Question

8th Grade Narrative Essay Prompt: Innovators Across Continents

After reading “Keeping the Lions Away” and “Remya Cleans Up,” write a five-paragraph narrative that connects the two texts. Your narrative should show how innovation, perseverance, and problem-solving can change lives. Use narrative techniques such as setting, character, plot, dialogue, pacing, and sensory details.

Choose one narrative approach:

Imagine that Richard Turere and Remya Jose meet at a youth innovation conference. Tell the story from one point of view as they work together to solve a new problem.

Write as yourself: a middle school student inspired by both articles. Tell the story of how reading about Richard and Remya leads you to invent something for your community.

Tell the story from the perspective of a reporter following Richard and Remya through a day of collaboration, using scenes and dialogue to reveal their ideas and challenges.

Use your imagination to come up with a situation in which Richard and Remya interact to make a change in your area or community.

Paragraph plan (use this structure for your five paragraphs):

Exposition: Hook your reader. Establish the setting (Kenya, India, or another place), time, and point of view. Introduce the main characters and the central problem.

Rising Action: Show early attempts to solve the problem and obstacles that get in the way. Include specific, accurate details inspired by the articles.

Turning Point/Climax: Show the moment when ideas come together or a breakthrough happens. Use dialogue and description to build tension.

Falling Action: Show the solution in action and the immediate results or consequences.

Resolution: Provide a clear ending that reflects on what was learned about innovation, perseverance, and helping others.

Oklahoma ELA narrative writing expectations (what to include):

Establish a clear context and point of view; introduce narrator and/or characters and setting.

Organize events in a logical sequence with effective transitions between ideas and paragraphs.

Use narrative techniques: dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection to develop experiences and characters.

Use precise words, sensory details, and varied sentences to engage the reader.

Provide a conclusion that follows from the events and reflects on the theme.

Demonstrate command of grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

Connection to the two stories:

Weave in at least two accurate details from “Keeping the Lions Away” (for example: Lion Lights, Nairobi National Park, Maasai herding, flashing LEDs and solar power).

Weave in at least two accurate details from “Remya Cleans Up” (for example: pedal-powered washing machine, rural India, river washing by hand, bicycle pedals and chain, aluminum cube and wire cylinder).

Be creative, but keep real people and places accurate.

Length:

500–800 words (five paragraphs).

Checklist before you submit:

Clear setting, narrator/characters, and problem in paragraph 1.

Logical event sequence with transitions across paragraphs 2–4.

At least one scene with correctly punctuated dialogue.

Sensory details and precise word choice.

At least two accurate details from each article included naturally.

A reflective conclusion in paragraph 5 that connects to a theme.

Edited for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.

Purpose: This assignment practices Oklahoma ELA narrative writing skills by having you create an original, well-structured story that connects ideas and details from both texts.

Answer 1

The first day I read about Lion Lights and Remya Jose, I was sitting at my kitchen table watching rain blur the streetlights. I had just finished a huge pile of laundry — my mom still washes many clothes by hand — while our neighbor, Mr. Alvarez, told me about his chickens being chased by coyotes at dusk. I am a middle school student, and the idea that two kids from faraway places used simple inventions to solve big problems made my chest buzz like a flashlight. From Richard Turere I learned about flashing LEDs and how his Lion Lights kept lions away from Maasai herds near Nairobi National Park. From Remya I learned about a pedal-powered washing machine that uses bicycle pedals and a chain to spin an aluminum cube inside a wire cylinder. I decided to try both ideas together to solve our problems: protect animals at night and make laundry easier for families in my neighborhood.

My first attempts were clumsy. I scavenged an old bicycle from my garage for its pedals and chain, and borrowed some LED strips from the school theater club. I tried to rig the LEDs to a small car battery that the neighbor offered, but the lights were either too bright and blinked wildly or they died in an hour. I remembered reading how Turere used solar power to keep his flashing lights on without constant attention, so I bought a tiny solar panel online. I also copied Remya’s idea of an aluminum cube inside a cylinder, but my version rattled and only spun when I pedaled like a madman. Neighbors raised eyebrows. “It’s a nice idea, but how will it actually work at night?” Mrs. Kim asked, folding a wet towel in her lap. I felt the weight of their doubt like a backpack full of bricks, but I kept fiddling, measuring, and asking questions.

The turning point came the Friday before our community fair, late and raining, when I finally had a plan that connected both inventions. My friend Mateo stood under the porch light as I turned the bike pedals slowly. “What if the pedaling charges a battery that runs the LEDs when the sun goes down?” he suggested. “Then families can pedal during the day while washing clothes, and at night the Lion Lights will flash.” I grinned. “Let’s try it.” We rewired the chain to a small dynamo salvaged from an old bicycle lamp and mounted the aluminum cube inside a wire cylinder like Remya’s design so the pedaling action would be smooth enough for anyone. At the fair, as dusk pooled over the grass, I explained, “Pedal to wash during the day; charge the battery; tonight the flashing LEDs will protect the coop and keep coyotes away.” People tested the pedals, their feet thudding rhythmically, the dynamo humming, the LEDs starting to pulse like fireflies that never landed.

That night was the first real test. The air smelled of wet earth and frying onions from the food trucks. We set the flashing lights along the edge of Mr. Alvarez’s chicken yard. At first I stood with my hand on the fence, breath held tight, listening to the far-off yip of coyotes. Then they came — three slim shapes moving under the hedge — and the LEDs began their steady, startling blink. The coyotes stopped, blinked back, and wandered off, disturbed by the sudden strobelike light just as Turere’s lights had done for Maasai herds near Nairobi National Park. Neighbors cheered quietly. Back at my porch, families took turns pedaling to wash a small load of laundry while charging the battery. The aluminum cube spun inside the wire cylinder, sloshing water and soap with a satisfying metallic thump, and people laughed when their shirts came out cleaner than after a full afternoon by the river.

In the quiet that followed, I thought about how small inventions can grow into community habits. Richard and Remya didn’t have fancy labs: Turere used flashing LEDs and solar power to protect livestock, and Remya used bicycle pedals and a simple aluminum-and-wire drum to free people from river washing. I learned to be persistent — my first models failed, but each failure taught me a better measurement or a stronger link in the chain. Innovation didn’t feel like magic; it was patient work and a willingness to borrow good ideas from others. Standing under the soft glow of the LED strips, listening to neighbors praise the clean laundry and watchful lights, I knew we had changed a little corner of our town. If kids in Kenya and rural India could solve huge problems with simple tools, maybe any of us, anywhere, could do the same — if we kept pedaling.