Essay One: Literacy Narrative (Analysis through Self-Inquiry)
Assignment: Write a 1,000-1,500 word narrative that tells a story about your own experience
with literacy:
Due:
Early Draft: Friday, Sept. 4th (Class 4) (700 words)
Middle Draft: Friday, Sept. 11th (Class 6) (900 to 1,500 words)
Final Draft: Sept. Friday, Sept.18th (Class 8) (1,000 to 1,500)
What is a Literacy Narrative? A literacy narrative is a “genre” or form of writing that tells a
personal story about how the author gained or struggled to gain competency in a subject. The
idea of becoming “literate” originally applied to someone learning how to read and write, so
traditional literacy narratives explain how the author learned those important subjects. But
literacy narratives also may describe how someone became competent in another subject area.
Whether a literacy narrative focuses on reading and writing, or examines how someone learned
another subject, a strong literacy narrative actually analyzes the process of becoming literate.
The narrative examines how or why the author learned and reflects on the importance or
significance of the literacy experience. Afterall, why should a writer or reader care about a story
if it is not important?
Purpose: Write A Literacy Story Focusing on a Significant Literacy Event; and Practice
Analysis through Self-Inquiry
The Literacy Story
For Essay One, you will write a personal literacy narrative about a significant experience you
had learning and becoming “literate” in a subject. As you consider our working definition of
“literacy,” reflect on your own literacy practices and a significant moment within that literacy
growth. This essay provides an opportunity for you to describe the event/moment in detail and
draw deeper meaning from the experience.
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The narrative should focus on one brief, specific memory that deals with literacy in your
own life. (This is a short essay, not a longer story.)
The subject literacy may be learning reading or writing in any form, context, or any
language.
Alternatively, the literacy could be in another subject, such as cooking, painting, singing,
dancing, texting, programming, composing, playing an instrument, a sport, or a game,
etc.
No matter what subject you choose for your topic, the personal experience with literacy
should be significant. The importance of the specific event should be obvious, not merely
a tacked on detail; in other words, the significance should be integral to the story and
arise out of the experience. For example, you might address a moment (or moments) of
struggle in your attempt to become literate in your subject and how you overcame those
challenges.
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Or, depending upon your personal literacy experience, you might narrate a moment in
which your literacy was challenged and subsequently declined or disappeared. Maybe an
obstacle to the literacy could not be overcome. The narrative does not have to be about a
positive experience or outcome.
Analysis through Self-Inquiry
As you think about how to tell your story, you will naturally begin to analyze how you learned
and why that experience was (or is) important. This is because in order to answer the question
why or how the event created literacy and why that was important, you will have to think about
(critically inquire into) the things that happened. As you remember and examine the details and
dialogue of your experience and use them to tell your story, you will start developing the
evidence and reasons for why/how you became literate. That answer will start to form the main
point of your literacy narrative, which ultimately also will include how the event impacted the
specific literacy and/or literacy in other areas of your life. First Year Writing calls this full main
point a “central claim.”
A good literacy narrative ultimately will have the following features:
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A well-told and well-organized story: the literacy event as an important turning point,
conflict, or crisis, and the resolution and significant impact of the event.
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Vivid detail: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, descriptions of places and people to
build the analysis of the event and significance.
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Significance: Even though this narrative is about you, it must have a controlling central
claim that states how the event impacted the literacy and why it was important.
Requirements: This essay should demonstrate your ability to:
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Craft a clear, organized narrative that explains how an event significantly impacted the
literacy
Use details and dialogue to tell your story and develop your analysis.
Convey the significance of the event being narrated (this may include how the event
impacted the literacy, as well as the role the literacy or event continued to play in your life.)
Revise and develop the essay through the writing process. The essay should change and
improve as it moves through drafts, peer review workshops, comments and/or conferences.
Create clear, well-edited writing that is largely free of proofreading errors and errors of
grammar, mechanics, and syntax.
Format an essay in MLA style (double spaced, 12 pt. font, title, appropriate headings, and
margins.)
Meet the word count of 1,000 to 1,500 words (four to six pages.)
Grading Rubric: We will be using the FYW program assessment criteria as outlined in your
syllabus but adapted to this assignment as detailed below. (We will spend time in class helping
each other understand and perform well in these areas.):
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Central Claim (15 points) The central claim is the point you want your story to make. The
central claim of a story may be more than one sentence long and should be complex,
engaging, and open to multiple interpretations.
Development (20 points) In order for your story to make a point, the details in your story
should support your central claim.
Analysis (20 points) Analysis explores and answers the questions: “How?” “Why?” or “So
what?” The most successful analysis affirms and furthers the central claim by demonstrating
its complexity and significance. In this particular case, you are analyzing how what you
learned (or failed to learn) matters. The connections and relationships between the details in
your story should connect to the significance of the story. This significance should become
clear to the reader by connecting to their experience through a shared cultural insight.
Organization (15 points) You will have to organize your story so that is makes sense to your
reader. You do not want your reader to lost, confused, to misunderstand, or to disconnect.
Make sure the parts of your story flow in a logical order that your reader can follow and
understand.
Clarity of Prose (20 points) For this assignment, you will want to use active subjects and
strong verbs in order to keep your readers engaged. Doing so will help you keep your details
clear and your scenes well described.
Mechanics (10 points)- You should make sure that any errors in spelling, punctuation, and
sentence fluency do not detract from meaning.
Some steps to writing a literacy narrative:
1) Choose a topic—a single event during a brief time span.
2) Generate ideas and text—describe the setting, think about the characters, explain what
happened, consider the significance.
3) Organize—chronological or plot-driven?
4) Draft—beginning, ending, and middle, title.
5) Polish—feedback, editing, proofreading, publish, and evaluate your work.
Some Brainstorming Questions
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Why/when did you develop your interest in this subject? What helped or sparked your
learning? Did you see, read, or hear something? Did you have a role model?
How did you learn this subject? What did you have to do? Did someone help, teach, or
mentor you?
Was there a particular turning point in your learning? Did you face an obstacle? How did
you overcome it? Did the obstacle stop your literacy from developing?
Is there a significant moment in your learning the subject that a reader would be
interested in?
How do you define someone who is literate in that subject and what did you have to do
become literate?
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What has the moment taught you about becoming literate? How did it impact you or your
life?
Additional Thoughts
We will be looking at different models of literacy narratives throughout the next few weeks.
Some of these will be about traditional literacy (i.e. learning to read and write) and others will be
about learning other subjects. You should feel free to write about either one. The important thing
to consider is whether or not you are interested in the subject and that you have an interesting
story to tell that relates to it.
It is often wise to tell the basic story first and then decide (often with the help of others) and then
to think about how the event impacted the literacy. You many not fully understand the event’s
significance until you have had the chance to thoughtfully consider it. For this reason, you will
write the essay in drafts. The first draft does not have to tell the whole narrative.
(Multimodal optional assignment: Even though this is a written literacy narrative, you may also
want to record an audio or video version of your story for extra credit later.)