Many teachers pair A Complicated Kindness with a personal narrative assignment, asking students to write about their own town, family, or coming-of-age moment using techniques they noticed in Toews's writing. These essays can be powerful, but they are also tricky to grade because they involve personal experience and creative choices. Teachers must evaluate craft without judging the student's life. A thoughtful rubric and respectful feedback make this possible.

The first principle is to grade the writing, not the experience. A student who writes about an ordinary afternoon with great detail and reflection should be able to earn a higher score than one who writes about a dramatic event with little craft. Say this explicitly in the assignment so students feel free to choose topics that suit their skills. It also reduces pressure to disclose more than they are comfortable sharing.

The rubric can focus on elements such as voice, specific detail, structure, and reflection. Voice asks whether the narrator sounds distinctive and consistent, which connects directly to the mentor text. Specific detail looks for concrete images instead of generalities, and structure examines how the piece builds and resolves. Reflection checks whether the writer discovers something about the experience rather than just recounting it.

Teaching craft through mentor passages

Before students write, study short passages from the novel and identify specific techniques: how Nomi shifts from humor to emotion, how she uses lists, how she lets small details carry meaning. Ask students to try imitating one technique in their own writing. This approach gives them concrete tools and makes the eventual feedback more specific. It also demonstrates that voice can be learned and practiced.

• Voice feels distinctive and consistent throughout the piece
• Specific sensory details replace general statements
• Structure shapes the story with a clear beginning, development, and ending
• Reflection reveals what the writer learned or questioned
• Techniques borrowed from the mentor text are used with purpose

Feedback with care for personal content

Students may write about difficult topics, including family conflict, loss, or moments of embarrassment. Respond to the content with sensitivity before moving on to craft feedback. A brief acknowledgment, such as thanking them for trusting you with the story, builds rapport. Then focus on the writing, offering suggestions that serve the story the student wants to tell.

Be alert to signs that a student may need support beyond the classroom. If an essay raises concerns about safety or wellbeing, follow your school's procedures and reach out privately. The grading rubric is not the place to address these issues, and they should never be reflected in the score. Holding both roles, teacher of writing and caring adult, is part of the job.

Avoiding common feedback pitfalls

A common mistake is rewriting the student's sentences in your own voice, which erases the personal quality the assignment is meant to cultivate. Instead, point out where the voice is strongest and ask the writer to do more of that elsewhere. Another pitfall is focusing too heavily on grammar, which can overshadow larger questions of storytelling. Prioritize feedback that helps the piece become more vivid and honest.

For teachers with many narratives to grade, AI feedback tools such as GraideMind can produce rubric-aligned comments on elements like specificity and structure, which the teacher then personalizes. The tool handles the repeatable observations, leaving the teacher free to respond to the human side of each story. Teachers can also configure the feedback to avoid commenting on sensitive content directly. This keeps the process both efficient and respectful.

Celebrating finished work

Personal narratives deserve an audience, so consider offering opportunities to share excerpts in class, a class anthology, or a reading event. Make participation optional, since some students prefer privacy. Hearing each other's stories builds community and shows how varied voices can be. Students often take more care with writing that will be read by real readers.

Reflecting on the connection back to the novel can complete the loop. Ask students how reading Nomi's story influenced their own, and what choices they made differently as a result. This reflection reinforces the lesson that reading and writing feed each other. It also gives you evidence of how well the mentor text taught the techniques you intended.