Unit 3: Narrative

/ Sara S.

Stories are an important part of the human experience, and being able to tell captivating stories is an essential skill for good communicators. In this section, students will begin to uncover and communicate their own stories in a variety of ways.

The goal of this unit is to begin transitioning students into creating texts based on the rhetorical situation and their own personal experiences and voice. The ability to express themselves is an essential skill students will need throughout the course of both their academic and work careers. There will be a continued focus on helping students read and communicate through a variety of modes including text, images, audio, video, etc. Keep in mind that students may bring to the table other methods of communication they would like to experiment with and explore such as drawing, dancing, etc. Be open to how students choose to express themselves, but also challenge them to think about the modes they use as they are related to rhetorical choices.

Student Learning Objectives:

  • Write a coherent essay observing appropriate grammatical, mechanical, and stylistic conventions;
  • write competently in the informative mode;
  • evaluate, edit, and revise at all stages of the writing process.

Texts for Students

Lessons & Activities

  1. Introduce the Personal Narrative – Have students read some examples of personal narratives and discuss how they fit into that genre. You may also wish to introduce them to narrative in images as well. Ask students what personal narratives they have encountered before. Have them think about the purpose of writing personal narratives.
  2. Ethos, Pathos, Lagos – Introduce the basic ideas of ethos, pathos, and lagos. To reinforce the material, have students complete an in-class activity and/or a worksheet to assist them in identifying these rhetorical methods. In addition, it may be helpful to have a follow-up lesson. This presentation applies the rhetorical appeals to visual advertising. Connect this with student’s personal narratives they will be creating. Have them consider which rhetorical methods would be most appropriate for their purpose. When doing the visual advertising lesson, ask students to bring in examples that can be analyzed as a class or analyzed separately as a quick, in-class writing activity. This will help students start making connections between the concepts of ethos, pathos, and lagos with their everyday reality.
  3. Making Connections – Have students read “Your Brain on Story: Why Narratives Win Our Hearts and Minds” by Michele Weldon. Then have students search the internet for the latest viral stories. Maybe it’s a Facebook post, maybe it’s a video, maybe it’s a story that’s being talked about on every news website. Have students analyze their findings by asking questions like:
    • How does the story initially capture your interest?
    • What makes this story so compelling?
    • What rhetorical choices are being made?
  4. Copyright – As you dive into multimodal composition, it is important to discuss copyright laws and fair use. This is a great time to connect citing research sources with copyright on other types of content like music, images, videos, etc.
  5. Creating Stories from Images – We’ve spent a lot of time looking at images for analysis. Now, have students write a story based on an image. You could use a piece of art like the lesson plan linked above suggests, or you could choose a photograph. You could also give each student their own image, or give them freedom to select from a few options.
    • Alternatively, using one of the sample narrative essays, have students create a visual essay that tells the story without using text. Allow students to experiment with tools as this will help prepare them for their culminating project.
  6. Graphic Novels or Cartoons – To understand narrative, using graphic novels or cartoon can be helpful for students. It can also boost engagement as it is something many are interested in. Frank Serafini’s Reading the Visual has a helpful unit on teaching this genre. I would recommend the activity on storyboarding two panels on page 139, but the whole unit may be useful if you would like to focus more in-depth on graphic novels in your course. You may even want to give students the option to create their own graphic story for the narrative visual essay assignment.

Culminating Project

Remixed from Professor Nicole Piasecki’s Visual Narrative Assignment.

Narrative Visual Essay

The Task: Create an infographic, slideshow, poster, powerpoint, graphic story, or some other visual composition (electronic or physical) that represents a significant place that contributes to your identity.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different tools and technologies. And use your experiences from our in-class activities and previous assignments to guide you to an appropriate tool. Just remember to give yourself plenty of time to play and experiment with new technologies.

Purpose: To use visuals as both an invention tool and medium of expression and communication. Many of us are working (or will be working) in environments that require visual literacy—the ability to critically read and produce texts that include visuals. This essay will help us gain expertise in that area. Also, some of us use visuals (more than words) to make sense of and interact with our environment. Thus, with this assignment, we can become more aware of our assumptions surrounding certain images and the ways we create beliefs and meaning from those assumptions.

Length: Your visual essay should include at least 8 images that tell the narrative. You can include text if it would contribute to your purpose. Remember that images should not simply illustrate what the text already says, nor should text simply describe the images. Instead, both should work together in a meaningful way.

Audience: Your peers in this class are your audience unless you specify otherwise.

The Project’s Components: 

Draft & Peer Reviews (10 points) – On the day specified, post your Narrative Visual Essay Draft on the discussion board provided before coming to class. You will read and respond to at least two of your classmates projects.

Narrative Visual Essay (50 points) – Your completed Narrative Visual Essay should tell a story about a personally significant time and place in your life. Your Narrative Visual Essay should include at least 8 photos, and any additional modes of communication that help you communicate your story. This might be text, audio, or something else. Remember that you have a wide range of tools available to you to help you convey your message including text, images, videos, memes, gifs, links, etc. Be sure to use these to your advantage to communicate your meaning as clearly as possible.

Reflection (50 points) – Finally, submit a 500-750 word reflection with your final project. Your reflection should explain your composing process, the rhetorical choices you made, and should touch on any problems you encountered or things you think your project did particularly well. Also, consider how this project would have turned out if you were given a different medium for communication. How would your project be different if it was in text-based essay form? What about if it was a video? What do you think were the benefits and shortcomings of the medium you chose? What would you do differently for next time? What would you keep the same for next time?

NOTE: Your photographs must adhere to copyright and fair use laws. That means the photos you use should either be taken by you or a family member, should be filed under an appropriate Creative Commons License, or that you can justify the use of copyrighted material deliberately by referencing the fair use doctrine. We will learn how to find copyright-flexible media this term.

Grade using the Narrative Visual Essay Rubric.

Digital Resources for Teachers:

Works Cited / Academic Resources for Teachers:

  • Córdova, Nathaniel I. “Invention, Ethos, and New Media in the Rhetoric Classroom: The Storyboard as Exemplary Genre.” Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres, edited by Tracey Bowen and Carl Whithaus, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013, pp. 143-163.
  • Katz, Susan M. and Lee Odell. “Something Old, Something New: Integrating Presentation Software Into the ‘Writing’ Classroom.” Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres, edited by Tracey Bowen and Carl Whithaus, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013, pp. 90-110.
  • Serafini, Frank. Reading the Visual: An Introduction to Teaching Multimodal Literacy. New York: Teachers College Press, 2014. Kindle. 
  • Shipka, Jody. “Including, But Not Limited to, the Digital: Composing Multimodal Texts.” Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres, edited by Tracey Bowen and Carl Whithaus, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013, pp. 73-89.

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