Schedule

Drafts Due: first draft, Monday, September 23; next draft, Wednesday, September 25, 2024 . For both, post online and bring to class.
Final Draft Due: Monday, September 30, 2024 (as a post on our site)

Education Narrative

In discussing the education narrative genre this semester, we have read several examples in which the writers discuss meaningful experiences, texts, and spaces that have shaped their understanding of themselves or the world around them. In these pieces, the writers discuss education journeys—the way experiences can shape our understanding of the world around us and affect our education 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 that tells a story about a meaningful learning experience, whether in school or in your life that helped shape your professional goals—those you are pursing now that you have started college.

To get started:

Begin with some brainstorming and freewriting. The answers to these questions might not end up in what you submit for Project 1, but they can be part of your drafting process, or as Anne Lamott calls it, your shitty first draft:

  • Reflect on where you hope to be in five years (right after college?) or perhaps a bit further in the future.
  • Think big. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing? In other words, what do you want your professional life to look like?  
  • Reflect on some personal experiences that shaped who you are and your goals for the future. Your experience might be about a class you took, a text you read, a space where you like to learn, or a mentor who had an impact on you.

Include in your narrative:

Write about the following and use them to make a point about your education and your future goals: 

  • Describe a meaningful experience that shaped your professional goals. Tell about when, why, and how the experience was significant for you. 
  • Connect this experience to your goals. Using the brainstorming and freewriting you did as a starting point, write about yourself and your goals at City Tech, in your major, and on your professional path. Reflect on how you will achieve these goals. Be specific about what you need to do to achieve your goals. 
  • Refer to one or two of the authors we have read this semester, quoting from the text and using the author’s language and ideas either to help you support your narrative or to provide a useful counterpoint.
  • Consider doing a little research about opportunities to support your goals, such as any additional co-curriculular programs, extra-curricular clubs, professional development events, etc, that you can take while at City Tech to help you reach your professional goals.

Things to think about and choices to make:

In writing your education narrative, 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, you will need to quote from one or two of our readings and respond to those authors’ ideas either in support of what you’re saying or as a counterpoint.

Finishing Project 1

Aim to grow your narrative to 1000 words, without padding or unnecessary repetition. Give it a title. You will post your draft and a finished version, using the category ENG 1101 Project1 posts. I will share instructions. If you’re not comfortable sharing your work publicly, I will share instructions to help with privacy settings.

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.

Grading Criteria

You will be graded on your

  • ability to develop an overall point/significance for your narrative.
  • use of concrete, significant details rather than generalizations
  • focus on one event or connected, series of events
  • integration of one or two ideas from another writer into your narrative
  • construction of a narrative that serves a purpose for a particular audience
  • organization’s effectiveness
  • use of tone, language, grammar, and sentence structure as appropriate for your genre, audience, and purpose
  • scope: aim for 1000 words!
  • finishing touches, in terms of proofreading, formatting, submitting, etc.

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 schedule a meeting or meet in student support hours.

Photo credit: “Education is All” by Alan Levine via Flickr under the license CC BY 2.0.