ENG111 – English Composition 1

LITERACY NARRATIVE ESSAY

Prompt: For an audience constituted of

members of your classmates, compose a
“Literacy Narrative” in which you reflect on
memories of an experience related to your
literate practices. Literacy in this context is
defined in broad terms as knowledge of or
competence in a subject or area of activity.
Literate practices may include speaking,
writing, reading, and interpretation. These
practices may manifest via the acquisition of
communication conventions, the expectations
for behavior or performance, an understanding
and acceptance of roles and/or responsibilities,
etc.

Because this essay emphasizes remembering, you should focus your essay on a specific scene or
important event that illustrates 1) a defining moment that exemplifies your literate practices and 2) the
status of your literate practices as they changed or failed to change as a result of this event. In addition,
“A remembering essay is not a random narrative…[it] should have a clear main point, focus on a main
idea, or make a discovery.” Your essay should clearly answer the question “So what?” or “What’s the
point?” At the same time, you should avoid the trite thesis that announces “the moral of the story” in
your conclusion. You do not have to make deeply personal revelations about yourself to write an
interesting reflection.

Getting Started: As you think back on your reading and writing experiences, jot down all your thoughts
and observations. Record as much detail as you can about what you read or wrote, thought, and felt.
Identify thoughts or feelings you had, actions you took, details about yourself, etc. Next, write down as
many details as you can about the teacher who made the assignment, the library where you found the
book, the friend who recommended the book, etc. Finally, freewrite about the relationship between
yourself and those who influenced you. Did the experience cause you to look at external events, people,
or places differently? Did it change you inside? Did the external world influence the way you personally
reacted to the reading or writing?

Requirements: MLA format. The essay should be 3-4 double-spaced pages, 12 pt. Times New
Roman font, 1” margins.

Evaluation Guidelines:
A. The narrative should explore a specific event that exemplifies your literate practices.
B. The narrative should have a clear main point, which addresses the importance of this event either for
you personally or for people generally.
C. The narrative should have a title and an introductory paragraph that promotes interest.
D. The narrative should support claims about your literacy through vivid description and careful
explanation of the focal event, the setting in which it occurred, and the characters involved (remember to
show these details).
E. The narrative should have effective transitions (between sentences, paragraphs, and larger sections).
F. The narrative should be free of mechanical, grammatical, and usage errors. Pay particular attention to
the following:
 ● pronoun clarity
● gender inclusive language
● precise language

Literacy Narrative: More Ways to Think About This Essay

HOW DO I DO THAT?

➢ Zero in on a specific, important event that shaped how you viewed literacy, such as:
o A parent reading to you; your discovery of your favorite author; the story you
wrote that won a contest; the event that made you never want to pick up a book
ever again; etc.
o Make sure you describe one particular event and not a series of events (ie. instead
of talking about an entire semester you enjoyed, focus on one assignment that you
found particularly engaging).
➢ Structure it as you would a story. It needs a clear beginning, middle, and end, so that
your readers can follow your train of thought.
➢ Give it an engaging title.
➢ Include enough detail to make your story interesting. Bring your readers into your
memory so that they can visualize what happened. “This happened, then this happened,
then some more stuff happened,” is really boring. Make it dynamic.
➢ Answer the question, “So what?” Anyone can tell a story, but when a story has a specific
point, the readers are interested in what you’re saying and want to keep reading.
➢ Make sure your main idea (thesis) is clear and stands out—by the time your readers finish
your essay, they should be able to understand how and why this event affected you
➢ Avoid cliché “moral of the story” endings. If you use enough detail and, you won’t need
to end with a trite single sentence that reduces your whole essay into a cutesy Disney
movie ending. “And that’s how I learned to live life to the fullest!” is something you’d
see in a children’s book. You can be much more interesting than that.
SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER:

➢ Don’t think of this as an English essay. Think of it as creative non-fiction. Show us your
unique voice and tone. Use interesting words; tell an engaging story. Be creative and
have fun with it!
➢ Be aware of your audience. Don’t just write it for me. Write it for your peers. Write
something that would interest them (and make sure it’s something you wouldn’t mind
them reading).
➢ Make sure you maintain a consistent point of view and verb tense. First-person, past
tense works best for this essay.
➢ Don’t be afraid to bring your drafts to me (or anyone else) in the writing lab in the
library. It doesn’t matter how far along you are in the writing process; we’re always
willing to help.

*Writing a Remembering Essay*

The Point of writing a remembering essay is not to write

fiction, but to practice drawing upon your memories and to write
vividly enough about them so that you and others can discover and learn. The value in
remembering lies exactly here: written memories have the power to teach you, and through the
empathy of your readers, to inform or convince them as well. At first, you may be self-conscious
about sharing your personal memories or experiences. But as you reveal these experiences, you
realize that your story is worth telling--not because you are such an egotist, but because sharing
experiences helps everyone learn.

