Samford University
CA101 Fall 2012
Dr. Ken Kirby
Assignment for unit 1, Literacy Narrative
Overall assignment:
College writing courses often begin with a "memoir" type assignment
that tries to provide a bridge between high school and college.
It can help you assess your current state of mind as well as tell your
classmates something about you. For this assignment you will
write an essay and give a speech telling your classmates and teacher
something about your experience with reading and writing. You may
take the open form "literacy narrative" approach as presented in
Chapters 6 and 18 of our text and describe an important phase of your
development as a
reader or writer. Or you may tell about a text--story, poem, or
even something from the mass media--that educated you or helped shape
the person you are today. Your topic may tie these two "genres'
together via a
description of an author who stirred your interest both in your
personal development and in the power of words. In either case,
your primary goal is to reflect upon and say something about yourself.
Literacy narrative essay
The paper should be 1000-1200 words, about four typed, double-spaced
pages of Times New Roman 12 point or similar font. Do not use a
cover page; rather, follow MLA format (sect. 58c, p. 497 in Little, Brown Handbook).
The readings and class discussions are designed to help you understand
the principles of effective literacy narratives and textual
analysis. Bring to class two
copies of a word-processed draft for peer review
on the due date. Please remember that you must attend class on peer
review
days. Failure to attend class and/or to bring a completed, workable
draft
to class will result in a letter grade penalty against your final essay
grade. In addition, failure to complete the appropriate peer reviews
will
result in a lower essay grade. The various strategies given in our
text, as well as the evaluation criteria below, will serve as a
guide to
editing
your classmates’ essays. After the peer review workshop, revise
the essay using the comments
of your instructor and peers and your own sense of what needs to be
revised. Proof carefully
for
style, grammar, and punctuation errors before you print out the final
copy.
When the essay is due, place the draft and
peer editing sheets in a folder that I will provide; e-mail the final
version of your paper to me as an attached Word document named with
your SU e-mail name and LIT; mine would be "rkkirbyLIT."
Evaluation criteria for essay:
1. The essay is unified around a dominant idea or
effect, and all material clearly
relates to and supports this idea or effect.
2. The essay supports the thesis by using a variety
of strategies defined as "open form" writing in our text.
3. The essay is organized so as to
guide the reader toward the conclusion or effect the essay is designed
to produce.
4. The essay addresses the designated audience.
5. The essay is written in a lively and appropriate
style.
6. The essay follows the conventions of Standard
Written English.
7. The essay shows evidence of revision.
Literacy narrative speech
Deliver a four to five minute speech on the subject of your Literacy
Narrative
essay. Keep in mind that your speech will not be merely an oral
presentation
of
the essay. Although the subject matter will be the
same,
the material will be modified to be presented in oral form; in
particular, your opening and paragraph transitions will probably need
to be
changed.
You may use notes to deliver the speech, but your speech
may
not be read verbatim or memorized.
Evaluation criteris for speech:
You will be evaluated on content and delivery according to
the
categories on the speech evaluation form I will give you. You are also
expected to be dressed appropriately for a formal speaking situation.
Schedule (reading
assignments must be completed before you come to class on the scheduled
day; bring Guide to Writing and
Little, Brown Handbook to
class every day):
Aug 27 Course intro.; discussion of goals, assignments, and
topics for the semester; speeches of introduction.
Aug 29 In-class writing.
Aug 31 Scan Ch. 1-3 in Guide
to Writing; bring Little,
Brown Handbook to class; discussion of college writing concepts;
in-class activity to generate topics for literacy narrative assignment.
Sep 3 LABOR DAY holiday - no class
Sep 5 Read Ch. 6 (132-133b, 141m-145) in Guide to Writing; discussion and
in-class writing.
Sep 7 Read Ch. 6 (148-152) in Guide
to Writing; also scan Ch. 16 and 18; discussion and reports on
topics.
Sep 10 Drafts of Literacy Narrative paper due for peer editing;
bring Communication Arts: A
Student's Guide (ASG)
to class.
Sep 12 Principles of speech delivery--do Section Reviews on pages
135 and 85 in ASG;
speech
practice (be prepared to give about a third of your speech).
Sep 14 Further discussion of public speaking--do Section Reviews
on pages144 and 149 in ASG;
group work on topics for units 2 and 3.
Sep 17 Speeches
Sep 19 Speeches
Sep 21 Papers due;
library orientation--class meets Davis Library computer room