Literacy

OBJECTIVE: Compose a narrative in which you describe, analyze, and/or reflect on your experiences with literacy both in and out of school, and include appropriate and compelling evidence from your past.

Choose one of the following ways to approach this topic:

1. Focus on a particularly important literacy event in your life, demonstrating how this one event affected the literacy/literacies you possess today.
2. Provide a more complete history of your life as a literate person, connecting several different instances to your current attitudes and behaviors about that literacy. If you choose this option, you might pull together various highlights from your past, both positive and negative, and focus on how all those events led you to where you are today as a literate person.

Since this is a narrative, remember to tell your reader the story of your reading and/or writing journey, including setting, conflict, and characters.

Thesis Statement

Even though this is a narrative, and not the traditional 5-paragraph college essay, you should still have a “thesis” of some sort- some overall point you are making by telling your story. This may be something like, “Overcoming my dyslexia has been a struggle, but ultimately it has made me love reading even more.” What overarching theme is there in the story you are telling? This thesis should be the last sentence of your introduction.

Requirements

A 3-5 page literacy narrative including:
Inclusion of a clear thesis that communicates your purpose/focus
Compelling and appropriate evidence from your past
Specific details and effective storytelling
A coherent organizational structure that supports your focus
A clear connection between who you are now as a writer and the experiences you’ve chosen to highlight
Proofreading and MLA formatting

DEFINING LITERACY
Taken from: https://www.mamhouston.org/literacyadvance

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen, and use numeracy and technology, at a level that enables people to express and understand ideas and opinions, to make decisions and solve problems, to achieve their goals, and to participate fully in their community and in wider society. Achieving literacy is a lifelong learning process.