We will be working on the narrative for the next several weeks on the Ning. Most of you have a start, but during Week 6 the response process will begin in earnest. More will be posted on that protocol. If you wish to change your topic for Week 6 you can, but after that I would like for you to stick to the same piece and see what can happen with revision.
- Your assignment is to write a personal narrative or a memoir. A memoir is simply a memory piece or an autobiographical narrative. For our purposes, you do not need to write your complete autobiography. Instead focus on telling us one story from the thousands of stories you have stored in your mind. You may pick a memory that is fresh or something from the distant past. The narrative might be a glimpse of you in an earlier time, a forceful, emotion memory, some reflection upon your education or an account of a particular experience. All these decisions are up to you. You may use something you started earlier.
- If you are in doubt as to a topic, consider making this a learning narrative. Focus on some aspect or experience that has taken place in your education. What do you most remember from grade school? How did you learn to read? What are your vivid memories about writing? Were there assignments that you loved or hated? Memoirs and other personal narratives have been particularly popular over the years for several good reasons:
- Creative expression. The memoir genre provides an opportunity to write highly personal stories that draw on our own experiences.
- Family history. Memoir is a modern-day (and more indelible) counterpart to the oral storytelling tradition. I think of the memoir or persoal narrative a a way to preserve an event that has touched me or my family. A memoir can become a family treasure.
- Genre Exploration. Several of you are writing poems; most are wiring prose for the narrative. You can use any form you like.
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