Literacy Narratives

• Narratives are stories used for various purposes.
• Examples include bedtime stories, sermons, and personal essays.
• Literacy narratives explore experiences with reading and writing.

Emily Vallowe: "Write or Wrong Identity"

• Emily Vallowe's literacy narrative explores her identity as a writer and her doubts.
• The narrative begins with the author in a stressful situation, asked to name a talent God has given her.
• She identifies as a writer, but feels terror.

Shannon Nichols: "Proficiency"

• Shannon Nichols' literacy narrative describes her experience with a standardized writing proficiency test.
• The test was required for high school graduation.
• She failed the writing portion multiple times despite excelling in English class.
• Her narrative focuses on her emotional reaction to failing.
• The contrast between her demonstrated writing ability and her failures creates tension and engages the reader.

Sofia Gomez: "Mother Goose in Monterrey"

• Sofia Gomez's literacy narrative describes learning English in Mexico.
• The narrative is part of Ohio State's Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives.
• It includes a video of herself with her siblings.
• She describes how her English education came from both home and school.
• Gomez's narrative tells of her family's efforts at providing a good education and strong English foundation.
• Vivid details, such as the tape holding books together, bring the narrative and story to life.

Key Features of Literacy Narratives

• A well-told story with a situation that needs resolution engages the reader.
• Literacy narratives may explore the role of reading or writing in someone's life.
• Vivid details provide mental sensations such as sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures.
• Dialogue helps readers hear what is being said.
• Writers need to make clear why the incident matters.
• Reveal significance in various ways.
• Avoid tacking on a moral at the end.

Writing Literacy Narratives: Choosing a Topic

• Focus on a single event during a brief period.
• Examples include:
  • Early memory about writing or reading.
  • Someone who taught you to read or write.
  • Book or other text that was significant.
  • School event related to reading or writing.
  • Difficult writing or reading task.
  • Memento representing a literacy development moment.
  • Origins of your current attitudes about writing or reading.
  • Learning to text or write a professional email.
  • Creating and maintaining a social media page or blog.

Considering the Rhetorical Situation

• Purpose:
  • Share a memory.
  • Fulfill an assignment.
  • Teach a lesson.
  • Explore past learning.
• Audience:
• Are readers likely to have similar experiences?
• How much explanation is needed?
• Will they share your attitudes?
• How much are you willing to share?
• Stance:
  • What attitude do you want to project?
  • Sincere, serious, humorous, self-critical?
• Media/Design:
  • Print, oral, or online?
  • Use of photos, tables, graphs, video, audio?
  • Font, headings?

Generating Ideas and Text

• Good literacy narratives share elements that make them interesting and compelling for readers.
• Goals are to tell the story clearly and vividly and convey the meaning the incident has for you today.
• Describe the setting:
  • List the places where your story unfolds.
  • What do you see, hear, smell, feel, taste?
• Think about the key people:
  • Describe each person in a paragraph or so.
  • What do they look like, how do they dress, how do they speak?
• Recall (or imagine) some characteristic dialogue to bring people to life and move a story along.
• Write about "what happened": Summarize the action in your narrative in a paragraph by using vivid verbs.
• Consider the significance of the narrative and make clear the meaning it has for you now.

Ways of Organizing a Literacy Narrative

• Start by outlining the main events in your narrative.
• Ways to organize it.
  • Chronologically (from beginning to end): introduce the story, describe the setting, tell what happened, say how the story was resolved, and say something about the significance.
  • Beginning in the middle: start in the middle and fill the details.
  • Beginning at the end: start at the end and go back to the beginning.

Writing Out a Draft

• Once you have collected ideas and thought about how you want to organize your narrative, it's time to begin drafting.
• Do this quickly in one sitting, and concentrate on getting the story on paper or screen and on putting the story in as much detail as you can.