Teaching Artifacts

The Mark of Media:

Narrative Project

Narrative Project Description

Students will choose between two prompts (narrative screenplay scene or traditional essay) to produce a story that explains and argues their perspective of an abstract concept. They must use a personally influential piece of media they have encountered as a lens to explore this concept through. They will also turn in a reflection on their revision and active workshopping processes.

Context Statement

This narrative assignment is meant to help students begin to think about writing as a collaborative and social act by stressing revision processes and audience awareness. The scaffolding practices leading up to this assignment explore narrative structure and conventions, different forms of audience-centered storytelling, and the ways that narrative can serve as a form of illustrative argument within different genres. Multiple revision opportunities should be provided leading up to the final submission of this assignment, and active workshopping opportunities should be provided to highlight social aspects of writing in a very live and emphasizable way. This assignment also introduces students to the subtleties of argument as they argue their perspective on an abstract concept by showing it through the use of narrative structure and elements like imagery, character, conflict, etc.