Literacy Narrative: Foundation

This assignment asks students to compose an approximately 800-word literacy narrative about learning a new skill or adapting to a new or unfamiliar environment, and remediate that narrative into a multimodal format such as a video, comic, or infographic.

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Students should select a medium and genre that best fit their story and be able to justify their rhetorical choices. They may draw on their familiarity with digital platforms to strengthen their multimodal work. Afterward, write a reflective essay analyzing the rhetorical, genre, audience, and design choices they made throughout the drafting, revision, and composing process. In the First-Year Composition curriculum at Northern Illinois University (NIU), reflection makes up 50% of each major project grade.

Literacy Narrative Learning Objectives

• Recognize and analyze audience expectations in personal storytelling
• Practice reflective metacognition regarding literacy development
• Integrate linguistic and cultural perspectives into narrative construction

This project is connected to the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) through:

• Writing Process Reflection
• Transfer and Contextual Connections
• Genre and Style Awareness

Genres & Formats

• Written narrative
• Multimedia version

Rubric

Grading Criteria	Narrative and Remediation
Genre Conventions	Uses clear visual and content markers throughout work to help the reader identify the genre and medium. Leverages medium/genre and/or visual/content markers to emphasize purpose and connect to audience.
Purpose & Audience	Reveals major theme(s)/purpose through descriptive language, word choice, and/or genre markers rather than explanation alone. Where appropriate, provides background information to improve audience understanding.
Organization & Editing	Ideas and major themes flow cohesively from one unit to the next and build throughout the assignment. Uses formatting, grammar, and spelling that is appropriate to audience, purpose, and medium/genre.
Revision	You have revised your work substantially and/or thoughtfully based on peer and instructor feedback.

A copy of the Literacy Narrative rubric: File:Literacy Narrative Foundation Rubric.pdf

Students' Project Samples