Assignment #1.

Assignment #1:
Experiences that Shaped You as a Writer

Rough draft due: Feb. 16, 2009

Length: ~1,000 words

Assignment Goal and Purpose:
For this assignment you are to write an essay that explores an experience or series of experiences that shaped you as a reader and/or a writer. The purpose of this assignment is for you to have a better understanding of how you have been shaped into a literate person and to share that understanding with your audience (you will need to determine that audience as part of the composition process), so we can understand how literacy figures into your life. This knowledge should help all of us this semester as we work to improve our writing.

To accomplish this assignment you will need to both recall various reading and writing experiences in your life and then critically analyze these experiences. You will then select and interpret the ones that will help your reader best understand the shaping of your identity as a literate person. You may focus on a single experience or several experiences, but you must tie the experiences into a cohesive narrative. You will also need to explain the connection between these experiences and the reader/writer you are today.

Assignment Expectations:
Your essay need not only recount positive experiences and effects. Often people’s most significant reading and/or writing experiences are negative.
A successful paper will:
· Relate stories important to your literacy development and explain why they were important
· Have richly realized characters (and include dialogue, description, and/or action)
· Use clear and vivid description (especially of people, places. And events)
· Use an engaging and appropriate style for the audience you have designated for your essay
· Form a coherent, unified narrative

Essay Structure and Organization:
There are a variety of organizational strategies for a narrative. The most simple is a chronological beginning-to-end approach. More complex organization strategies involve switching from present-to past-to present one or more times. This assignment is flexible enough to accommodate a range of approaches to this assignment. You have the freedom to explore a form and structure that seems most suitable to you.

Ideas to get you started:
The following questions should help to get you started thinking about this assignment. They might also alert you to an idea of what might be important reading/writing experiences or what you might want to write more about. Don’t try to answer each question and don’t use them to organize your paper (neither will work very effectively).
· How did you learn to read/write, in a mechanical sense, and when?
· What do you remember about learning to read/write in school?
· Do you consider yourself a reader/writer? Why or why not?
· How has what you have read influenced your writing?
· Who were some of your most influential reading/writing teachers? Why were they so? Who was your worst English teacher and why?
· Do you read/write without being made to? Why or why not?
· Do you write letters? How often?
· Has email influenced how and how much you write?
· What do you find most difficult about expressing yourself?
· What is you favorite style (genre) of writing?
· Do you fear writing? Why? Why not?
· For whom did you write in school? What was its purpose?
· What negative experiences with reading/writing have you had?
· Recall a time when you wrote something that you thought was good but a reader did not. What was your reaction?

First-Week Writing Sample.

Rowan University
Department of Writing Arts
First-Week Writing Sample
Spring 2009

According to an article published recently in The New York Times, a genetic test will soon be marketed in the United States that claims to predict athletic ability in children. Specifically, the test analyzes the ACTN3 gene, which studies have shown is linked to an individual’s aptitude for speed and power sports versus endurance sports. Individuals inherit one copy of the gene, which comes in two forms called variants, from each of their parents. Individuals with two copies of the R variant tend to perform better at speed and power sports, while individuals with two copies of the X variant tend to perform better at endurance sports.

The article goes on to give the opinions of various people regarding this genetic test. The parents who were interviewed were excited about this opportunity to gain information that could help them make the best possible decisions for their children. Athletic ability is considered to be a valuable asset in our society and is rewarded by benefits such as college scholarships. Scientists, however, have raised a number of concerns. For example, at least 200 genes have been found to contribute to athletic ability. Further, individuals do not always exhibit the aptitude that their genetic makeup predicts. Besides the question of whether the genetic test is valid, there are questions about whether it is a good idea to use genetic information in this fashion. Parents might be disappointed in a child who doesn’t measure up to their hopes or might pressure a child to focus on a particular sport too early in life, before the child could participate in the decision. On the positive side, though, having this knowledge might help parents form more realistic expectations about their children’s lives.

Do you think genetic testing to determine athletic ability is a good idea? Do the benefits outweigh the potential problems? What would you recommend in terms of guidelines and/or restrictions for use of this test and the information it provides? In an essay, summarize the issue, explain your position and your reasoning, and present your recommendation. Use examples from your experience, observations, or reading to back up your argument, identifying your sources as appropriate.

The information above is from “Born to Run? Little Ones Get Test for Sports Gene,” by Juliet Macur, The New York Times, November 30, 2008, p. A1.