Literacy Narrative
W131
Literacy Narrative – W131 English Composition
“The term literacy event gives us a way to think about how reading and writing enter our lives
and shape our interactions with others” (Trimbur 29).
Purpose: The purpose of a literacy narrative is to look at a time in your life when reading and/or
writing had a significant effect for you and then to analyze this effect in writing. Refer to chapter
15 in The Norton Field Guide for memoir tips.
Audience: Your audience for this project is two-fold at least. You will have a primary audience
which is the audience for which the narrative is intended. For example, if you are writing about
a time when your mother read you a story, your primary audience might be your mother. You
will also have a secondary audience of your classmates and me.
Genre: The genre, while in a typed format, should reflect your audience and your purpose. For
example, you might consider using a letter format to write to an influential teacher.
Stance: Your stance should be one that reflects your experience, and purpose. If your audience
is familiar, your stance will most likely be informal.
Media/Design: For a typical paper, the design should reflect an essay format. However,
depending on genre, design might differ. You may use textual design to reflect purpose,
audience, etc.
Task: You will write about this event in the form of a narrative paying particular attention to
specific details in order to make the story come alive for the reader. The writer of a literacy
narrative not only tells the story of the event, but also discusses a larger significance to that
event as an adult looking back at the event (writer commentary).
With each draft after the first you must turn in:
1) The previous draft(s). (i.e. With draft two, you also turn in draft one.)
2) Peer Review sheets.
With the polished draft, you must turn in all drafts, peer review sheets,
and invention activities.
Possible ideas:
- an English teacher – a great one, or a really bad one; we have all had them!
- a writing assignment that provided insight
- learning to read
- reading to someone else or watching someone else learn to read
- teaching someone to read
- writing an important or emotional piece of writing
- helping someone write an important document
- your own personal writing (journal)
Topics students have done in the past:
- struggling to find a topic for a literacy autobiography
- helping a friend with dyslexia and other reading disabilities do her homework
- filling out unemployment forms for an illiterate neighbor
Literacy Narrative
W131
Important Features:
- Remember that this is not just a retelling of the event; draw the reader into the moment
by your use of description, narration, dialogue, or other techniques.
- Remember to reflect on the event and its significance in your life.
- Remember to explain how the event affected you then and how it still affects you today.
Format Requirements:
- 2 page minimum (typed, double spaced, default margins, Times New Roman font size 12
or equivalent)
- Include name, date, and draft number single spaced in upper left hand corner
- Stapled in upper left hand corner
Grading: See attached Rubric
Literacy Narrative Rubric
Name: _______________________
Strong
Adequate
Weak
Purpose: The narrative meets a clearly defined
purpose (e.g. to persuade, inform, delight). The
purpose is compelling because it goes beyond simply
completing the assignment.
The narrative meets a clearly defined purpose (e.g. to
persuade, inform, delight). But the purpose is less
compelling because it is geared primarily toward
completing the assignment.
The narrative meets no clearly defined purpose, or it
may switch purposes unexpectedly. The writer
seems only to have submitted something to complete
the assignment.
Audience: The narrative is addressed to a clearly
defined and appropriate audience – readers with a
stake in the topic who would benefit from reading
the narrative.
The narrative is addressed to a clearly defined but
less appropriate audience – readers with little or no
stake in the topic or who will find the narrative to be
trite.
The narrative has no clearly defined audience. The
prose may imply inappropriate shifts in audience.
Persona: The writer’s prose establishes a consistent
and appropriate relationship with readers – one that
is formal or informal; intimate or distanced; calm,
angry, sarcastic, concerned.
The writer’s prose establishes a relationship that is
usually consistent, but that may shift inappropriately
at one or two points.
The writer’s prose establishes a relationship that is
often inconsistent, that shifts inappropriately at more
than a couple points.
Development: The writer develops one or a few
incidents to a degree appropriate to purpose and
audience – a degree that includes specific details and
writer commentary.
For the most part, the writer develops one or a few
incidents to a degree appropriate to purpose and
audience. But one or two important details or bits of
commentary will be missing, or unnecessary details
will be included.
The writer generally fails to develop one or a few
incidents to a degree appropriate to purpose and
audience. Or the writer presents too many incidents
without a clear focus.
Organization: The narrative is organized in a manner
appropriate to purpose and audience. The narrative
presents a clear organization pattern that helps
readers comprehend the writer’s message.
The narrative is generally organized in a manner
appropriate to purpose and audience. But a few
elements appear in places that weaken the writer’s
purpose, or unnecessary repetition may detract from
a writer’s sense of coherence.
The narrative is organized in a manner generally
inappropriate to purpose and audience. More than a
few elements appear in places that weaken the
writer’s purpose. Unnecessary repetition detracts
from a writer’s sense of coherence.
Style: The prose is engaging, clear, and coherent.
Word choice is appropriate, and sentences generally
flow from one to another.
The prose is generally clear and coherent. Word
choice is generally appropriate, but a few
inappropriate words weaken the prose. A few sets of
sentences may be choppy, disrupting flow.
The prose is unclear in more than a couple of places.
It may also be choppy in more than a few places.
Readability: The prose is free of distracting errors in
grammar, mechanics, and spelling.
Although the prose is free of sentence-level errors
(e.g. comma splices, fused sentences, fragments) it
may contain a few obvious mechanical or spelling
errors.
The prose contains distracting sentence-level errors.
It may also contain more than a few obvious
mechanical or spelling errors.
Revision: Substantial revision has taken place in
between all drafts.
A good amount of revision has been done between
one set of drafts (i.e. from draft one to draft two, but
not from draft two to draft three).
No apparent revision has taken place.