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English 881: Narrative Inquiry — Family Stories Part 1

Family Stories Required Materials

Family Stories Class Activities

Freewriting

  • Spend 20 minutes describing your family, both your immediate family and your extended family
    • What makes your family unique?
    • What words do you associate with your family?
    • What are some of the good things about your family?
    • Does your family face any special challenges?

The Language of Family

Assignments

Due July 8 Tuesday: Required Readings on Family Story Telling

All these articles are posted in the D2L Class Website.

  • Book Chapter: Pagnucci, G.S. (2004). Living the Narrative Life: Stories as a tool for meaning making. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Boynton/Cook. (Part Four: “Telling Family Stories,” pp. 88-104).
  • Article: Hammill, Bobbi Ann. “Teaching and Parenting: Who Are the Members of Our Profession?” CCC 59.1 (2007): 98-124.
    • This article by IUP alumna Bobbi Ann Hammill is drawn from her dissertation research on the role of mother/daughter relationships in the field of Composition Studies
  • Wallace, Robert. (2004). Chapter 4 narrative methodology. This Wild, Strange Place: Local Narratives of Literacy Use in Appalachian Families over Three Generations. (pp. 68-90).
    • This link takes you to Rob’s dissertation which is housed on ProQuest
    • ProQuest is where you will one day upload your dissertation too!
    • You access the dissertation through the IUP Library website, and will need to login
    • Please read Chapter 4 “Narrative Methodology” which begins with a nice narrative Interlude called “West Virginia: Meaningless Words” on p. 68; the chapter ends on p. 90
    • I recommended downloading the dissertation for faster navigation through it
  • Article: Tobin, Lad. 1997. “Reading and Writing About Death, Disease, and Dysfunction; or, How I’ve Spent My Summer Vacations.” In Narration as Knowledge. Talk of the Teaching Life, edited by Joseph F. Trimmer, 71-83. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Heinemann.
  • Article: Park, Gloria. 2021. “I, too, am afraid for my son and myself…’: A mother in academia speaks out TESOL Journal.

Optional Material

A Sample Family Story

  • A Family Story: Tavers, Trisha. 2021. The Battles After Battle
    • This fascinating story is about soldier who was wounded in combat during the Vietnam War
    • The story was written by the soldier’s daughter Trisha, who was a student in ENGL 881: Narrative Inquiry during Summer 2021
    • Trisha used Microsoft’s Sway software to not only present images from her dad’s past, but also audio clips that really help bring the story to life
    • Dr. Trisha Travers is now a proud IUP alum!
      • Travers, Trisha Kelly. (2024). Recognizing and avoiding misinformation: Evaluating sources for a FYW researched writing assignment.

Major Course Tasks Schedule