Exercise C for Essay One

Overview Exercise C focuses on two examples of literacy analysis: "Talk Is the Thing," by Shirley Brice Heath and "Note-Passing: Struggles for Status" by Margaret J. Finders. In an excerpt from her book, Ways with Words: Life, Language, and Work in Communities and Classrooms, Heath analyses the many social functions of conversation in a working class African American community in North Carolina. In the Finder's piece, taken from her book Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High, she analyzes the function and social implications of note-passing among junior high school girls. These texts serve as models of literacy analysis--the genre you'll be trying out in Essay One. As you read and write, notice the authors' approach and think about how you might apply it to your analysis of a literacy event from your own life in Essay One. To help you engage these texts, you'll also be practicing three active reading skills: highlighting, annotating, and summarizing. George and Trimbur have illustrated these techniques by applying them to the Finders text. Your job in Exercise C is to highlight, annotate, and summarize the excerpt from Finders. Learning Objectives Understand literacy analysis and how it's different from literacy narrative Practice active reading skills: highlighting, annotating, and summarizing. These will serve you well as you continue to read and write about challenging texts in college and beyond. Come to terms with Heath and Finders Generate more material for Essay One Writing Process Begin by reviewing the directions near the top of p. 37. Highlight and annotate Margaret Finders's text, "Note-Passing: Struggles for Status." Write a summary of the Finders text. Bring it to class to share with classmates. Submit to instructor Length, Format, and Documentation of Your Writing Process Your summary should be about 150-200 words long. Double-space, and include a heading with your name, instructor's name, course number, date, and the name of this assignment: Exercise C for Essay One. Save this exercise to submit with your final draft of Essay One. Grading I will grade this exercise using a scoring guide based on a 10-point scale. I will return the exercise with brief comments.