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.