Today in class you will compose a short reflective essay that documents the processes of planning, drafting, and revising your literacy narrative. Questions to consider include the ones below. You don’t need to address all of the questions; focus on the ones whose answers reveal the most about your work.
Include in your reflection a minimum of one relevant quotation from the textbook, Writing Analytically. Introduce your quotation with a signal phrase and follow it with a parenthetical citation.
Examples:
The authors of Writing Analytically observe that “[o]ne goal of a writer’s notebook is to teach yourself through repeated practice that you are capable of finding things to write about” (Rosenwasser and Stephen 157).
In Writing Analytically, Rosenwasser and Stephen note, “to a significant extent, writing of all kinds tells a story—the story of how we have come to understand something” (162).
In the first example above, the authors’ last names appear in the parenthetical citation because they are not named in the signal phrase. In the second example, only the page number appears in the parenthetical citation because the authors are named in the signal phrase.
Sample Work Cited Entries:
Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. “On Keeping a Writer’s Notebook.” Writing Analytically, 9th edition. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2024. pp. 157-58.
Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. “Writing from Life: The Personal Essay.” Writing Analytically, 9th edition. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2024. pp. 161-68.
- What aspect of the writing seemed the most challenging? Determining the focus of your narrative? Developing the story? Crafting the conclusion? Why did that aspect of the writing seem the most challenging?
- Did you change the subject of your narrative? If so, what was the original subject? What did you change it to? Why?
- Did you change the organization of the narrative? For example: Did you initially present the story chronologically, then begin in the present and move to flashback?
- Did any of the sample essays we examined (“Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “The Day Language Came into My Life,” “A Bridge to Words”) prove helpful to you as a model? If so, how? (Offer one or more concrete details to support your claim.)
- What do you consider the strongest element of your literacy narrative?
- At what point in the process did you decide on a title? Did you change the title during the writing process? If so, what was the original title?
- What photograph did you include in your blog that documents part of your writing process away from the screen? Why did you choose that particular image?
- What relevant website did you link to your blog post. Why is that particular site relevant to your narrative?
- In addition to metacognition, did any of the other habits of mind of successful college students play a significant role in your writing process? If so, which one? The other seven are curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, and flexibility.
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips.
Jane Lucas 