Education Narrative Assignment

This is the handout that details due dates, page count requirements, and the grading criteria, in other words, the “fun” stuff! Note this handout is two-pages.

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General Overview of the Assignment

Unit 1: Education Narrative 

In this unit, you’ll have a chance to discuss your educational journey and goals, in whatever way you want to define “education.” We’ll look at the genre of Education Narratives to learn:

  1. what the term genre means
  2. how people craft educational narratives
  3. what an educational narrative can reveal about ourselves and others

You will write a short essay about a significant event or events that had an impact on the way you view education and/or school. Examples we’ll read in class discuss specific events in-depth, using concrete, significant detail.  They also explain why those events were important– not just to the writer, but to the reader.  What can your experiences with education tell your audience about the educational system in America, for example? Or about language? Or about the ways we learn? You want your reader to come out of your narrative having learned something or thinking about things in a new way.

 

In your Educational Narrative, you may want to write about an event or sequence of literacy or learning events that:

  • was particularly formative for the student you are now or the educational goals you now have
  • led you to become the thinker you are today;
  • offered a profound experience related to your language or learning;

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

  • Address how the event shaped your relationship to school or education in general;
  • Address how your particular experience relates to some of the bigger social and cultural issues we discussed in class, such as race, the education system, Standard Written English (SWE), etc.;
  • Reflect upon how your experience has enabled you to understand something specific about reading, writing, learning, or language AND how that understanding reflects on the communities/world you inhabit.

What will your essay be graded on?  

  • Your ability to develop an overall point/significance for your narrative.
  • Concrete, significant detail. (Can a reader of your narrative see these events as a picture?)
  • Focused event or sequence of events. (Can a reader of your narrative follow one event or a 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? 
  • The carefulness of your proofreading and organization 
  • Length: your essay must be at least 1000 words

A detailed assignment sheet is forthcoming!