Assignment 2: Writing a Literacy Narrative Essay

Assignment 2:  Writing a Literacy Narrative Essay  (5-7 pages, ds)

Your second major assignment is your own literacy narrative.  This assignment is a 5-7 page essay in which you discuss your path to literacy or discuss a significant moment/memory in your literate life.  If you love to write, how did that love develop?  What do you like about writing?  What kind of writing do you like?  What kind of writing challenges you, and in what ways? What kind of reading do you like to do?  What is so important to you about reading science fiction, or designing web sites, or about being able to read and write in a computer language?  Maybe your literacy narrative will focus on examining literacy within a cultural or community context.  For example, maybe a significant literacy moment in your life was participating in a community literacy program or preparing and giving a speech at a town event or learning to read music.  Many scholars disagree on the definition of literacy.  What does your literacy narrative suggest about how you define literacy and about the way that literacy has shaped you as a person? Feel free to cite other scholars’ definitions of literacy as a way of comparing and contrasting with your own definition.  Even though this is a personal narrative, it must have a controlling thesis and purpose.

Writing Your Literacy Narrative
Your guidelines and roadmap for writing a good narrative appear in the “’Here’s What Happened’:  Writing a Narrative” chapter on Carmen.  Refer to the characteristic features in that chapter:

  • A clearly defined event:  What happened?  Who was involved?
  • A clearly described setting:  When and where did it happen?
  • Vivid, descriptive details:  What makes the story come alive?
  • A consistent point of view:  Who’s telling the story?
  • A clear point:  Why does the story matter?  (108)

Evaluative Criteria
Your literacy narrative will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • a title and thesis that reflects the major point of your literacy narrative;
  • a clear point that indicates to readers why your narrative matters;
  • a clear and appropriate organization pattern around the main point and themes that drive your narrative;
  • developed ideas supported with detailed examples;
  • carefully composed and edited prose that reflects the stylistic “moves” for narratives and that is free of misspellings, typos, and grammatical miscues; and
  • a list of works cited (MLA or APA format).

Even though this is a written literacy narrative, I invite you to pair with a classmate and record (video or audio) your literacy narrative for the DALN.

Due Dates:
October 15:  Draft due and peer response
October 22:  Final Draft due