Premise #4: Your Experience Matters!!!
Every premise in this text up until now is based on the importance of one’s experience to who they are as a learner, reader, and writer. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Your experiences matter, because who you are as a learner matters. Your identity is shaped by your experiences, which is why in our courses when we begin talking about your academic identity, we start with The Writing Project, an essay project about how your identity has been shaped until now; about who you are before you entered our classrooms. Essays that deal with personal experiences and identity are called narratives, and generally tell a personal story or stories that have greater symbolism and/or meaning for how the author sees themselves and defines their identity. The following narratives by influential academic and popular figures will be models of how to tell stories with larger significance and meaning for your identity, and help you plan and develop your own personal narrative in the Writing Project.
DISCUSSION FORUM —
Supplemental Reading #2:
How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua
Supplemental Reading #3:
Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
Supplemental Reading #4:
excerpts from Learning to Read by Malcolm X
Reading and Writing Your World 