UNIT ONE: LITERARY NARRATIVE

In this unit, you’ll have a chance to discuss your literary journey and goals, in whatever way you want to define as “literacy.” We’ll look at the genre of Literary Narratives to show:

 

Within each of us, there are stories. These stories are constantly growing and changing. Oftentimes, experiences from the past shape them. However, sometimes, what is ahead of us alters the path these stories are taking. In some cases, they may be warped by influences from the outside world, but there are instances where our stories make those changes to it.

One specific tale that all of us can express is about our relation to literacy. There are some instances that may have been struggles, but the lessons learned from them turned into the foundations to every confident decision we will ever make as writers. However, both are important to explore and rediscover for all of us to come to understand who we are now and who we will be as writers. What were those instances that spurred you on, and what were the stumbling points? Were there individuals that helped you every step of the way, or were they a rare occurrence in your life that you cherished? Where we are/were, who we are/were, and what is/was going on in the world also shape/d us. Pick one point in your educational past and express how some of these factors may have influenced you then up until now.

This paper we be split into two parts:

1) a personal narrative written from your point of view 2) a secondary narrative speaking from the perspective of a person or people that may have been involved with or on the periphery of your particular situation looking in.

For example, if you were in middle school struggling with a state test, possibly you could write a personal narrative about that in the voice of you as a student at that time. You could then write the second narrative about how a parent or teacher helped you progress during that stressful time, but in their words.

You may want to write about:

  • an event in your educational career that was particularly formative;
  • a specific literacy event that led you to become the thinker you are today;
  • the first time you had a profound experience related to language or learning;
  • you should try to frame your first narrative to allow you the ability to fill in the blanks with your other narrative

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

  • Talk about how the event shaped your relationship to literacy in general;
  • Reflect upon how your experience has enabled you to understand something specific about reading, writing, learning, or language AND how that understanding impacted others in your life or how they had an impact upon you. 

What will you be graded on? 

  • Your ability to develop an overall point/significance for your narratives.
  • 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 1500 words (6 pages double spaced, Times New Roman Font 12Pt)! However, remember, that you are essentially writing 2 three page papers.