Typical First Assignment: Personal Narrative

Often Writing 201 is taught in a series of take-home and in-class assignments which move from the "personal' to the "academic" essay.  The number of formal assignments vary from 4-6 with some instructors opting for a portfolio option (more on that later).

The first assignment is often a narrative which relies upon assigned readings as models.  It seems helpful to offer these beginning students more direction here rather than less - and many instructors opt for shaping or directing the subject choice by specific theme or focus.

Here is an example of Summer Serpas' first assignment:

Essay 1: An Educational Memoir

Please write an approximately 3 page essay (minimum of 2 full pages) containing at least 5 paragraphs in response to the following prompt:

In all of the essays we read for this assignment, “The Grapes of Mrs. Rath” by Steven Mockensturm and “The Thrill of Victory…The Agony of Parents” by Jennifer Schwind-Pawlak, the authors describe memories of times when they learned important lessons, both in school and in their lives outside of school. For this assignment, you will be writing about a specific memory of a time when you learned an important lesson. In your essay, you should provide the necessary background information, clearly explain the specific experience, and analyze the deeper lesson that you learned from that experience. In your explanation of your experience, make sure to use descriptive details that help make your experience come alive for your readers. In analyzing your memory, make sure you deeply analyze the lesson you have learned from your experience. Remember that you are not writing a diary entry about what happened to you; you are sharing an experience and its deeper meaning in order to connect with your readers and create meaning for them.

It's worth noting that the first draft submitted for peer review is due on one Tuesday -and the final draft due the following Tuesday - which suggest a drafting period of approximately three weeks.  The assignment is influenced by the assigned reading - but does not yet incorporate quotations from them.  The desired length is between  two and three pages.