There are various ways to approach the assignment of a "narrative version" of this poem, which was written in 1947 but set during the 1800s. The student can re-tell the storyline of this poem as a type of plot summary, or the re-telling can become a narrative that includes a few interpretations of the poem (e.g. the student can mention and explicate important lines or vary details). 

The narrative version can also easily become a song as there is a definite rhythm to this poem that is actually based upon Old English folksongs. Here is a website that has songs that tell stories.

Here is another idea:

The poem could be rewritten in narrative form as a ghost story. It could begin with people sitting in Spaniard's Inn on Hampstead Heath in England (where the highway is thought to have stopped in Noyes's poem) as an old man sits with his tankard and is joined by some younger men who have stopped for the night. The old man tells the tale of the ghost of the highwayman. In this case, the narration could begin with a version of the last stanza. For example, the old man could say,

It was a night just like this winter night with the wind blowing and eerie sounds whistling through the trees. The road was a blue ribbon-like trail under the moon when the ghost of the highwayman came up to this very inn's door.

He rode a handsome steed and his boots were....

At this point the student can pick up the narrative of the poem from the beginning, rewording in prose as though telling a story through the voice of the old man. For instance,

There are those who say they have seen him--a ghostly dandy lad with his claret jacket and French-cocked hat....

Still another idea is to create a narrative that reads like a fairy-tale: "Once upon a time, there was a handsome young man who some called...."