The Five Characteristic Features of My Narrative

A clearly identified event: What happened? Who was involved?

As a young student, another student and I were taking an AR reading quiz on the same book. This student, named John Smith, did better on the reading quiz than me! It was very discouraging and did not make feel confident in my reading skills.

A clearly described setting: When and where did it happen?

In my 6^th grade classroom. My strange teacher talking about her love for dragons. John was sitting at the humming computer. We both could see the kids playing outside the window at break, laughing and playing wall ball.

Vivid, descriptive details: What makes the story come alive?

The humming computer, shining computer screen. Laughter outside. The feeling in my heart when he did better than me, I felt defeated.

A consistent point of view: Who’s telling the story?

The point of view is going to be in first person. I am telling a story of my own experiences and how it affected my mindset towards reading.

A clear point: Why does it matter?

The point of this narrative is to tell the story of when reading changed from pleasant and entertaining to competitive. This is what changed my attitude towards reading at a young age.

Literacy: A Lineage Annotation

Literacy: A Lineage

“It would be impossible to discuss my path to literacy without talking about my literary guardian, the person who inspired and encouraged my love for reading and writing: my father.” (132) - Here the author introduces the purpose of the story.

“Each time I arrived under the bells, I would recite the poem to myself, even when the weather was cold and my breath made the air foggy.” (133) - Vivid details make the story come alive.

“You could define my dad as a jack-of-all-trades artist.”(133) - The next to paragraphs describe her father, one of the main characters in her narrative.

“It has become a joke among me and my brothers because we can recite from memory his favorite lines of books and his favorite poems. Because of him I can quote… among many others.” (133) - Specific details like quotes make this story very personal and interesting.

“From the time I could read and write, I wrote and acted out princess stories all on my own.” (134) - From her she talks about herself in a chronological order.

“I attributed all on my own.” (134) - Focusing on her own experiences the author writes from a first-person point of view.

“Because of my father and our shared love of literature, my definition of literacy is intimately linked to the idea of tradition.” (135) - The following to two paragraphs summarize the main point of the story.

“My definition of literacy is: the ability to read, write, and understand within a tradition.” (135) - This is the final point to the author’s narrative, concluding with the answer to the purpose of the narrative.

Literacy Lab - First Paper Ideas and Details

1. Visual Description:

• “The hall had no windows; only fluorescent lighting illuminated the large space” (Lydia’s Story 128)
• “..the whole street looked like a river..” (Lydia’s Story 129)
• “..and the water pressure was so strong that water spurted out of the kitchen sink like a fountain.” (Lydia’s Story 130)

2. Dialog:

• “Writing! Yeah, right! How did I manage to fail writing, and by a half point, no less? I thought to myself in disbelief.” (Proficiency 1)
• “..and even went to my English teacher, Mrs.Brown , and asked, “How can I get A’s in all my English classes but fail the writing [art of the proficiency test twice?” She couldn't answer my question.” (Proficiency 1)

3. Sensory Descriptions:

• “The cackle of a television set was the only sound.” (Lydia’s Story 128)
• “..we were struck by the chemical odor of a cleaning solution it seemed toxic.” (Lydia’s Story 128)
• “Her tongue became dry and her lips were cracked..” (Lydia’s Story 130)

4. Brainstorm Ideas:

• Failing the Standardized Writing test in 10th grade, passed when taken again
• Magic Treehouse was a book that captured my attention as a child and was a high point my reading
• Third grade writing what we want to be when grow up
• reading becoming not interesting as i grew up.
• reading wasn’t fun anymore once we started AR reading

5. Purpose: to share a memory with others

6. Audience: others might share a similar experience

7. Stance: this changed reading from fun to competitive

8. Media/Design: posted to my blog

9. What do you see? computer with another kid, points on the screen

10. What do you hear? kids talking. kids playing outside. computer noise

11. What do you smell? nothing…. maybe some snacks or books

12. How and what do you feel? I feel discouraged, I didn’t do as well as another student.

13. What do you taste? nothing… maybe a faint taste of a pretzel and hummus a snack i had a lot

14. Describe each person: myself, a teacher who encouraged us to do AR, another kid doing better than myself

15. Recall (or imagine) some characteristic dialogue: another student doing better in reading than me, scored better on an AR quiz than me.

