Category: Announcements

Due by Mon. 3/1 @ 6PM:

READ:

“Literacy Narrative” by Kiki Petrosino (student sample)
“Nah, We Straight” by Vershawn Ashanti Young, pp. 49-60. 

WRITE:

This week, we’re getting into your first essay. As we’ve spoken about at length, and as you’ve read in “Mother Tongue” and “Learning to Read” and this week’s student sample, you’ll be writing your own education narrative.

As we now know, this genre is primarily composed of anecdotes, yes, but what keeps it coherent and of interest is what we’ll call the “argumentative framing” – namely, the thesis statement and P-I-E paragraph structure. Your task this week is to come up with a working thesis statement and a rough outline in the roman numeral (I, II, A, B, 1, 2 … etc) format.

When drafting your thesis statements, it will be useful to think back to the central argument in “Mother Tongue”. They were based on personal experience, but made some point about education more broadly. If Amy Tan had to complete this assignment, her thesis draft might look something like this: “Even though native English speakers in the United States look down at language learners and their ‘broken’ English, it was precisely that ‘broken’ English that I learned from my mother that allowed and encouraged me to become a Chinese-American novelist.” Or look to the Malcolm X, or the student sample, and you’ll find something like that operating as well.

Write a working thesis and a rough outline for your Education narrative, and file your post under the Category “Unit 1” by Monday @ 6 PM.

Helpful Notes:

Thesis = Claim + Reasons

“____________ is true because X, Y, Z.”

Outline Format:

1. Intro
   1. Hook
   2. Topic
   3. Thesis = CLAIM + REASONS
2. Body Paragraph #1 = REASON #1
   1. 1. Topic Sentence (reason)
      2. Point
      3. Illustration = Evidence/Examples
      4. Explanation – tie back to your claim

1. … (Repeat as needed)
2. Conclusion
   1. Restate Thesis
   2. Summarize Evidence/Points
   3. Answer “so what?”

Due by Mon. 2/22 @ 6PM:

READ:

• “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk
• “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X

WRITE:  

This week, you’re reading the essay I meant to assign you last week, and which will (I think) shed a lot of light on the question of genres. BUT, all is not lost: we will also be taking a look at an autobiographical selection from Malcolm X. This section, like “Mother Tongue,” is an education narrative. As you now know, your first essay is going to be an education narrative. The education narrative is a genre, so therefore we can think about what conventions make one piece an education narrative and another something else entirely.

One major feature of these narratives, as we discussed in our Zoom session this week, is the usage of anecdote.

What anecdotes jump to mind as you begin to think about the history of your education? What tiny moments, stories, jokes, musings, conversations, accidents etc can you think of that might help you tell the story of your relationship to education?

Write 300 words in response to this prompt, and file your post under the Category “Unit 1” by Monday @ 6 PM.