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Literacy Narrative Unit

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Unit Essay: Literacy Narrative

Assignment: 

One of your major course assignments is to prepare an autobiographical literacy narrative that specifically focuses on some aspect of your experience with language, literacy, rhetoric, or cultures. A primary purpose of writing a literacy narrative is to exemplify that you critically understand how certain influences shaped your reading, writing, and learning experience.

Literacy narratives are similar to reflective essays in that they review and build upon personal experiences. Effective literacy narratives are autobiographical accounts of particular events that provide positive or negative insights on particular events that have affected your academic experience. It is important that literacy is the dominant focus of your paper and not a last minute “add-on” to an otherwise unrelated autobiographical essay.

This assignment should follow the conventions of open-form prose. It requires neither a thesis statement nor supporting research. However, you should identify a clear theme. Provide your audience with a well-told story full of vibrant imagery, vivid details, and an indication of the narrative’s significance—it makes a point. Make use of the literary elements of plot, character, and setting to bring your narrative to life.

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Learning Objective is to develop rhetorical sensitivity by:

  • Use conventions of open-form prose;

  • Apply knowledge of the following persuasive appeals and rhetorical concepts: ethos, pathos, logos, angle of vision;

  • Show engagement with issues of language, literacy, rhetoric, or cultures;

  • Use specific language (descriptive, figurative, with attention paid to word choice);

  • Use syntax, punctuation, and spelling effectively in service of rhetorical purpose.

  • Produce a final written project that indicates a clear rhetorical purpose and that is appropriate for a diverse audience of peers;

  • Produce a final draft that shows evidence of a thoughtful writing process, including invention, revision, and proof-reading;

 

Requirements and Guidelines:

Your assignment should be 3-4 pages in length. Word count should be 750-1000 words, with your 1-page reflective essay (approximately 300 words) serving as a complimentary component to your literacy narrative. All drafts and essays must be typed, double-spaced.  Use a standard font and point size (Times New Roman 12pt), black ink, and one-inch margins.  Please refer to your Everyday Writer for any other questions concerning MLA style and documentation.

You will be graded on the overall writing process, so any drafts brought in for homework assignments and posted to Blackboard will count for 10% of your final grade on the paper.

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Schedule:

1st full draft will be due on [date of Student Conferences, Lesson 6] and will be read in a teacher conference.

2nd full draft will be due on [date of Lesson 7] and will be read by a classmate in peer review.

Final draft due to Blackboard on [date of Lesson 9]. Turning it in late will affect your grade.

 

While you draft your essay, keep in mind the following criteria on which you will be evaluated:

  • Is your essay clear and logically organized?

  • Does your essay use vivid and descriptive language?

  • Does your essay show, through detail and description, as well as tell?

  • Is your essay grammatically and mechanically, as well as creatively, written?

  • Does your essay and its previous drafts demonstrate an effective writing process?

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Literacy Narrative Unit Plan

MONDAY, Lesson 1 – Literacy Narrative and Generating Story Ideas

Class Goals:

  • Define Literacy Narrative form

  • Introduce Essay Assignment Sheet

Assignments Due:     

  • Read: The Allyn & Bacon Guide, Chapter 6, Special Features of Literacy Narrative, pp. 151-155

  • Read: Read “One Great Book” by Stephanie Whipple pp. 164-166

  • Answer: Questions on p. 166. Bring to class for discussion.

  • Print: Assignment Sheet for Literacy Narrative and READ. Bring to class.

In-Class Activities:

  • Discussion of Literacy Narrative reading and homework

  • In-class reading of Literacy Narrative excerpts from homework (pp. 154-155); answer questions on 155 in timed writing, followed by discussion

  • Read Literacy Narrative Assignment Sheet in class

 

WEDNESDAY, Lesson 2 – Looking for Contrasts

Class Goals:

  • Show engagement with issues of language, literacy, rhetoric, and cultures

  • Classify the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, logos and angle of vision within the context of open-form prose by reading an example and answering the critical reading questions.

