[home][details][policies][calendar][assignments][handouts]

Essay 1: Literacy Narrative

• Check Calendar for Due date #1: Complete draft for draft workshop. Upload to GoogleDocs and also submit to Blackboard
• Check Calendar for Due date #2: Revised draft to be graded
• Length: 450 to 600 words
• Format: MLA Style
• Examples of Literacy Narratives for discussion:
  • Literacy Narrative Example 1
  • Literacy Narrative Example 2
  • Literacy Narrative Example 3
  • Literacy Narrative Example 4
• Online Draft Workshop Instructions (for online courses)
  • Step-by-Step instructions as text
  • Step-by-Step instructions as video
• Draft Workshop prompts: Download draft workshop prompts (DOCX file)

Purpose

This assignment give you structured practice in thinking critically about reading & writing and your own experience with these practices. The process of reflection, drafting, and revision will give you an opportunity to formally organize your thoughts about this topic and think about the possible relationships between your past experiences as a reader & writer and the future that you want to pursue.

Description

A literacy narrative tells part of your story about how you learned to read and/or write. As Monika Shehi writes, "just like any other story, the literacy narrative seeks to explore what is significant about your experience in order to help you take stock of yourself as a reader and writer at this point in your academic journey” (RUWU 33).

This assignment requires you to identify, reflect upon, and then write about an event or experience that affected you in a meaningful way, made you see the world differently, changed your opinion about something important, or caused you to think long and hard about a topic that had never concerned you before.

Specifically, you will write about something that happened in your life with regard to the act of reading, the act of writing, or both.

A good personal narrative like this should provide the following:

• A well-told story: set up a situation that needs to be resolved and then explain the way in which that resolution happened; carefully describe the sequence of events taking place;
• Vivid detail: describe the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures of the scene; include dialogue spoken by the people involved;
• Some explanation of significance: because it’s your life, these events are important to you, but you should also make sure to explain why they are important to you and how they might be perceived of as important by your audience.

Additionally, you should take into account the features of a good literacy narrative as explained in Bridging the Difference, and as discussed in class.

Evaluation Criteria

• A well-told story: sets up a situation that needs to be resolved and then explains the way in which that resolution happens; carefully describes the sequence of events.
• Vivid detail: describes the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures of the scene; includes dialogue spoken by the people involved.
• Some explanation of significance: explains why the events are important to the author and how they might be perceived as important by the audience.
• Language and style: Exhibits confident, skillful use of language. Sentences and paragraphs are purposefully designed and matched to content.
• Mechanics: No significant errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling detract from meaning.
• Formatting: follows MLA Style

Discussion questions about example literacy narratives

Be specific, and be prepared to cite specific passages

• What makes this a “well-told story”? How would you describe the conflict and resolution?
• How does the author use “vivid detail” in their story?
• What is the significance of these events in the author’s life?