related to me.9 I never did get those superpowers. Not as a kid, at least.10When I grew up, I became a writer. I discovered a particular pleasure in going on risky adventures. I wrote about my real-life adventures for national magazines: I spent four months riding with New York firefighters and running into burning buildingswith them. I spent six months riding with New York homicide cops as they chased and captured drug dealers and murderers. I flew upside-down over the Pacific Ocean with a stunt pilot in an open-cockpit airplane. I took part in dangerousvoodooceremonies in Haiti. I spent time on a tiger ranch in Texas and learned to tame two-hundred-pound tigers by yelling “No!” and smacking them hard on the nose. I found that tigers were not much different from the bullies of my childhood in Chicago.11I also wrote fiction. I created entire worlds and filled them with people I wanted to put in there. I made these people do and say whatever it pleased me to have them do and say. In the worlds I made up, I was all-powerful—Ihad superpowers.12I began writing a series of children’s books calledThe Zack Files, about a boy named Zack who keeps stumbling into the supernatural. In many of these books I gave Zack temporary powers—to read minds, to travel outside his body, to travel back into the past, to triumph over ghosts and monsters. I created another series calledMaximum Boy, about a boy named Max who accidentally touchesradioactiverocks that just came back from outer space and who suddenly develops superpowers. Maximum Boy is me as a kid in Chicago, but with superpowers.13Oh yeah, I almost forgot. InThe Zack Files, I created a fat, stupid kid who sweats a lot and thinks he’s cool, but who everyone laughs at behind his back. You know what I named this fool? Vernon Manteuffel. I do hope the real Vernon knows. Choose the correct piece of text evidence that correctly identifies the incident. "One day in February...Vernon and his friends caught up with me on my way home...What made it worse than usual was that...I happened to be walking home with a pretty girl named Ann Cohn" (Paragraph 5) "When I grew up, I became a writer." (Paragraph 10) "I was so embarrassed, I began to cry. Crying in front of Ann Cohn made me even more embarrassed. I was speechless with shame and anger." (Paragraph 6) "The biggest one was a fat ugly kid named Vernon Manteuffel." (Paragraph 4) Explain why you chose your answer. Explain why the text evidence you chose describes the incident best? Write 2-3 explaining your answer. Choose the correct piece of text evidence that correctly identifies the response. "On the coldest days of winter, three bullies waited for me after school, just for the fun of terrorizing me." (Paragraph 4) "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. In The Zack Files, I created a fat, stupid kid who sweats a lot and thinks he’s cool, but who everyone laughs at behind his back. You know what I named this fool? Vernon Manteuffel. I do hope the real Vernon knows." (Paragraph 13) "I was so embarrassed, I began to cry. Crying in front of Ann Cohn made me even more embarrassed. I was speechless with shame and anger. Driven by rage, I did what only an insane person would do: I attacked Vernon Manteuffel."(Paragraph 6) "To keep warm in winter, I wore a heavy wool coat, a wool muffler, wool mittens, furry earmuffs and—one of my most treasured possessions—a Chicago Cubs baseball cap autographed by a player named Big Bill Nicholson." (Paragraph 3) Explain why you chose your answer. Explain why the text evidence you chose describes the response best? Write 2-3 sentences explaining your answer. Choose the correct piece of text evidence that correctly identifies the reflection. "Vernon saw that I had become a madman. People don’t know what to do with madmen. Vernon looked shocked and even a little afraid. He backed away from me. I attacked the second boy, who also backed away from me." (Paragraph 7) "When I was a kid, growing up on the North Side of Chicago and being picked onby bullies, I prayed for superpowers. Like Superman, I wanted to be able to fly faster than speeding bullets, to be more powerful than locomotives, to leap tall buildings at a single bound." (Paragraph 2) "Ann Cohn had green eyes and shiny black hair and I had a goofy crush on her. As if it wasn’t bad enough that these guys humiliated me when I was alone, now they were doing it in front of Ann Cohn." (Paragraph 5) "When I grew up, I became a writer. I discovered a particular pleasure in going on risky adventures...I began writing a series of children’s books called The Zack Files, about a boy named Zack who keeps stumbling into the supernatural." (Paragraph 10 12) Explain why you chose your answer. Explain why the text evidence you chose describes the reflection best? Write 2-3 sentences explaining your answer. Fill in the following blanks with the correct key terms. A personal narrative typically describes an incident and includes a personal response to and reflection on the incident.