Educators are our heroes. Every day they shape the imaginations and lives of the next generation of readers, writers . . . citizens. Narrative for Schools is designed to empower and inspire teachers and students the world over. Recently, we asked several teachers to talk about how they use Narrative in their classroom.

For Teachers

Welcome to Narrative’s global community of educators, readers, and writers! We’re so glad you’re here and hope you feel inspired to explore our ever-expanding modern Library of thousands of stories, poems, essays, and artworks. We hope the tools and resources we’ve built will support your work to empower a new generation of thinkers, communicators, citizens, and artists.

After all, our Narrative for Schools program grew out of requests from teachers like you, who were using the Narrative Library and teaching resources in classrooms all over the world. Today our Narrative for Schools programming reaches more than 100,000 students and teachers in schools worldwide, across thirty-five countries and forty-nine US states.

Every day, you inspire your students to read widely, to write with greater complexity, and to share their stories and their unique voices. In these dynamic and difficult times, we believe, as you do, in the unique power of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to inspire and educate, to connect us to our shared humanity.

At Narrative it’s an essential part of our mission to help you foster a passion for reading and writing in your classrooms. Our aim is to help you motivate your students to read and write at a higher level, and we hope our Library will provide you with assignments to share with your colleagues and students.

Finally, please note that we are currently gearing up for our Ninth Annual High School Contest, which will open for submissions January 3, 2024. Be sure to subscribe to Narrative so that you receive contest updates—including this year’s writing prompt—straight to your inbox!

Here’s a sample list of some of the resources we’ve designed for use in and out of the classroom:

NARRATIVE HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST

Our annual writing contest is open and free to high school students grades 9–12 in the US and abroad. Winners receive more than $1,000 in prizes, mentorship by esteemed Narrative editors and authors, and publication in Narrative alongside the greats.

EXPLORE BY THEME

Search the Narrative Library by common classroom themes, ranging from “Love” to “Justice & Equality” to “The Writing Life.”

BEST ADVICE, LETTERS & INTERVIEWS

Looking to provide your students with some additional writing guidance? Check out our Best Advice, Letters to a Young Writer, and Narrative 10 interview series.

WRITERS & MENTORS VIDEOS

From time to time, we all need a bit of inspiration to guide us through the writing process. Look no further. Here you’ll find videos featuring Jericho Brown, Javier Zamora, Carol Edgarian, and some of our High School Contest winners, as well as audio advice from Naomi Shihab Nye.

WRITING VIDEO TUTORIALS

Here you can watch short video tutorials featuring bestselling author and Narrative cofounder/editor Carol Edgarian. Each covers an aspect of the writing process—from choosing an idea to crafting a scene to revising and submitting—as well as offering some expert behind-the-scenes advice.

RECOMMENDED READING GUIDE

We’ve curated reading lists of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing advice, and other creative fodder from the Narrative Library, designed to provide a “best of” hits list across genre and form.

Want more or different stuff? We love hearing from you and learning how best to grow our partnership. Please feel free to fill out this teacher survey and share some thoughts on our programs, or ideas as to where to go next, with us!