Your Education

This writing assignment is focused on your effective use of anecdotes to make claims and tell your story. Alexie Sherman’s Indian Education is effective because it is true and because it tells a compelling story about his life and the life of his community. In the midst of that, he powerfully makes a number of different overall claims about education through his own story. The anecdotes are short and tight without extraneous (extra) details. Even so, he gives us enough details to make us feel like we we’re almost there with him.

So your task is to create your version of Indian Education using your own life. Use Alexie’s piece as a model. That said, your story/argument need not be semi-tragic like his was, just honest. I’m not looking for 12 grades like he has (you’re still in your 11th anyway). Instead, try to hit the major stages. If you’ve been in Fife all your life, have a section for Primary, one for Intermediate, one for SLMS, one for CJH, and one for FHS. If you haven’t, sometimes moves can define major epochs in your life. Shoot for about 5 or 6 sections.

This assignment will be graded for the way each anecdote makes a point/claim that builds to an overall point/claim. Also I will look for the general style, conventions, voice, organization, and development that we always consider.

Due December 16th at 11:59 PM