ENGL 3368

Literacy Autobiography

Literacy and Identity

Write an essay in which you explore your history as a reader and writer. Rather than tell your
entire story, from learning to recognize the alphabet to your current experiences in college,
select important events based on some larger point you want to make about language, literacy,
community, and identity. (Start with a question or problem you want to explore. Think about
your Autobiographical Haiku as a place to begin.) It will
take several drafts and a lot of feedback from readers to
help you discover and narrow in on the point you want to
make and this assignment will have several small steps
that you’ll need to complete that will lead you to the final
essay. You may also find that after you begin writing,
the point you want to make changes.

In deciding what story you want to tell—what point you

want to make—consider the degree to which your
experience reflects some larger claim about these
issues. Remember, too, that the authority in autobiographical writing comes from the care with
which you select events to describe and the richness of the details you choose to present.
Your goal as a writer is to enable the reader to enter your experience and to understand its
importance.

Additionally, think about community, family, empowerment, engagement, language,

technology, … or any of the ideas we've discussed in class so far and how these ideas inform
your literacy autobiography.

We will peer review each segment of this assignment. That means, you must bring an
additional copies to class (one for review and one for me). These drafts will be typed and
double spaced. If you choose to avoid peer review, your assignment grade will be lowered
one letter grade and this cannot be removed in a revision.

Autobiographical Haiku
o Draft due: 2/15
o Final Version due: 2/17
Essay #1 (approximately 5+ pages)
o Draft due: 2/17
o Final Version due: 2/22

Nuts and Bolts:

Your essay should be focused on academic literacy, and this is not an essay that you can dash
off in one sitting. To get the work as focused as it needs to be, you will need time and
feedback from others. Make sure you have used the standard academic form of writing in
MLA format (check a handbook or online sources if you are unclear about this).
 Autobiographical Haiku
Every Sunday, the Washington Post publishes a column, “Life is Short: Autobiography as
Haiku” in their Style section. In 100 words or less, Post readers write pieces that give insight
into their lives. I’d like you to do the same. Here are a few good examples:

Laughter:
When I turned 50, my wife went along with
my buying the red, two-seater convertible.
After a meeting in Baltimore, as I was putting
the top down, four ladies in their mid-
seventies were walking by and slowed to
admire the car. I thanked them as they told
me how cute it was. As I buckled up, one of
them added, "You're not so bad yourself." As
part of my midlife crisis, I assumed women
25 years younger, not 25 years older, would
admire the car. My 86-year-old father was
impressed. My wife of 26 years just laughed.

Sadness:
We have just returned from an overseas
vacation. My 4-year-old is playing with some
"dress-up" clothes. She is my fairy
godmother and must marry me off. But first
she must make me beautiful through magic.
She wraps me in parrot-green feathers and
takes me aside to cast her spell. I expect her
to wave her wand as fairies do in cartoons
and movies. Instead, she uses it to frisk me
like an airport security guard. She mimics the
moves exactly, including the fussing over my
shoes. After 9/11, this is how little fairy
godmothers do magic.

DRAFT DUE: Tuesday, February 15

FINAL VERSION DUE: Thursday, February

17. You will email an electronic copy to me
(dr.billiehara@gmail.com) by class time on
Thursday.

We will construct a class-specific

Autobiography as Haiku document using your
documents and photographs. Remember, you
can use no more than 100 words.