EDRG 3314 WI WRITING ASSIGNMENT 1: MY READING AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Rationale:
Teachers come to know about reading and learning to read by engaging in a process of seeking and making meaning from personal, practical, and professional experiences. Personal knowledge of reading and learning to read develops out of a teacher’s history as a reader and writer. From birth, teachers have interacted with people (parents, siblings, friends, teachers, and significant others) and printed materials (books, newspapers, magazines, letters, labels, signs, etc.) to construct knowledge about reading and writing. By engaging in reading and writing, teachers come to know in a personal way what literate people do. By reflecting on their own experiences, teachers may come to understand how reading and writing influences individuals’ lives.
Writing an autobiographical narrative is one way by which you can tap your personal background and literary experiences and connect them to your instructional beliefs and practices about reading. In simple terms, thinking and writing about your experiences will help you understand what you do in the present and what you intend to do in the future. In mining your own memories, you are able to reflect. In writing, you are able to make connections and produce a narrative to help you discover and understand your own beliefs about literacy.
The Writing Task:
You will write a reading autobiography that captures the following:
- Your personal memories on how you learned to read
- Home and school influences on your reading development
- The reading habits you have formed
- The kinds of reading that you do
Suggested Parts of the Reading Autobiography:
- About Me – your family and educational background
- Pre-reading Experiences – home and preschool experiences before learning to read
- How I Learned to Read – elementary, middle school and high school experiences; you may include here how your teachers approached the teaching of reading and what they did specifically that you felt was effective or ineffective
- Struggles and Joys as a Reader – difficulties and success encountered
- My Reading Habits – describing how you become motivated or discouraged to read
- My Favorite Book(s) – books and/or other reading materials that you enjoyed and influence your life positively
- Readings that I Do Now – the kinds of literacy activities you engage now as an adult learner and as a future classroom teacher
If you know another language (a foreign or a second language), you may include a section specifically addressing how you learned to read in that language.
In writing the paper, you will engage in the stages of writing: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. You will be working closely with me and a peer editor. More details will be given in class.
Writing Expectations:
The final writing product should be:
- At least 10 typed, double-spaced pages or will have a total of at least 2,500 words each
- Typed, double-spaced, edited for usage, and mechanical errors, and must reflect higher order thinking skills such as comprehension, synthesis, and analysis of materials learned.
A writing rubric will be provided, discussed, and explained in class.
Your instructor may set up an appointment to discuss your progress regarding this writing assignment.
