Yesterday’s class was devoted primarily to reading and responding to the blog post of one of your classmates’ literacy narratives. Elements you considered in your response included these:
- the title
- vivid details
- dialogue, the use of scene and/or summary
Before you began that assignment, we examined the opening pages of “Back Story,” the first chapter of Michael Lewis‘s The Blind Side, which dramatizes the moments in the November 1985 Redskins-Giants football game leading up to the injury that ended quarterback Joe Theismann’s career:
“From the snap of the ball to the snap of the first bone is closer to four seconds than to five. One Mississippi: The quarterback of the Washington Redskins, Joe Theismann, turns and hands the ball to running back John Riggins. He watches Riggins run two steps forward, turn, and flip the ball back to him. It’s what most people know as a ‘flea-flicker,’ but the Redskins call it a ‘throw-back special.’ Two Mississippi: Theismann searches for a receiver but instead sees Harry Carson coming straight at him. It’s a running down—the start of the second quarter, first and 10 at midfield, with the score tied 7–7—and the New York Giants’ linebacker has been so completely suckered by the fake that he’s deep in the Redskins’ backfield. Carson thinks he’s come to tackle Riggins but Riggins is long gone, so Carson just keeps running, toward Theismann. Three Mississippi: Carson now sees that Theismann has the ball. Theismann notices Carson coming straight at him, and so he has time to avoid him. He steps up and to the side and Carson flies right on by and out of the play. The play is now 3.5 seconds old. Until this moment it has been defined by what the quarterback can see. Now it–and he–is at the mercy of what he can’t see” (15).
What Theismann cannot see is Lawrence Taylor. A second later, as Taylor sacks Theismann, Taylor’s knee drives straight into Theismann’s lower right leg, leading to the “snap of the first bone” that Lewis mentions in the first line of the chapter. He hooks the reader by linking the beginning of the play, “the snap of the ball” to the gruesome “snap of the first bone” that will follow. Lewis develops the opening paragraph using the common one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi method of marking seconds to present the events leading up to the compound fracture that ends Theisman’s career.
Lewis doesn’t dramatize the injury itself because his interest lies instead in the blind side that led to it and subsequently elevated the status and salary of the left tackle, the player who protects the quarterback’s blind side.
When you’re struggling to develop a piece of writing, reread the opening paragraph of The Blind Side. Observe how Lewis dramatizes 3.5 seconds–yes, only 3.5 seconds–with about two-hundred words.
Yesterday, after we studied the opening of The Blind Side, we examined the first two paragraphs of Tom Junod‘s Esquire magazine feature “The Falling Man” and considered why Junod may have chosen to present the beginning of his essay as an unusually long single paragraph, one that could have been divided into three or more paragraphs.
Peer Responses
In the last few minutes of Monday’s class (or on your own if you were still completing your blog comment at the end of class), you began reading your other classmates’ literacy narratives and began taking notes on them in your journal.
Once you have read and taken notes on all of the essays, compose a brief comment that states which of the narratives is the strongest and why. Include in your response the title of the narrative, the writer’s first and last name, and the section number. Post your response as a comment on this blog post no later noon on Thursday, February 15.
After the posting deadline (but not immediately after), I will make the comments visible. In the coming days and weeks, we will look at some of the comments in class, as well as the literacy narratives that they address.
Next Up
In class on Wednesday you will begin planning and drafting your analysis, which will focus on one of the texts that we have studied in class, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” David Sedaris‘s “Me Talk Pretty One,” Helen Keller‘s “The Day Language Came into My Life,” Michael Lewis‘s “Back Story,” and Tom Junod‘s “The Falling Man.” If you have misplaced your copy of any of those or were absent the day that I distributed copies, you can download a copy from Blackboard and print it. Next Monday we will examine an additional text that may serve as the subject of your analysis. If it appeals to your more than the text you write about on Wednesday, you are welcome to change your subject to that latest addition to the readings.
Jane Lucas 
The literacy narrative I found the strongest is Olivia Wall’s “My Writing Journey” from ENG 1103.19. Her narrative instantly locked me in and it was easy to visually imagine how dyslexia, dysgraphia, and non-verbal learning disorders has affected her learning process throughout the years.
