Final Exam

Our exam period will be Tuesday, May 11, from 2-4 p.m.

Short version:

You’ll write a new memoir. We’ll all discuss the “before-and-after”s in our exam session.

Long version:

We began the course with brief memoirs, and then spent a semester consider how literacy influences the self. We’ll finish by “re-writing ourselves,” i.e., re-writing those memoirs and reflecting on what (if anything) has changed.

I recommend NOT re-reading your original memoirs before you write these. You’ll have more interesting comparisons in that case to see whether things are the same or have changed (versus ways you would intentionally make changes if you re-read). Regardless, we can take your approach into account during our final discussion.

Same sparse rules as before—we want to capture your current sense of your self and your story of how you became the “you” of today.

  • Things that might help you:

    • Aim for about 500-1000 words.

    • If you want to include more but are “writing away,” try listing things in bullets rather than writing them out long-form.

    • Your audience is primarily just you. You will submit these, and your peers and I will read them (if you prefer to keep yours private from your peers, feel free to lock your sharing settings and let me know), but you’re mostly writing for yourself.

    • Again, keep in mind that a “memoir” is different than a “biography”—a biography typically starts around your birth and follows the important parts of your life in a linear way; a memoir tells a story about your life, usually focusing on one particular theme and therefore drawing on related threads throughout that story. One person may thus easily write multiple memoirs, though “competing” autobiographies would be odd. So just think about something you’d like to capture about yourself and write about how that thing has surfaced/developed through some key memories.
      *Therefore, again, you needn’t write about the same things you addressed in your original memoir, though you may. It’s nearly a free-for-all here. :)

Prior to our exam period, you’ll submit 2 things to this folder:

  1. Your new memoir

  2. A reflection on the two memoirs (about 300-500 words).

    • After you’ve finished the new memoir, go back and reread the original. What themes, details, tones, etc. are similar? What’s different?

    • Do you associate any of the changes to your literacy practices this term?

    • More broadly, how much of your current “self” do you attribute to literacy practices over your lifetime?

During our exam period, we’ll begin with a structured Q&A section (see below), and then move to an unstructured discussion. This time will be low-key; it’s a chance for final reflections and good company.

Opening questions:

  1. What overlaps and divergences did you notice between your original memoir and your more recent memoir? In things like:

    • themes

    • details (or types of details)

    • vocabulary

    • mechanics (e.g., “grammar”)

    • other?

  2. How do you think that being more conscious of the cognitive dimensions of literacy practices affected your sense of and/or development of “self” this semester?

  3. How has this awareness influenced your understanding of yourself in connection with your lifelong literacy practices?

  4. How do you expect this awareness to influence your future literacy choices?