Featured Narrative Series: #1001 "First Time I Played Reader Rabbit"

Today's featured Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives archive, #1001 by narrator Alisha Neumann, describes the narrator's early experiences with using a computer and particularly the software program Reader Rabbit.

Almost everyone has a story to share about using a computer or software for the first time, and maybe you'll be inspired to share yours after watching Alisha's narrative!

Alisha Neumann's narrative includes a Creative Commons license (non-commercial no derivatives), which is an option given to every narrator submitting to the DALN.  Learn more about Creative Commons licenses at the CC home page.

Feeling inspired by this story?  We invite you to

Image via Wikipedia1. View the full item record for narrative #1001 in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives, or

2. Share this blog post with others!  You could even share the entire Featured Narratives Series!

3. Ensure that you don't miss any future Feature Narratives by following us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our blog via RSS or email (to subscribe by email, use the link in the right-hand sidebar that says "Follow by Email")!. Join our email list in the right-hand sidebar under "Follow by Email."

4. Reflect on your own literacy stories and consider sharing one or more of them with the DALN!  The DALN submission process can be completed entirely online from any Internet-connected computer, and we welcome submissions from all around the world on any topic related to reading, writing, or composing!  Just click on the "Submit a Narrative" link at the DALN web site to get started, or check out our Video Walk-Thru of the submission process here on the blog!

Our First Guest Blog!: Amy Edwards Patterson's Glogster about the DALN and the Milwaukee Digital Media Conference 2011

It's a big day for the DALN Blog: we're publishing our first guest blog post, and what a post it is!  Amy Edwards Patterson, Gen Ed faculty member at Moraine Park Technical College in Wisconsin, composed this fabulous Glogster about her experiences with the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives and her DALN-related experiences at the Milwaukee Digital Media Conference 2011.  


Thanks Amy!  Check it out below, and don't forget to follow Amy on Twitter via @amycep!

Feeling inspired by Amy's post?  We welcome inquiries from potential guest bloggers about your experiences related to the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives!  We met Amy through our Twitter account (@dalnarchive) and you can contact us there, or we'd love to hear from you through Facebook or email!

(Prefer a full-size version of this Glogster?  Click here!)

Featured Narrative Series: #2423 "Reflections of a DALN Social Media Coordinator"

(New to the DALN blog or the Featured Narrative Series?  You can access the entire Featured Narrative Series to date by clicking here!)


A special entry today in our Featured Narrative Series: #2423 by Jen Michaels, the Summer 2011 Social Media Coordinator for the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives!    Meet the face behind the blog style sheet, if you will.  Hi!  I'll be reading the blog comments as always, so if you have any feedback about our DALN social media presence or any questions, you'll know exactly who's on the other side!

Feeling inspired by this story?  We invite you to

Image via Wikipedia1. View the full item record for narrative #2423 in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives,

2. Share this blog post with others!  You could even share the entire Featured Narratives Series!

3. Ensure that you don't miss any future Feature Narratives by following us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our blog via RSS or email (to subscribe by email, use the link in the right-hand sidebar that says "Follow by Email")!. Join our email list in the right-hand sidebar under "Follow by Email."

4. Reflect on your own literacy stories and consider sharing one or more of them with the DALN!  The DALN submission process can be completed entirely online from any Internet-connected computer, and we welcome submissions from all around the world on any topic related to reading, writing, or composing!  Just click on the "Submit a Narrative" link at the DALN web site to get started, or check out our Video Walk-Thru of the submission process here on the blog!

The Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives Submission Process: A Video Walk-Through

Curious about the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives' online submission process?  Perhaps you're thinking about submitting your own literacy narrative, teaching with literacy narratives, or hoping to help others share their stories?  This short video walk-through will give you a tour of the online submission process, which can be completed from any computer with Internet access!

The process doesn't take long, but it does include several important steps:

1. Consent to have your literacy narrative included in the archive

2. Opportunities to add optional descriptions, keywords, and demographic data that become searchable in the archive, making your narrative easier for others to access and giving you opportunities to describe the narrative as you wish

3. Uploading your literacy narrative file (or multiple files, if you wish!) to the DALN server

4. A Deed of Gift declaration and an option to attach Creative Commons licenses to your narrative.

Image via Wikipedia

The DALN also has a Submit by Mail feature if you prefer to submit your materials on CD or DVD.  Finally, if you are helping others share their stories in an environment with limited computer access, you may find the print versions of the DALN submission forms useful.  They are identical in content to the online submission process.

