Week 2, Monday, September 12, 2022: Understanding the term “Education Narrative”

Before Class on Monday:

• Read “The Memory of My Grandmother” (City Tech student essay) by Anita Jiang.
• Read “Chapter 7” from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass.

In your journal, answer the following questions for the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:

“Chapter 7” by Frederick Douglass

What is the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?

Who is the intended audience?

How effective is the language the author uses? Is it too formal? Too informal? Perfectly appropriate?

What kinds of evidence does the author use to support his/her claims? Does he/she use statistics? Quotes from famous people? Personal anecdotes or personal stories? Does he/she cite books or articles?

How appropriate or effective is this evidence? Would a different type of evidence, or some combination of evidence, be more effective?

Are there places in the writing that you find confusing? What about the writing in those places makes it unclear or confusing?

How does the author move from one idea to another in the writing? Are the transitions between the ideas effective? How else might he/she have transitioned between ideas instead?

What is the technique the author is using here?

Is this technique effective?

What would be the advantages and disadvantages if I tried this same technique in my writing?

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Before Class on Wednesday:

• Read “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X.
• Watch “Understanding Genre Awareness.”

Writing:

• Begin Formulating a Rough Draft of your Educational Narrative.