ENG 106 Project 1: Literacy self-study
English 106, Mitchell Terpstra, Spring 2015 ~ http://icapwow.wordpress.com
Summary: Consider your literacy history and your current reading and writing practices. Then write a
short essay about your literacy development with a particular focus. Draft 2/06, Final 2/20.
Some writing scholars believe that “critical transitions,” important moments where writers learn through
change, help writers learn to adapt relevant skills, knowledge, and experiences to perform new writing-related
tasks. Another name for these transitions are “threshold concepts,” which are ideas like doors: once you
learn these ideas, in essence, stepping through them, you can never go back to seeing the world the way you
did before. (See Writing About Writing pages 6-8 for more about threshold concepts.)
For this assignment, we will tell stories of our development as writers and readers focusing on these critical
transitions or threshold concepts. This assignment is designed to help you begin to understand yourself as
a reader, writer, and thinker. In our second unit we will consider how being a member of writing-related
communities impacts our writing lives. However, in this project, our focus is more individual.Because we
define “literacy” broadly, experiences with reading, speaking, computing, and creating or consuming other
media are all relevant topics, too—our communicative world isn’t made solely of letters on pages.
When composing your literacy self-studies, your essay may take the form of a narrative, reflection, or a
mixture of both. Narratives and reflections are stories of personal experiences, moments in our lives
through which we can explore how we have become who we are today—and invite others to identify with
and learn as we do the same.
The difference between these genres is mostly one of the writer’s stance or perspective: Is the writer telling
us her experience from inside the moment, using the present tense? Or is the writer looking back on the
moment, relaying her experience after it happens, using past tense and adding the wisdom that comes from
an older self looking back? Either approach is at your disposal, though I want you to think critically about
how they will differently impact your readers.
Given our target length, you will want to examine, describe, and reflect on one particular event. That will be
far more powerful than a number of shorter stories with less depth and detail. Our readings and reading
responses will help you take inventory of your own literacy past and isolate a key moment—a critical
transition or threshold concept—to focus on.
Draft (due Fri 2/06)
Using our readings and discussions about genre, literacy, and technology as a guide, list and describe the
moments, people, and technologies which have been important for your growth as a reader and writer. Be
detailed and descriptive—create a mass of material to whittle down from. Then isolate the critical transition
you want to focus on. Create a rough draft of an essay which focuses on that critical transition, including
relevant anecdotes, description, quotations, dialogue, and direct engagement with people and texts which
makes an essay compelling.
Length: Same as the final, though feel free to go over the page/word limit—cutting’s always easier than
creating.
Format: Same as the final. Now is the time to iron out any wrinkles before handing it in for real credit.
Submission: Print and turn in at the start of class. Also, before the start of class, email a .doc format
(MS Word 2007 or newer) attachment to the classmates in your workshop team, using a unique subject
line in the form “Last name 106 Literacy Self-Study Draft” and the file name “last name-106litstudydraft.doc”, using your actual last name of course. Include me in “Blind Carbon Copy” field. This
way both I and your peers can give you thoughtful remarks about your work before the final is due. We will
typically have workshop days the next week after a rough draft is due.
Grading: 0–50 points, based on completeness, detail, relevance, and engagement with issues related to course
readings. How well does this draft set you up for the final? Any good faith effort will receive at least 35
points.
Final (due Fri 2/20)
With feedback from your peers and me, revise your draft accordingly and polish your essay into a compelling
story about a critical transition which impacted your literacy.
Length: 4 to 6 double-spaced pages (1,200 to 1,800 words).
Format: Follow MLA style. No cover page. Staple or paper-clip your hard copy.
Submission: Print and turn in at the start of class on the due date. Email a .doc format (MS Word
2007 or newer) attachment to me as well, using a unique subject line in the form “Last name 106 Literacy
Self-Study” and the file name “last name-106-litstudy.doc”, using your actual last name of course.
Grading: 0–150 points on A–F scale, considering the following in this order of importance:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Establishment of a focus and development of ideas in depth and detail.
Careful reflection and insight — avoiding clichés or commonplaces.
Meaningful engagement with relevant concepts from the course readings.
Format, style, and adherence to assignment requirements.