- Narrative of the life of Fredric Douglass
- Examples of characteristics of literacy narratives
1) How he describes the mistress. How she was first very nice and then later tuned into a "fierce tiger." How he explains that she was the beginning of learning to read and write.
2) The way he describes his hope for freedom.
3) The way he describes his hunger for knowledge and how dedicated he was. - my favorite parts
1) I like the way he first described his mistress as so caring and how she later turned into a heartless mistress. I like it because he introduces his beginning of knowledge and shows some gratitude to her first before actually describing how bad she is. And the way he transitioned between the two distinct characters of the mistress was very impressive and catchy.
2) I like how he describes his eagerness to learn how to read and right. It sets the theme of the article.
3) How he gave the white boys bread in exchange for knowledge shows that he values education more than food. It shows that his hunger for knowledge was more than his hunger for food even as a slave.
4) "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my ensalves." I like it because it sets the mood to the part where he describes he wishes he didn't know how to read and also how much he wishes for freedom.
5) I'm amazed by his trick to learn how to write. Where he asks the white boys to compete with him and top his capabilities so that he can watch and learn. He was indeed a very smart person.
2. Mother tongue , by Amy Tan - Examples of characteristics of literacy narratives
1) She eases into the piece when showing she's not a native english speaker. She doesn't abruptly start by saying she's not a native english speaker. What gave it away perfectly was when she described how her mother didn't understand her speech so well.
2) The way she describes the term "broken english" - my favorite parts
1) "Impeccable broken English." I am just so amazed by how she used the term impeccable to describe something that was so flawed. It was very catchy for me.
2) How she reveals she's Chinese. She just starts talking about shanghai. I love this because she eases into all her details so well without just starting the piece by saying "I'm Chinese and so my first language is not english." It shows high quality writing and creativity.
3) I love the part where she talks about how she had to pretend to be her mother over the phone. As a person who's first language is not english, I know that this happens everywhere. I can somewhat relate to it. My mother makes me talk over the phone not because her english is broken but because I have a better control over the language.
4) I like the part where she talks about how she finds math and science a lot easier than english and how she didn't do so well in the SAT. It is exactly my story. So that is one of my favorite things on it.
5) The title of the article is very interesting. She makes it seem like she's going to talk about her native language but she talks about english through out the article. It is only at the end she describes their own version of english as her mother tongue because that's what her mother speaks in. I find that very creative and interesting.
6) Her mother says "so easy to read". The author makes it seem like its their version of english, the "broken english", but really it is grammatically correct and it is actual English.
3) Learning to Love Math and Science - Examples of characteristics of literacy writing.
1) little tags to show examples. Like "literacy sponsor"
2) Pictures to show how he grew and the methods he learnt through changed. - My favorite parts
1) I loved the little arrow that said "literacy sponsor." At the beginning of it I didn't know what a literacy sponsor was. But the minute I saw it I realized what a literacy sponsor was and I instantly make connections with my childhood and thought of my literacy sponsors.
2) How he describes friendly competition. For me it started exactly at the age it started for him and i found it fascinating how similar children over the world were. It showed my that no matter what system of education you follow the way kids learn is very similar.
4) Getting Lost by Myshia Liles Moultrie.
This was a short audio clip. - Examples of characteristics of literacy narratives.
1) "my mom would find me glued to the TV"
2) " Collecting AR( accelerated reading" points. - My favorite parts
1) How she competed for AR points in elementary school. shows typical elementary school behavior and that's why I like it.
2) "reading Harry potter books although I didn't understand them completely" Once again shows typical elementary school behavior.
5) Sunday Comics by Keenan Dolezal
This was also a short voice clip. - Examples of characteristics of literacy narratives.
1) His title sounds very random but really when you listen to the audio clip it shows that that was the start of his reading. - my favorite parts
1) How Sunday comics paved the way for him to read. He describes how he went from Sunday comics to weekday comics and eventually to newspaper articles and then he went in search of other media to read. Sunday comics were his stepping stone.