A Literacy Narrative

What is the story behind the story? In this case, what is the writer’s personal experience with literacy? A memoir or journal may document a person’s life story, but the literacy narrative focuses on the important aspects of reading and/or writing. The literacy narrative can address both positive and negative experiences with reading and writing and how those experiences effect you as a reader and/or writer today. The narrative can focus on one specific event or it can span decades of interaction with books and writing.

Writing A Literacy Narrative

The first thing to consider is what kind of literacy narrative you wish to write. Will this narrative focus on one event or multiple events? Will it include your experiences with reading or writing or both? Often our experiences with reading and writing are connected, but it is ok to choose one or the other if you would rather not focus on both.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin your writing:

1. What is your earliest memory of books? Were you read to as a child? Is there a particular book that a family member used to read to you? That you read yourself?

2. What is your earliest memory of writing? Was it positive or negative?3. Are there moments when you remember being particularly proud of something you

achieved in regard to reading/writing?4. Were there hardships or negative memories that involved reading/writing?5. Were there memories of school (both positive and negative) that influenced your literacy

learning?6. What authors/books made an impact on you as a reader/writer. Again, these can be either

positive or negative.