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WRITING GUIDE
62 2i Revising, editing, and reflecting

WRITING PRACTICE How to write a literacy narrative

2i Prepare a portfolio; reflect on your writing.
At the end of the semester, your instructor may ask you to sub­
mit a portfolio, or collection, of your writing. A writing portfolio
often consists of drafts, revisions, and reflections that demon­
strate a writer's thinking and learning processes or that showcase
the writer's best work.Your instructor may give you the choice
of submitting your portfolio on paper or electronically.
As early in the course as possible, be sure you know the
answers to the following questions:
Should the portfolio be a paper collection or an electronic
one? Is it your choice?
Will the portfolio be checked or assessed before the end of
the term? If so, when or how often? By whom?
Are you free to choose any or all of the pieces to include?
Are you free to include a variety of items (not just rough
and final drafts of papers), such as outlines and notes,
journal entries, photographs or other visuals, comments
from reviewers, sound files, or video clips?
A literacy narrative allows you to reflect on key reading or writing
experiences and to ask: How have my experiences shaped who I am
as a reader or writer? A sample literacy narrative begins on page 59.
Key features
• A well-told narrative shows readers what happened. Lively details
present the sights, sounds, and smells of the world in which the story
takes place. Dialogue and action add interest and energy.
• A main idea or insight about reading or writing gives a literacy narrative
its significance and transforms it from a personal story to one with larger,
universal interest.
• A well-organized narrative, like all essays, has a beginning, a middle, and
an ending and is focused around a thesis or main idea. Narratives can be
written in chronological order, in reverse chronological order, or with a
series of flashbacks.
• First-person point of view (/) gives a narrative immediacy and
authenticity. Your voice may be serious or humorous, but it should be
appropriate for your main idea.
Thinking ahead: Presenting or publishing
You may have some flexibility in how you present or publish your literacy
, have the opportunity to submit it as a podcast; a video, or
narrative. If you
another genre. leave time in your schedule for recording or Aiming. Also, in
seeking feedback, ask reviewers to comment on your plans for using sounds
or images.

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TEACHING TIP
Keeping a portfolio helps students develop the academic habit of
reflection so that they can recognize their growth as writers. Writing
a reflective opening statement-cover letter, introduction, preface, or
memo-provides a wonderful opportunity for students to look back
and evaluate their strengths and challenges as a writer. If your program
does not use a portfolio system, consider assigning a reflective memo or
cover letter with one or more final drafts. Students can realize the ben­
efits ofreflecting if they are doing so about an entire semester's worth of
work-or about the steps they took to write a single assignment.

•
Writing your literacy narrative
What story will you tell? You can't write about every reading
or writing experience or every influential person. Find one
interesting experience to focus your narrative. Generate ideas
with questions such as the following:
Explore
• What challenges have you confronted as a reader or a
writer?
• Who were the people who nurtured (or delayed) your
reading or writing development?
• What are your best or worst childhood memories of reading
or writing?
• What images do you associate with learning to read or write?
• What is significant about the story you want to tell? What
larger point do you want readers to take away from your
narrative?
Figure out the best way to tell your story. A narrative isn't a list
0
of "this happened" and then "that happened." It is a focused
story with its own logic and order. You don't need to start
chronologically. Experiment: What happens if you start in the
Draft middle of the story or work in reverse? Try to come up with a
tentative organization, and then start to draft.
Ask reviewers for specific feedback. Here are some questions
to guide their comments:
Q • What main idea do readers take away from your story? Ask
them to summarize this idea in one sentence.
Revise
• Is the narrative focused around the main idea?
• Are the details vivid? Sufficient? Where might you convey
your story more clearly? Would it help to add dialogue?
Would visuals deepen the impact of your story?
• Does your introduction bring readers into the world of your
story?
• Does your conclusion provide a sense of the story's
importance?
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Preparing a portfolio; reflecting 2i 65
Will your instructor be the primary or only audience for
the portfolio? Or will the portfolio be shared with peers or
with other instructors?
TIP: Save your notes, drafts, and reviewers' comments for pos­
sible use in your portfolio. The more you have assembled, the
more you have to choose from to represent your best work. Keep
your documents organized in a paper or an electronic file system
for easy access. (See lh.)
Reflection-the process of stepping back periodically to
examine your decisions, preferences, strengths, and challenges
as a writer-helps you recognize your growth as a writer and is
the backbone of portfolio keeping.
When you submit your portfolio for a final evaluation
or reading, you may be asked to include a reflective opening
statement-a cover letter, an introduction, a preface, a memo,
or an essay. Whatever form your reflective piece takes, it could
be your most important writing in the course. Reflective writing
allows you to do the following:
show that you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of
your writing
comment on the progress you've made in the course
understand your own writing process
demonstrate that you've made good writing decisions
comment on how you might use skills developed in or
experiences from your writing course in other courses in
which writing is assigned
Your instructor will expect you to reflect, too, on how specific
pieces in the portfolio show your development as a writer, as
student writer Lucy Bonilla does on pages 66-69.
Check with your instructor about the guidelines for your
reflective opening statement. ·�
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68 2i Revising, editing, and reflecting Preparing a portfolio; reflecting 2i 69

Bonilla 3 Bonilla 4

so much surprised by the idea that ads make arguments because I my writing and to use the feedback from you and my peers, and now

understand that they are designed to persuade consumers. What was I know how to acknowledge the points of view of my audience to

surprising was being able to see all the elements of a visual and write be more persuasive. I'm glad to have had the chance to write a

about how they work together to convey a clear message. For my essay reflection at the end of the course. I hope you enjoy reading this

"Flat-Footed Advertising," I chose the EAS Performance Nutrition ad portfolio and seeing the evolution of my work this semester.

"The New Theory of Evolution for Women." In my summary of the ad, I

noted that the woman who follows the EAS program for twelve weeks Sincerely,

and "evolves" is compared to modern humans and our evolution from

apes as shown in the classic 1966 March of Progress illustration (Howell
,U.� '(3urulu)...;
41). It was these familiar poses of "Nicolle," the woman in the image, Lucy Bonilla

that drew me to study this ad.

In my first draft, I made all of the obvious points, looking only
Literally at the comparison and almost congratulating the company on
Bonilla mentions such a clever use of a classic scientific drawing. Your comments on my
how co dmmenu draft were a little unsettling because you asked me "So what?" -why
on her raft eh I pe d
her revise. would my ideas matter to a reader? You pushed me to consider the
ad's assumptions and to question the meaning of the word evolve. In
See how to write yours on the next page.
my revised essay, I argue that even though Nicolle is portrayed as
powerful, satisfied, and "fully evolved," the EAS ad campaign rests
on the assumption that performance is best measured by physical
milestones. In the end, an ad that is meant to pay homage to woman's
strength is in fact demeaning. My essay evolved from draft to draft
because I allowed my thinking to change and develop as I revised. I've
never revised as much as I did with this f n
i al assignment. I actually
cared about this essay, and I wanted to show my readers why my
argument mattered.
In her conclusion, The expectations for college writing are different from those for
Bonilla sum '."ar zi es c b i
h er growt h ,n the high s hool writing. I el eve that my portfolio pieces show that I
course. finished this course as a stronger writer. I have Learned to take risks in