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Table of Contents | Submit Using This Site | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5

Step 1: Compose/Tell your story

Decide what stories you want to tell and what items you want to include in your literacy narrative. You can tell these stories in many forms: words, images, videos, audio clips, photographs.

You can include as many of these items as you’d like in your literacy narrative. They will all appear under your name.

Some of the following prompts may remind you of stories you want to tell:

Early experiences at home

• Tell a story about how you first learned to read when you were a child.
• Tell a story about how you first learned to write when you were a child.
• Tell about the kinds of reading and writing that were done around your hose when you were little or when you were growing up. Were there books in your house? Comics? Music?
• Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents read (example: newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.).
• Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents wrote (example: newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.).
• What kinds of stories did your parents/grandparents tell you about how they learned to read and write?
• Tell a story about how you first learned to use a computer. Who helped? Where was it? What did you use it for? (examples: chatrooms, email, gaming)

Experiences during your school years

• Tell a story about reading in elementary/secondary school.
• Tell a story about writing in elementary/secondary school.
• Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind (examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music)
• Tell a story about using other kinds of technology for reading and writing and communicating when you were in school (examples: cell phones, hearing aids, computers, PDAs). Why dis you use each device? How often? In what circumstances?

Later experiences:

• Tell a story about reading as an adult. What kinds of things do you read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family?
• Tell a story about writing as an adult. What kinds of things do you read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family?
• Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind (examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music).
• Tell a story about the kinds of technology you unow se for reading and writing and communicating as an adult (examples: cell phones, hearing aids, computers, PDAs). Why do you use each device? How often? In what circumstances?

Additional Materials

We also encourage you to add as many other items as you’d like to your literacy narrative. Each item you submit should help illustrate or explain your literacy narrative:

• scanned photographs of you as a child or your family, or snapshots you have taken;
• scanned images of old report cards, maps you made, drawings you have created;
• recorded music you have composed or sounds you have recorded
• digitized clips from home movies that show your literacy practices;
• short stories, letters, or other materials you have written.
• essays, 'zines', newsletters, e-mail messages you have written or contributed to;

All materials must be submitted in a digitized format.

To make this process easier, we suggest that you create a folder on the computer you are using and store all the pieces of your literacy narrative in this folder so that they are easy to find and upload.

If you would prefer to send your materials by mail rather than uploading them via this web site, please click here for directions.