16. Summarize the action: taking AR quizzes on the computers at school, discussing scores and books we read

17. Consider the significance of the narrative: this is the time reading became a competition, even though these points did not count for anything, others doing better than you is discouraging. This is when reading was no longer enjoyable just school. 

Rhetoric Definition Response

Reading other definitions only broaden my sense of rhetorical writing and speaking. We are agreed on basic concepts of rhetorical writing but expanded in many different directions.

Rhetoric Definition

Rhetoric is the artistry of effective writing or speaking to persuade an audience on a topic or message.

To think and act rhetorically begins with listening to others and becoming knowledgeable on the topic. Once this is established an appropriate genre and stance must be taken, setting the tone of the piece. It is important to consider the audience when thinking rhetorically, it is key to find what will most influence the indented audience so that the message is clear and will be effective. The purpose of a piece should be well developed and understood so that the context of the material can be fulfilled. It is also essential to address any other sides of the topic and respond to them, making your stance on the topic stronger and well developed. The last aspect of thinking or acting rhetorically involves the medium and visual appeal. All of the aspects that build a strong rhetoric piece still rely on the writer to learn how the text is effective and gets the message across.

Rhetorical writing or speaking is the clearest and most convincing way to get a message across. It demonstrates a well-developed topic that covers all aspects of the piece, while not forgetting to listen to others.

Rhetorical Situations - Narratives

2. Lydia Questions Similarities and differences:

• The main point we all gathered was to illustrate the hardships people faced at a closer, more personal level. She uses a specific example of a woman’s own story to make a disasters as large as hurricane Katrina and Rita seem real at an individual and personal example. It’s easy to get lost in an event so large and forget about all the small factors, all the small people actually affected by the situation.
• The perspective of the narrative as a whole is first person through Brideau. However, when she tells the story about Lydia, she changes to third person. This is because she is recounting the story told by Lydia, it isn’t a direct telling by her. After the story passes, the perspective shifts back to Brideau’s first person.
• Given that we all read the same story, and with more or less the same around of background information on the topic at hand, our conclusions were all parallel to one another.

3. Connections between Chapter 2 and “Lydia’s Story” related to rhetoric:

• The genre Brideau chooses is a narrative. She also carefully writes to accommodate for the audience that she assumes will be reading her piece. The tone helps to project the main idea in the story: the deeper and more personal suffering and survival of individuals in the aftermath of the two hurricanes. The main idea is also a direct link to the purpose of the narrative: which is also to highlight the personal stories of people after the hurricanes.
• The tone of a narrative often has the objective to capture its readers at an emotional level.
• We are able to see the rhetorical guidelines said in Chapter two in Lydia’s Story. These examples help us better understand rhetorical situations in our own writing.
 

7. The general synopsis of our discussion was that we hear small narratives every day. We also hear stories in songs as long as we are listening to the lyrics. Some songs are literally narratives, that are written in a creative rhythmic manner. In our discussions with parents or friends, we constantly hear about their days or an exciting thing that has happened to them recently. We may not always draw meaning from the narratives, but if we listen with intent, we can understand the situation.

10. We were able to conclude that in this particular case, the videos were more powerful than the text, this was because it gives the viewer the ability to see the person's face, their tone, etc. An addition in the form of dramatic music draws the audience into an emotional state and uses it to the story's advantage.

12. Compare Narratives:YouTube Short Film vs. News Article (written version of short film)

Similarities: They both tell a sequence of events, both have characters, plot and setting, they both have a climax or point to the story.

Differences: One uses music to illustrate the intensity of the situation at hand, where as on the contrary, this is extremely difficult to do in a news article due to the brief nature of them.

Effect of the Medium: The video allows the reader to relax and enjoy watching while still gathering the context of the story entirely. Small details that make writing come alive are often overlooked and therefore in general writing (in this case) is less effective.

Summary: We compared a video to a written news article. We concluded that they both have many good aspects in their effectiveness of telling a story.

In Class Exercise Lists

Think about everyday narratives:

• My friend telling me about her crush and that she hopes that they connect on a deep level
• I told my friends about the car crash where I was rear ended and that I wish people would pay attention while driving
• Songs I listen to on the radio, like love songs telling a story of hope
• My parents telling me about their day at work

Think beyond words:

• The videos are more powerful because you are able to see their emotions, facial expressions, and the tone of their voice.