Authentic self / personal identity / reflective narrative

Write a reflective narrative (typed or word-processed, 1012 point font, 3 or more pages in length) that tells the story of your true, authentic, unapologetic self. This isnt about writing the safe or expected version of your storyits about claiming your own voice and sharing an experience that matters to you. Choose a moment in your life that still resonatesan experience that felt significant, transformative, or eye-opening. Dont just recount the events. Bring them to life for your reader, then reflect on what they reveal. What insight did you gain? What truth about yourself, your community, or the world do you want to share? Your story should highlight not only what happened, but also why it matters, and how it connects to the way you see yourself and the world around you. You dont need to write about the same themes as the stories weve read for class, but think of them as models. What made those stories powerful was that they spoke to identity, struggle, resilience, and humanity in ways that felt bold and true. Thats the challenge for you: to tell your story with honesty, creativity, and courageso that it comes alive for your reader and says something meaningful about who you are. Readings: In preparation for this assignment, you might consider some of the upcoming readings from our first unit for inspiration or examples of this type of writing. Several of them discuss how difficult it can be to live up to other peoples expectations; others discuss more political “life lessons” that the authors choose to share. Some focus on one key story in depth while others tell several stories to illustrate a point. Alejandra Campoverdi, in an excerpt from her novel First Gen, writes about her experiences giving a speech to Harvard graduates on being the first in her family to go to college and reflects on her experiences in the White House. Ta-Nehisi Coates writes his Letter to My Son in order to reflect on the recent police murders of young black men and how he has learned to survive in modern America as a black man himself. In Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie recalls learning to read from comic books and how literacy became a way to challenge stereotypes as a Native American student. Sandra Cisneros in Only Daughter reflects on being the only daughter in a large Mexican American family, her fathers expectations, and how writing helped her find her voice. In Saved (from The Autobiography of Malcolm X): Malcolm describes his transformation in prison, teaching himself to read and discovering the power of literacy for freedom and empowerment. Nancy Mairs On Being a Cripple: Mairs reflects on living with multiple sclerosis, deliberately choosing the word cripple to speak honestly about her disability, while insisting that it does not define or diminish her identity. In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan explores how her mothers broken English shaped her own identity, highlighting societys bias toward language use. Richard Rodriguez inAria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhoodreflects on speaking Spanish at home, learning English at school, and the cultural difficulties of navigating between private and public identities. Audre Lorde in The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, discusses breaking the silence around unspoken subjects, using ones voice as resistance, and speaking truth to power even when it feels dangerous. In Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education, bell hooks describes her struggles and insights as she pursued higher education while staying rooted in her working-class family and community. Reuben Martinez in Technicolor reflects on the transformative power of education and storytelling within Chicano communities, exploring how cultural representation and access to literature can open doors for historically marginalized students. Key Features of Reflective Essays: An introduction that gives any needed background information about the topic and creatively appeals to your audience. A thesis statement–whether explicit or implicit– that takes a clear position. Specific details and the use of sensory details to help your reader relive the experience or story you are relating. In reflective writing, your ideas are developed through narration and description of personal experience which shows your reader what you mean. Appropriate (even if creative and nontraditional) organization and paragraphing, including use of clear topic sentences when needed. The paragraphs should be in a logical order and use transitions to show links between ideas. Commentary–reflection on the meaning or significance of the event or experience. A conclusion that provides closure to the essay and considers the implications of the your story or message. Consistent, correct use of MLA style (check heading, margins, title, line spacing, page numbering, and parenthetical note(s)). Observance of the conventions of standard written English. Prewriting: Getting Started Before you begin writing your essay, take some time to reflect on what parts of your life feel the most true, the most you, and maybe even the most unapologetic. Start by thinking about a belief, value, or lesson that has shaped who you are today. Try to capture it in one or two sentencessomething simple but powerful that speaks to what you stand for. Next, connect that belief to a story. Think about moments in your past that really mattered: a challenge you faced, an experience that changed your perspective, or a story you grew up hearing that still shapes how you see the world. It could be something that happened in school, in your community, in your family, or anywhere else that feels significant. Dont worry yet about writing a polished essayjust focus on remembering and jotting down the details. As you brainstorm, ask yourself: What moment taught me something important about myself? When did I feel most like my true selfwhether accepted, challenged, or even misunderstood? What story do I feel only I can tell? Write down your ideas, fragments, or even quick sketches of scenes. These notes will serve as the foundation for your essay, where youll tell a story that is not just about what happened, but about who you are. Read through your notes and freewrites, underlining the most important ideas. Settle on one to use for this assignment. Decide how you will tell the story: chronological order, in flashbacks, or some other creative approach Make a list of details–sights, sounds, tastes, tactile sensations, smells–that you might include in the descriptive parts of your essay. Make sure that they are relevant to your subject; you will want to emphasize particular reactions to the locations and experiences you describe, so if you are describing a negative experience, focus on the details that show how negative it was. Create an outline of your essay. Make your outline specific enough that it includes the major events, locations, and turning points in your story. You do not need to include everything in your outline that you generated in your prewriting, but make sure to include enough that youll be able to turn the outline into a 3-5 page essay. Rubric The Components of a Successful Essay (Reflective Essay) The Components of a Successful Essay (Reflective Essay) Criteria Ratings Pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeCentral Idea/Thesis/Controlling Idea A clear statement of the purpose of your essay that responds effectively to the essay task while creating the focus for what you write in the body of your essay. It should reflect your perspective, your idea, your opinion. 5 pts Excellent 4 pts Good 3 pts Adequate 1 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeOrganization How are the ideas arranged? Does the writer use topic sentences that relate back to and develop the thesis statement? Does the writer stay on topic within each paragraph? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeDevelopment / Support Are the connections between ideas fully explained? Are the body paragraphs fully developed with reasons, illustrations, examples, details, evidence, explanations, analysis, and/or interpretations? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeIntroduction Does the author lead the reader to the thesis statement with some type of creative hook, while preparing the reader for the thesis statement? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeConclusion Does the writer go beyond summarizing the main points of the essay to describing the next logical step that all the ideas in the essay lead to? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeTransitions Does the author use transitional works and phrases to help the writing flow smoothly in both topic sentences and within paragraphs? 5 pts Excellent 4 pts Good 3 pts Adequate 1 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeSentence Craft Is the writing fluent or choppy? Does the writer join sentences to show relationships between ideas? Does the writer practice sentence strategies we’ve learned in class? 5 pts Excellent 4 pts Good 3 pts Adequate 1 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeSurface Issues / Proofreading Grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling. 5 pts Excellent 4 pts Good 3 pts Adequate 1 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 5 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAssignment Fulfillment Did the essay fulfill the criteria for success? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeStorytelling Does the essay use storytelling strategies to create a meaningful story (dialogue, flow, scenes, dramatization vs. summary, setting, character development, pacing)? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeReflection Does the reflective portion of the essay analyze the storytelling portion to arrive at a meaningful insight? 10 pts Excellent 8 pts Good 6 pts Adequate 2 pts Needs Work 0 pts No Marks 10 pts Total Points: 90