  • Examine a model essay

Assignments Due:

  • Read: The Allyn & Bacon Guide, Chapter 6, Writing an Autobiographical Narrative, pp148-166

  • Read: “Two Loves,” by Anairis Cruz

  • H.WAssignment: Respond to the following questions based on “Two Loves.”

  1. If, as your A & B text says, good writing often starts with good questions, what questions do you think prompted Anairis Cruz to write “Two Loves?” What perplexing personal issues might he have been trying to work through by writing this piece?

  2. What are some of the major contrarieties in this story? What conflicts does Anairis Cruz struggles with? Are these internal or external conflicts?

  3. Why do you think it is important to imagine an audience as you write?

  4. Describe how Anairis Cruz uses appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos.

In-Class Activities:

  • Groups: Share responses to “Two Loves.”

  • Class discussion on “Two Loves.”

  • Time-out assignment to free write their ideas about readings.

  • Discuss Rhetorical Appeals in relation to narrative.

  • Think of a similar situation like the one in “Two Loves.” Write a paragraph about that event. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Where is it located? Who was there? Why does this event matter? How did it help you develop as a writer or make you reflect on your identity as a writer?

 

FRIDAY, Lesson 3 – Writing Open-Form Prose

Class Goals:

  • Examine conventions of open-form prose

  • Apply knowledge of the following persuasive appeals and rhetorical concepts: ethos, pathos, logos, angle of vision;

  • Review key ideas of correctiveness, tension and recognition (or retrospective interpretation) by watching the Andrew Stanton TED talk.

  • Implementing Concrete Details with in-class write.

Assignments Due

  • Read: The Allyn & Bacon Guide, Chapter 17, pp. 445-457

  • Read: “No Cats in America?” Chapter 6, pp. 162-163, and “The Stolen Watch,” pp. 446-447

  • Answer: Questions on the top of 447. Make a list of the differences between the two essays and bring to class.

In Class Activities:

  • Discuss writing in the format of open-form prose

  • Groups: Discuss the short readings “No cats” and “The Stolen Watch.” Answer and discuss the questions at the top of 447.

  • Write: A list of the concrete details you found in both stories. Then, having looked at the list, write another paragraph of the same scene from the previous lesson, but use this list to shape your own concrete details? Do you think this one is a stronger version? Tell me why or why not in a few sentences.

  • Watch Andrew Stanton TED talk and discuss in class: https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story

 

MONDAY, Lesson 4, Detailed Paragraph

Class Goals:

  • To Help Compose a 1st Draft by writing a scene they think could work for their unit project.

  • Use conventions of open-form prose

  • Use specific language (descriptive, figurative, with attention paid to word choice) by having the students write and practice metaphors.

Assignments Due:

  • Read: Skill 17.1 Make your narrative a story, not an and then chronology, pp. 446-448

  • Read: Skill 17.2, Evoke images and sensations by writing low on the ladder of abstraction, pp. 449-452

  • Read: Skill 17.4 “Tap the Power of Metaphor and Other Tropes,” pp. 454-456

  • Write: Write two to three paragraphs depicting a scene you might use in your Literacy Narrative. In other words, write a scene! Here you want to practice open-form prose and write about any event dealing with language or writing that has influenced your life. This could be a story about a grade you received for a short story or the developing relationship of two individuals through a mutual love of writing. Simply pick one of these events and start writing. Try to include detailed descriptions of setting or character or a hint of recognition/retrospective interpretation to come. Or you might choose to write more directly about your recognition/retrospective interpretation. Either way, you want to write low on the scale of abstraction, using concrete language and “memory-soaked words.”

In Class Activities:

  • Discuss the readings.

  • Discuss the ladder of abstraction.

  • In-class assignment: Project an image on the board and have students practice creating metaphors for image.

Groups: Share and discuss the process. Have them write their favorites on the board.

 

WEDNESDAY—Lesson 5 – Thinking about Audience and Focus

Class Goals:

  • Classifying your Purpose, Audience, Theme through group discussion.

  • Apply knowledge of the following persuasive appeals and rhetorical concepts: ethos, pathos, logos, angle of vision by answering the thematic questions about the video.

