Reading and Writing

You will compose a narrative (a story!) drawing upon assigned readings and from an examination of your own literacy history, habits and processes. The purpose of the literacy narrative is to get to know yourself better as a writer.

You will:

• Consider and analyze your history as a reader and writer and determine what memories and feelings you have about writing and reading and how you actually read and write. (Be specific and avoid generalizations).
o Ask yourself questions such as:
 How did I learn to read and write?
 What kinds of reading and writing have I done in the past?
 What have I enjoyed or not enjoyed about reading and writing activities?
 What are your current attitudes towards reading and writing?
 Who are some people (or even things) in your life that may have acted as literacy sponsors?

• As you ponder yourself as a writer, develop a main theme—the “So What”—or central finding of your self-reflection.

• Tell me your story as a reader and writer.

Organization/Structure:

You will follow the basic structure of a traditional essay—by including some type of an introduction, a body and a conclusion. You do, however, have flexibility to organize your narrative in more than one way: You could write your story chronologically from childhood to now; or as a story broken into parts such as “before” and “after” if there was one significant event that made a big contribution to your history as a reader and writer (ie, the first time your mom read you a story). There are other ways, too—these are just some ways to consider!

Keep in mind who your intended audience is (me) and the purpose of your writing (to tell a story)—as this impacts the choices you make as a writer!