My Grandfathers Solo Letter by Jack Hutchins from section 19 of Research and Writing I thought to be the strongest literacy narrative. His use of vivid details, explanations of background information, and the progression of his story are executed in a great way for the readers to understand. The author’s reflection in the last paragraph on how important a piece of writing may be, I thought concluded the story and gave the reader a sense of empathy in the best way possible.
The literacy narrative which I think is the strongest is Olivia Walls ” My Writing Journey” section 19. Olivia’s narrative is a strong piece of writing because of all the vivid details she added. While I was reading it I was instantly hooked into her story and felt as if I was in her mind reliving these memories. Another reason why I think her piece was strong is because of the embedded links she added: dyslexia, dysgraphia, and non-verbal learning. This I think was well thought out because some people might not know what these learning disabilities in-tell and with the links they can learn more about what Olivia went through.
“My Ticket to College” by Elaina Blablo (ENG 1103-19) specifically stood out to me because of how strong and personal Elaina made the story to the reader. I can individually relate to this essay as it is similar to my writing process of creating my college essay. Strengths that I can identify in Elainas narrative is pathos, vivid details, and structure. Most importantly, the pathos used in this essay was the strongest part to me as I felt the sadness that Elainas mom expressed after reading the essay. Because Elainas mom plays such an important role towards the outcome of the narrative, Elaina wouldn’t of been able to persuade her audience without the use of vivid details and structure to evoke certain emotions to make the reader feel the way she did.
I thought that Gracie Lare’s ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Mystery’ from ENG1103.20 was the best narrative, because it talked about a reading experience she was passionate about and got to share with her friends. It was very clear and enjoyable to read, and I liked how she connected it throughout her whole life.
I felt that the narrative “My Ticket to College,” written by Elaina Blablo, was very strong and heartfelt. I felt that the narrative had structure and a full definitive story. The story was detailed and the grammar was correct. The story also displayed emotion, for example, “tears still flowing down her face,” making the readers feel the emotions that the writer endured. - Mckinnley Coles
I believe that in section 20, Autumn Spaulding’s “Magic Treehouse Past Midnight” was the strongest for many reasons. Her use of organization and vivid detail made the plot very understandable, and I really felt like I was immersed in the story. She also had really good flow from paragraph to paragraph and had little grammar mistakes. Overall, I think that this was a very well written narrative.
Overcoming uncertainty, Channing Smith, section 20.
I thought this piece of writing was the strongest because the amount of relate-ability in it and the questions she asked herself. it was very easy to set the scene and picture the exact emotions and setting of the experience.
You do a great job of setting the scene early on in your narrative. By first providing a background of your experience with public speaking as well as reading, the story developed very well and showed the emotions that you were feeling during that event. The title also ties in perfectly with the lesson learned in the narrative. It’s titled “An Unforgettable Reading Experience” and it proved to be just that. Based on the conclusion paragraph where you say that you owe your current reading skills to the practice that your teacher had you do.
From 1103 Section 19, Skylar Varner’s Literacy Narrative titled “My Memory of Writing” she talks about her senior year high school essay, where she had to write about a hero in her life or someone who inspires her. She talks about her mom as she’s an inspiration to her and she strives to be. She found it easy to write about her mom as she could go on endlessly. She also included the embedded links to her high school and the business that her mom ran with her dad. I believe that this essay was done very nicely.
Another Literacy Narrative that I found to be strong from 1103 Section 19 was Brian Sheridan’s essay titled “Experience is Just the First Step” where he tells his journey learning the English language. He shares his desire to include the English language into sermons. He included an image of an English dictionary as well as an image of the cross to symbolize his religion. I found his essay very informative and detailed.
A Literacy Narrative I found to be very strong was Olivia Walls. Her descriptive details and strong sentences brought her essay together very well and was very intriguing to read. She had very vivid details and captured the moments very well to paint a picture in my head. While reading it I could imagine everything happening very well. Also, the title “My Writing Journey” fits the Narrative perfectly because she talks about how she has improved tremendously throughout her years of learning. This piece of writing was very strong and kept me interested throughout.
ENG 1103-19: Peer Responses
I think that the literacy narrative written by Jack Hutchins was the strongest. It depicted a scene instead of a summary while portraying emotions that the reader can feel throughout the story. The essay was well constructed with vivid details to share the story.
I think that Channing Smith’s (Section 20) Literary Narrative, “Overcoming Uncertainty,” was the strongest. I think that because while reading her narrative I could clearly envision her doing the the things she wrote and the places she described.