Assignments Due:

  • Read: The Importance of Theme, p 152

  • Read: How Writers Think about Purpose, p. 8-14

  • Write: Use the scene you wrote from your previous homework assignment. Answer the following questions:

    • Who was the intended audience for this scene?

    • Do you think what you wrote fit that angle of vision? Why or Why not?

    • What kind of changes would you make in order to make your scene appeal to your intended audience?

    • Make those revisions and bring them with you to class.

In-Class Activities:

 

FRIDAY, Lesson 6 – Class Cancelled for Conferences

Class Goals:

  • Get feedback from instructors

  • Consider grading criteria

  • Use syntax, punctuation, and spelling effectively in service of rhetorical purpose.

Assignments Due:

  • Write: 1st draft, 750-1000 words. Bring one copy to conferences

  • A printed copy of the Grading Rubric for Literacy Narrative.

 

MONDAY, – Lesson 7 – Peer Review Day

Class Goals:

  • Demonstrate good peer review practices to stimulate revision by peer reviewing classmates.

  • Produce a final written project that indicates a clear rhetorical purpose and that is appropriate for a diverse audience of peers.

Part 1 – Assignments Due by start of class:

  • Read:  Chapter 6, p. 158 “Questions for Peer Review”

  • Read: Purdue Owl Online Writing Lab, “Peer Review Presentation,” https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/712/1

  • Write: 2nd draft Of Literacy Narrative. Bring to class for review

Part 2:

  • In-class Read and Write: In groups of two, exchange essays and write a peer review of your partner’s essay using the questions from page 158. You have the entire period, so be thorough in your response, ask as many questions as you need from your partner, and be sure to either write your responses on their copy, computer or separate paper, depending on how your partner wants the feedback.

 

WEDNESDAY—Lesson 8– Revision and Editing

Class Goals:

  • Practice self-editing at the local (grammar, clarity, and conciseness) level

  • Use syntax, punctuation, and spelling effectively in service of rhetorical purpose.

  • Produce a final draft that shows evidence of a thoughtful writing process, including invention, revision, and proof-reading

Assignments Due:

  • Read:

    • From The Everyday Writer:

      • Chapter 1, The Top Twenty, pp. 4-12

      • Chapter 7, Reviewing, Revising and Editing

  • Write: HAVE AND BRING FINAL DRAFT OF LITERACY NARRATIVE printed out.

In-Class Activities:

  • Discuss grammar issues that came up during final editing process

  • Write: A list of the most common errors you see in your own writing.

  • Peer Edit for local errors.

  • In-class write to begin final revision process

FINAL DRAFT OF LITERACY NARRATIVE DUE BY CLASSTIME FRIDAY TO BLACKBOARD.

 

FRIDAY—Lesson 9—Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Class Goals:

  • Reflect, through writing, on what you learned while writing this essay

  • Discuss the challenges/rewards of writing a literacy narrative versus more traditional forms of essay

Assignments Due:

  • Read: The Everyday Writer, Chapter 8, Reflecting, pp. 88-92

  • Read: The Allyn & Bacon Guide, Chapter 22, “Why is Reflective Writing Important?” p. 528

  • Write: Answer the following questions and bring to class for discussion

  1. What was the biggest challenge to completing this essay? How did you overcome them?

  2. What did you like most about writing this type of essay? What did you like the least?

  3. How did writing this type of essay enhance your knowledge and understanding of rhetorical strategies and discourse?

  4. Did you find that your writing style or practices change to write this type of essay? In what ways?

  5. How might you want to use this type of writing style in the future? Has it changed the way you approach your writing in general?

  • Write: Begin reflective essay (minimum 300 words) based on the answers to the questions. We will be discussing and revising in class, so it doesn’t have to be a polished version.

In-class activities:

  • Discuss readings and homework question answers

  • Engage in classroom post mortem for assignment

  • Use answers and draft from homework to write in-class reflective essay, minimum 300 words, to be posted to Blackboard by midnight on Friday.

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