Multimodal Literacy Narrative
Genre: Multimodal Literacy Narrative
Audience: Readers of the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN) and classmates
Learning Outcomes: Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing; Knowledge of Conventions
Background:
- DALN: “What is a literacy Narrative?”
- Rodriguez: “The Achievement of Desire”
- Kingsolver: “How Mr. Dewey Decimal Saved My Life”
- Douglass: “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”
Due Dates:
- Thursday, 10/21: Statement of Purpose/Storyboard
- Tuesday 10/26: Iteration #1
- Thursday 10/28: Iteration #2
- Thursday 11/4: Final Draft, uploaded to DALN
For the first two projects in this class, you’ve been asked to consider some worldly issues in textual analysis and advocacy. For this project, the focus shifts back to you, your background, and your development as a writer.
Compose a multimodal narrative in which you examine the life experiences that have affected your growth as a writer. Emphasize who you are as a writer now — at this point in your academic career — and how the incidents you address in your narrative relate to that issue. For example,
- What is your first memory of writing?
- Of seeing others write?
- Of being taught to write?
- What times, places and people do you associate with writing?
- How have you come to value writing in the way that you have?
- What role has technology played in your writing?
To prepare for this project we will challenge ourselves to discover what possibilities and constraints we might encounter in a shift from strictly textual to multimodal compositions. You might begin that conversation by raising the question, how does “1000-1250 words” translate in multimodal compositions? Or: how well does the concept of a “draft” hold up in the midst of iterative composing in multimodal spaces?
A note on technology
You are not evaluated on your technological expertise; rather, we want you to tell a story — that’s what a narrative is — and to explore what technologies and interfaces might help you tell that story.
For example, in class we will have a workshop on iMovie, in which you can import and edit video; we will look at MAC and open-source possibilities for audio recording and editing; and we can explore platforms that allow integrating audio, text, and images in a way that supports your composing goals and is compelling for readers.
My first-grade report card, 1960
My literacy narrative might begin with a reflection on my first-grade teacher’s comments, which seem to focus more on my behavior than on my work. (In the second grade, comments included that I “stare out the window often.”)
