Unit 1 – Education Narrative

(Weeks 3-5)

 

In this unit, you’ll have a chance to discuss your educational journey and goals, in whatever way you want to define “education.” We’ll look at the genre of Education Narratives to learn:

1) what it means to be a genre, 2) how people craft them, and 3) what our own narrative can reveal to us and to others.

In this unit, you will write about a significant event or events that had an impact on the way you view education and/or school. Think about the examples we’ve read in class: they talk about specific events in-depth, using concrete, significant detail– and then they explain why those events were important– not just to the writer, but to the reader.  What can your experiences with education tell your audience about the educational system in America, for example? Or about language? Or about the ways we learn? You want your reader to come out of your narrative having learned something or thinking about things in a new way.

You may want to write about:

  • an event in your educational career that was particularly formative;
  • a specific literacy/learning event that led you to become the thinker you are today;
  • the first time you had a profound experience related to language or learning;

Whatever the context you choose from the examples above, you should:

  • Talk about how the event shaped your relationship to school or education in general;
  • Talk about how your particular experience relates to some of the bigger social and cultural issues we discussed in class, such as race, the education system, Standard Written English (SWE), etc.;
  • Reflect upon how your experience has enabled you to understand something specific about reading, writing, learning, or language AND how that understanding reflects on the communities/world you inhabit.

What will you be graded on? 

    • Your ability to develop an overall point/significance for your narrative.
    • Concrete, significant detail (are you painting us a picture?)
    • Focused event (did you focus on one event or connected, series of events?)
    • Language: Have you incorporated sentence structure and vocabulary that allow you to express the complexity of your ideas in a clear, effective style? This style does not have to be Standard Written English (SWE)
    • The carefulness of your proofreading and organization You should be able to explain the choices you made.
    • Word count: At least 1000 words!  This assignment is due on September 23rd by 11:59 p.m.  You should post it in Google Docs.  Review the Google Docs Tutorial on YouTube entitled “Google Docs Instructions for Students.”