To write a Remembering Essay

❖ Using detailed observations of people, places, and events. Use dialogue where
appropriate.
Focus on occasion and cultural context. First, think about the personal occasion that motivated
you to write. Second, you may want to include details
about the cultural

❖ context for key events.

❖ Create a specific scene in time and space. Show
don’t tell! Narrate specific events as they actually
happened. Avoid monotonously summarizing the
events or presenting just the conclusions.
❖ Try to avoid clichés like “my life was never the
same,” and “it was a life-changing experience.”
❖ Note changes, contrasts, or conflicts. Changes in people or places, contrasts between
two different memories or between memories of expectations and realities, and conflicts
between people or ideas- any of these may lead to the meaning or importance of a
remembered person, place, or thing.
❖ Make connections between past events, people, or places and the present. The main idea
of a narrative often grows out of changes and conflicts or arises from the connections
you make between past and present.
❖ Discover and focus on a main idea. A Remembering essay is not a random narrative of
the writer’s favorite memories. This essay should clearly show why the memories are
important.
❖ Write in the first person and usually, but not always, in the past tense.
❖ Choose an order. You can use chronological and start the essay in the moment or you
may do a flashback.
❖ Go beyond generalities and conclusions about your experience.

Your goal is to recall specific incidents set in time and place that show how and why
those days or that memory changed your life!
 Rubric for Final Draft of Literacy Narrative Essay (100pts)

Score Level Criteria Comments

Conflict/Change
30-27 Excellent to Very Good: Essay
demonstrates a clear conflict or
change that took place. The conflict
or change that takes place builds to
the point of reaching a climax and
then ends with resolution and
adequate time devoted to reflection
by the author.
26-22 Good to Average: Essay
demonstrates a clear conflict or
change that took place. The conflict
or change that takes place builds to
the point of reaching a climax, but
there is not enough time devoted to
resolution or reflection by the author.
21-17 Fair: Author attempts to
demonstrate a conflict or change that
occurs, but does not succeed in
clearly relating the events in such a
way that it can be easily identified.
There is little evidence of resolution
or reflection by the author.
16-13 Needs Much Improvement: There
is little evidence of a conflict or
change that occurs over the course of
the essay. The essay is simply a
recollection of an event. The essay
ends abruptly with no reflection by
the author.
Description
25-22 Excellent to Very Good: Author
successfully uses precise, concrete
details to inform the reader of the
surroundings and/or characters in the
narrative. Author successfully uses
sensory details and imagery to
describe emotions and items
throughout the essay.
21-18 Good to Average: Author uses some
concrete, precise details to inform
the reader of the surroundings and/or
 characters in the narrative. Author
sometimes uses sensory details and
imagery to describe emotions and
items throughout the essay.
17-11 Fair: There are few examples of the
author using concrete, precise details
to inform the reader of the
surroundings and/or characters in the
narrative. The author rarely uses
sensory details and imagery to
describe emotions and items
throughout the essay.
10-5 Needs Much Improvement: The
author either does not use concrete,
precise details to inform the reader of
the surroundings and/or characters in
the narrative or does not use sensory
details and imagery to describe
emotions and items throughout the
essay.
Dialogue/Word Choice
20-18 Excellent to Very Good: Author
effectively uses dialogue in the essay
and word choice adds interest and
vibrancy to the essay.
17-14 Good to Average: Author uses
dialogue fairly well in the essay and
word choice is interesting.
13-10 Fair: Author somewhat uses
dialogue in the essay and word
choice is adequate, but lacks interest.
9-7 Needs Much Improvement: Author
fails to use dialogue in the essay and
word choice is rudimentary and adds
no interest to the paper.
Focus/Organization
20-18 Excellent to Very Good: Essay is
clearly focused on the memory in
question and doesn’t wander off
topic. Essay is well-organized and
flows well -- paragraphs support the
thesis.
17-14 Good to Average: Essay is fairly
focused. Essay is organized and
 flows well – most paragraphs
support the thesis.
13-10 Fair: Essay is somewhat focused,
though the writer’s attention may
wander. Essay is somewhat
organized and may be a bit choppy –
some paragraphs support the thesis.
9-7 Needs Much Improvement: Essay
is unfocused. Essay has a
rudimentary organization; sections
may impede the flow of the paper –
few paragraphs support the thesis.
Mechanics/MLA Format
5 Excellent to Very Good: Essay is
largely free of grammatical and
spelling errors (minor, unrepeated
errors are excusable); MLA style is
observed throughout entire essay.
4 Good to Average: Essay has some
repeated grammatical/spelling errors,
though they’re fairly minor; MLA
style is observed throughout the
majority of the essay.
3 Fair: Spelling/grammatical errors
are common but don’t impede
understanding; MLA style is
incorrect.
2 Needs Much Improvement:
Spelling/grammatical issues are
frequent and impede understanding;
There is no attempt by the author to
adhere to MLA format.