Writing a Literacy Narrative The Norton Field Guide to Writing

Warm-up Exercise Make a list of “10 things you know to be true” about your literacy acquisition. Compare your list with 3 other students. hould_have_a_daughter.html hould_have_a_daughter.html 4:00

What is a literacy narrative? A literacy narrative is a first-hand narrative about reading or composing in any form or context. Literacy narratives can be about reading stories books, cereal boxes, music, or video game cheats—anything at all that you read. Literacy narratives can be about composing letters, Facebook pages, song lyrics,’ zines, blogs, maps, essays in school—anything at all that you compose. Literacy narratives can be sad or happy, poignant or funny, informative or incidental. Literacy narratives often focus on powerful memories about events, people, situations, places—times when you tried and succeeded or tried and failed; someone who gave you a chance or took one away; situations when someone taught you how to do something or when you taught someone else. Adapted from

Key features Well-told story: Suspense need for resolution. Keep readers motivated to keep reading. Vivid detail: create a mental picture of what you are saying. Dialogues help “hear” what is being said. Significance, not moral.

Generating Ideas Choose a topic: focus on a single event that took place during a relatively brief period of time (see p.28). Consider the rhetorical situation: think about the purpose of your writing, the audience it is addressed to, the kind of tone you want to give it and the design it will have (include photos/pictures?)

Generating Ideas Literacy Timeline : list the most important moments in your literacy development (date/time + event) Example: literacy-timeline Online tools:

Let’s start drafting! Begin writing Today we shall focus on two elements that MUST be present in your literacy narrative: Setting/Environment Sponsors/people

Setting/Environment What do you see? (materials???) What do you hear? What do you smell? How and what do you feel? What do you taste?

Sponsors/people Describe each major sponsor in a paragraph or so. What does s/he look like? How does s/he dress? How does s/he speak? What does s/he do?

Write a beginning Jump right in Describe the context Describe the setting Talk about the event

Write an ending End where the story ends Say something about the significance of your narrative (not moral) Refer back to the beginning End on a surprising note