Essay 2: Literacy Narrative
A Literacy Narrative is a type of autobiographical essay that focuses on personal experiences with literacy (speaking, writing, reading, etc., in order to confirm the importance of these rhetorical experiences in a person’s life.
For your first essay, your purpose is to compose a narrative that tells a story about how reading, writing, or some other rhetorical experience changed your life in a memorable or significant way. You might even consider how this experience created or shaped the literate person you are today.
Your essay will be 4 typed pages in MLA format.
Above all, try to recall a moment in your life when speaking, reading, or writing had a big impact on your life. Answer the following questions to get you thinking:
- What is your earliest memory of reading and writing?
- How did you learn to read and write? Did you ever teach anyone else to read or write?
- Who encouraged you to read and write?
- What events interrupted and/or slowed down your ability and/or desire to read and write?
- Did you apply literacy skills to other content areas: sports, music, video games, etc.?
- What kinds of reading have you done in your past and what kinds of reading to you do now?
- What teachers had a particular impact on your reading and writing?
- What assignments had a particular impact on your reading and writing?
- Have different schools or other institutions had an impact on your reading and writing?
- How do you currently feel about reading and writing?
- What rewards have come from reading and writing?
- Did a special or important event from your past make you the reader and/or writer you are today?
- Was there a moment or moments that were especially empowering?
- Did you ever read a book or poem or song that made sense to you beyond the words on the page?
A sample literacy narrative is here: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/12/magazine/living-in-tongues.html?pagewanted=all&src=pmLinks to an external site.