After reading all the literacy essays for ENG.20, I started to narrow down some of the strongest essays. It was challenging because there were several strong essays, but many of them did not have vivid details that placed the reader in their shoes. As I went back and forth between two final essays, which both told detailed-oriented stories, I chose one. I think the strongest essay is called The Sisterhood of the Traveling Mystery, written by Gracie Lare ENG.20 . I chose this essay even though it wasn’t the longest, because the story resonated with me and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Gracie included descriptive details of her past while also including present-day details.
I think the strongest narrative in ENG 1103.19 is “My Writing Journey” by Olivia Wall. I say this because she has a great story and includes multiple conversations that goes into great details with her teacher and the times she helped her.
Hannah Smith
ENG 1103-19
This Narrative was Extraordinary
I really enjoyed reading your story about writing a letter to your future self as a graduating senior during high school. Reflecting on this, we did a similar thing at my high school, rather doing it in freshman year. It is truly amazing how much one can accomplish after writing down their goals for their future careers and experiences after graduation. Seeing your motivation, ambition, and diligence go into a piece of writing is very inspiring. The use of words was very unique, words such as cosmic and perseverance are well placed. Choosing an image is never an easy option, but the displayed one above your post “The Letter” is a nice choice due to the way the photo was taken with Doctor Lucas’ corrections scribbled onto your rough draft as well as the quality of the photo, with parts being blurry and having liminal light composure, it really gave a nice touch to your narrative. Keep up the great work!!
-Brian Sheridan ’27
PS: If you see multiple comments my account was bugging out. If not I’m sorry
After reading the literacy narratives from Eng 1103-19 i found that Elaina Blablos story My Ticket to College was told very well. The story was very detailed and organized.
The narrative “The Start of it All”, by Teagan Murphy in section 19 in my opinion has the strongest story. Her story talks about her lifelong love for reading, nurtured from an early age by her grandmother. Furthermore, starting with lessons before kindergarten which contained reading daily, gaining confidence and excelling in her academic pursuits. Her story makes you relive her past and imagine these events as it happened.
I recommend that Lexi Harloff’s “An Unforgettable Reading Experience,” from section 20, is the most vigorous literacy narrative posted. Overall, it is a substantial piece of writing that completed all of the expectations listed on the rubric. It has an intriguing title, a picture, a link to a related source, and several paragraphs. The figurative language and the variety of choice of words pull you into the story. With all the descriptive details, it is easy to imagine each scene in your head, which is an important attribute when creating a writing piece. When Harloff told us what she was thinking, for example, “Graded reading practices? What the heck does that mean?” (paragraph 2), it gave readers extra information that helped us honestly imagine what she was feeling. Her literacy narrative stuck out to me because she took an event in her life and turned it into this exciting story that hooks you in and is easy to read.
I am posting the following comment on Madison Harding’s behalf because she encountered technical difficulties when she tried to submit it.
I believe the person with the strongest literacy narrative was Channing Smith. I enjoyed reading her essay and learning more about her confidence journey regarding writing. She used correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Her essay also had a very strong use of vocabulary. Her paragraphs flowed together making it easy for me to follow along. Excellent job!
I am posting the following comment on Gracie Lare’s behalf because she encountered technical difficulties when she tried to submit it.
With all of the strong Literacy Narratives, it was difficult to pick the best written one. After reading all of the blog posts, my favorite came out to be Liz Wilburn’s Imposter in AP Lang, in English 1103.20. What made this literacy narrative so strong was the ability to tell a story with such descriptive details and place the readers in her shoes. My favorite words from this narrative would be “I felt that if I was in an honors course, I was too bright for it, but if I was in an AP course, I was too mindless for it” (paragraph one). Not only does this line put the readers into her shoes, but it makes this piece of writing very relatable. She writes about this experience shaping her into he learner she is today and because of that, her writing really stood out to me.
I am posting the following comment on Jess English’s behalf because she encountered technical difficulties when she tried to submit it.
It was very challenging to pick the strongest literacy narrative because there were so many good ones. Out of all of them, my personal favorite was Gracie Lare’s called “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Mystery” in English 1103 Section 20. This literacy narrative really stuck out to me because she used vivid details as well as descriptive dialogue. The writing helped me as a reader visualize the setting of the beginning of the story which took place at the beach with her cousins. She then continued to bring the story to present times as she still recommends her peers to read this special book which impacted her reading journey.