Education Narrative

For Project #1, we will have read and thought about several education narratives. In these pieces, the writers discuss educational journeys — the way experiences can shape our understanding of the world around us and affect our educational and career choices. The pieces also explore what it means to be “educated” — in fact, Plato likens leaving the cave to the painful experience of true education, while being trapped in the cave and being force-fed the shadows on the wall is something of a false education.

You have read these texts as a reader, to understand them and learn from them, and also as a writer, as Mike Bunn describes in “How to read like a Writer,” looking at not only what they have to say but also how they do so, for what purpose, and for what audience, and in what style or with what tone.

For this project, you will write an education narrative of your own. You will need to choose

• what the purpose of your narrative is–other than completing Project #1, what else can it do? If you shared your finished narrative with people, what would you want them to take away from reading it?
• who is your intended audience? Are you writing for people who had similar experiences? People who can’t imagine what your experiences were? Family members who know you but not your specific ideas? Students who are not as far along as you? Classmates with whom you want to connect and collaborate? Potential employers?
• what style or tone do you want for your essay? This will be connected to its purpose and intended audience. Do you want it to be funny? intense? emotional? controlled?
• What format do you want it to take? Are you writing it as plain text, or do you want to integrate images or other media? If you do, they should work with your chosen purpose, audience, and style/tone, rather than being unrelated.
• who do you want to refer to? Think about everything we’ve read so far this semester. In your narrative, quote from one or two and respond to that author’s ideas either in support of what you’re saying or as a counterpoint.

As a class, we will brainstorm questions we want to consider to help us each develop our own education narrative. The answers to these questions might not end up in what you submit for Project #1, but they can be part of your shitty first draft. Please reply to this post with any questions you think will help everyone start thinking about their own education, and what narrative can emerge. Here’s a list of some questions I already thought of and some from my former students:

• What is a moment, a person, or experience that led you to choose HMGT as your major? or that has led you to any other choice you have made regarding your education?
• Who is a role model for you in hospitality? as a writer? as a student? as a person? How have your learning experiences with different role models or mentors led to your different transformations?
• Describe a transformative experience you had as a learner–either in school or in life. How has that experience shaped you moving forward?
• What metaphor could help describe education for you–think about how Freire talks about the banking model, in which teachers deposit information into students, or Plato, who uses light and dark as metaphors for education.
• What’s something you read so far this semester that connects to your experiences with education? Choose a passage and write about how it represents what you have experienced.
• How did you know college in general or City Tech specifically was the right choice for you? was it always?
• How did you develop your aesthetic sensibility, and how does that relate to your hospitality goals?
• What’s been the hardest thing you’ve had to learn–again, in formal education or in life?
• What expertise have you developed, how, and what can that do for you?
• [I’ll add more from the questions you add in the comments, and some more of my own]

Aim to grow your narrative to 1000 words, without padding or unnecessary repetition, and post it by Wednesday, 10/6. Give it a title, and choose the category ENG 1101 Project #1 posts. If you’re not comfortable sharing your work publicly, please reach out to me and we can come up with a solution!

We’re working in a Portfolio system this semester, which means that each of you will gather your writing together, reflect on it, and revise it as needed for the end of the semester. For each project, you will post your project, and then also bundle your work and reflection in anticipation of the final portfolio and reflection. To submit Project #1 for my review, add a new post with your project, and then an additional post that you make private (see #7 in these instructions to make your post visible only to you and me), that includes:

• links to your post for Project #1 and your earlier drafts
• any freewriting, brainstorming, sketching, etc, that you want to share. This can include photos of your hand-written or hand-drawn work.
• a written reflection that answers:
  • what did you learn about yourself as a student? as a learner? as a writer? as a reviser, as a collaborator (eg, peer reviewer, suggesting questions for Project #1, responding to classmates in the discussions)?
  • what do you want to do with your narrative (part or all of it)? (eg, use it on your ePortfolio, as a personal statement for an application, as something you circulate on social media to get attention for issues you raise in your narrative, something you share with your family or community as a way to connect, share history, etc)
  • what do you want help with as you revise it for your final portfolio?
  • what can I do to help you achieve your goals and mine for Project #1?
  • is there anything else I should know about?

Your completed project, including reflection and accompanying materials is due on Wednesday, 10/6. Let me know if you need additional time or support.

You will be graded on:

• Your ability to develop an overall point/significance for your narrative.
• Concrete, significant details rather than generalizations
• Focus on one event or connected, series of events
• Your ability to integration one or two ideas from another writer into your narrative.
• Your construction of narrative that serves a purpose for a particular audience
• The effectiveness of your organization.
• Scope: Aim for 1000 words!
• The finishing touches, in terms of proofreading, formatting, submitting, etc.
• You will not be penalized for having negative things to say about education, if that’s appropriate for your chosen purpose!

If you have any concerns about this project, its subject, your ability to complete it or to submit it, please communicate with me–we can start with email or scheduling a meeting or planning to meet in student support hours.