Literacy Story

Personal Literacy Story Prompt:
For this two page paper you will be writing a literacy story – a story about an experience you had with a specialized language.  This story may be about how you used a specialized language successfully, about a moment you enjoyed or had trouble with the learning of a specialized language, or a moment where you did not succeed or did not understand a specialized language.

Students in the past have written about difficulties with performing and talking about music, about Dungeons and Dragons, about sports, and many other topics.  The challenge for this paper will be slowing down to focus on one moment & assessing that moment. To do this, you should show, not tell, and you may want to think about yourself as a part of your story, not just the narrator.

As will be discussed in class, an A paper will tell a personal literacy story that has a strong and consistent authorial voice. An A paper will tell a specific story grounded by one event, text (interpreted loosely), or period of time. An A paper will describe the event in specific and tangible (think: the senses) terms; remember that readers will have a voyeuristic interest in the specifics! An A paper will appear refined and will be organized thoughtfully.