Language and Literacy Narrative

Phase 1 Assignment Prompt

“Stay faithful to the stories in your head— Paula Hawkins

“Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet.” — Anon

Our perspectives and life experience influence not just our speaking voices, but our writing voices as well. Our own relationship with literacy is a personal journey that is the foundation from which we build our writing worlds. And while writing may be a “solo activity”, it is not something we do in isolation. Every time we sit down to write, we carry with us the stories we’ve read or heard or experienced, our personal histories, our interests, our cultures, even our relationships with the written or spoken word.

In this first assignment, you are tasked with creating your own literacy narrative. You can look at a particular moment in your life when the power of words spoke to you (pun intended), or look at your relationship with words. Take into account your personal narrative… your upbringing and background, your education, which speakers, academics, or artists you admire and how they use their platform to utilize their voices. This piece can be political, can be emotional, or can simply be reflective. It could be positive or negative; it simply has to be authentic. Be sure it is a subject that you are comfortable sharing, as your peers will be reading these as well. You will also, over the course of the semester, write a revision on this piece, in order to see what may or may not have changed. This piece can be a story, a personal essay, or even have elements of poetry or art connected with them.

So, what is it you want me to do?

This 2-3 page written assignment should include:

  • Carefully crafted, revised and edited work about your personal narrative in literacy.
  • Details. Try to use all 5 senses in your narrative: what did you smell, feel, hear, see, taste? Make me feel as though I’m experiencing this with you.
  • Tone and language choices that feel like “you”. Consider your audience (myself and your peers for this class). Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect, that’s what revision is for.
  • A mention of the larger impact of literacy; whether that be culturally, socially, politically, or personally. 
  • A 12 point serif style font (such as Times or Georgia), double spaced. No large punctuation or space breaks. I want your words, not fancy formatting.  (Final word count, not including your header should be about 650-800 words)

Consider also that supporting multimedia materials are encouraged (though don’t spend so much time on these that the writing falls away). Videos, photos, even quotes or sound bites can help, especially since your work will ultimately go onto a WordPress site. These are not a necessity, but can be helpful, even if it’s just for yourself.

After everyone has submitted their pieces on BlackBoard, you will be tasked with reading and commenting on 3 of your peers’ pieces. Be considerate in these responses. Think about what you would like to hear about your own writing: words of encouragement, specific details that you enjoyed about the piece, perhaps a few ideas of how to strengthen the work. No negative comments, please! If you’d like to see an example of some of the peer critique questions I always consider in these situations, please see the Sample Peer Critique Doc

Due dates:

A first full draft of your literacy narrative is due Monday 9/14, before class

Your peer reviews are due Wednesday, 9/16, before class

Assessment Rubric for the Language & Literacy Narrative Assignment

Assignment Criteria
1. Appropriate Focus and Rhetorical Effectiveness of the Language and Literacy Narrative. How effectively does the language and literacy narrative provide 1-2 concrete examples and specific details of the writer’s language/literacy experiences? How effectively does the language and literacy narrative attend to description to appeal to audiences?
2. Explicit Commentary on Significance and Implications. How effectively does the narrative highlight some central idea about a larger social significance? That is, how well does the narrative implicitly or explicitly comment on the larger implications of the narrative, signaling connections to national trends or to the writer’s life, family, generation, gender, race, culture, linguistic background, ability, and/or geographic location?
3. Appropriate Focus and Rhetorical Effectiveness of the Spoken Language and Literacy Narrative. How effectively does the SLLN presentation draw audiences into the writer’s language/literacy experiences? How effectively are the 3 minutes utilized?
4. Use of Multimedia. How effectively does the WLLN and SLLN integrate multiples modes (not just speech vs. writing but also the use of pictures, images, objects, links, and music)?
5. General Requirements. Were all requirements for length and due date met?