Questions about the DALN submission process?  Let us know in the comments below, or contact the DALN using this contact info!

Featured Narrative Series: #129, Susan Plachta's "Three Billygoats"

Today's featured narrative from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives is #129, Susan Plachta's "Three Billygoats."  Archive #129 includes a video file and a text transcript of the video, and we've included both in today's post!  We reproduce the text and video exactly as they appear in the archive.  This DALN contributor describes the narrative as focusing "on the influence of my mother on my literacy" and describes events that took place in the United States in the 1970s.

"Susan: So what I wanted to tell you is the story of literacy that I had was when I was about four or five years of my mom always read to me the three billy goats gruff. And each time she would do it, she would do all the different voices. And it would be "Who's that stepping over my bridge?" And each billy goat would then be the smallest voices to the large ones. And that it would always be a great experience, because we would sit on her lap and we would listen to it and get all the voices, and I would like to hear it over and over again. And so with that, each time I would pick different books that my mom would read to me, but always came back to that story, it always came back to the three billy goats gruff. Love that story. I think it really instilled my love of reading, just have that great experience at the very beginning, encouraged me in that way. Exactly, she brought everything to light, the characters, and having those moments with her, and she's always been instrumental in my literacy. So that's my story."

Feeling inspired by this story?  We invite you to

1. View the full item record for narrative #129 in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

2. Share this blog post with others!

3. Subscribe to our blog via email so you won't miss any of our Feature Narratives. Email subscribers receive an email anytime we add a new post to the DALN blog!  Join our email list in the right-hand sidebar under "Follow by Email."

4. Reflect on your own literacy stories and consider sharing one or more of them with the DALN!  The DALN submission process can be completed entirely online from any Internet-connected computer, and we welcome submissions from all around the world on any topic related to reading, writing, or composing!  Just click on the "Submit a Narrative" link at the DALN web site to get started, or stay tuned for a blog post later this week with a video walk-through of the submission process!

Five Ways to Interact with the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

There are so many ways to participate in the DALN, and they don't stop at submitting your own narrative!  Today we share five ways to interact with the DALN.


1. View, read, and listen to narratives archived in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

When contributors submit stories to the DALN, they make their stories available for public access through the Internet--and they're meant to be enjoyed and watched!  Some fun ways to browse the archive include...

Browse Options on the DALN Home Page

--Search by keyword for an idea or trend that’s important to you.  For example, as of today's posting date, there are 135 narratives tagged with the keyword music, eleven with the keyword love letters, and seven with the keyword tattoo!

--Browse a DALN Collection, such as the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Contributors Collection or the submissions from students in the First-Year Writing Program at The Ohio State University during the 2010-2011 school year!  Many of the organizations in the DALN Contributing Partners Program also have extensive collections.

--Follow our blog via Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or Follow by Email (see the sidebar at right) so that you won't miss any of our Featured Narratives posts here on the blog!

2. Teach with Literacy Narratives Across the Curriculum


The DALN's narratives encompass reading, writing, and composing in a wide variety of contexts.  Just look at the DALN search results for the keywords biology, dance, or computer science!  And of course, literacy narratives are very useful in composition or literacy courses.

Four DALN Search Results for keyword biology

Whether you have students compose their own narratives or view the narratives of others, select sample narratives for student discussion and analysis or have students find relevant narratives on their own, select a literacy trend to highlight or have students identify trends in the narratives, the DALN offers possibilities for almost every academic topic.  For more, chck out the DALN's Teacher Resources section.

3. Tell Others About the DALN

The DALN grows more rich and diverse as it reaches new audiences and inspires new contributors.  Do you know a person, group, or organization that might be interested in archiving their literacy stories or interacting with the DALN in other ways?  Link them to the DALN home page, to a relevant literacy narrative from the archive, or to our DALN blog!  

4. Submit a Literacy Narrative (or Two, or Three!) to the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

Feeling camera shy or have writer's block?  There are lots of ways to reduce the intimidation factor, like telling the story to a friend or family member while you record or focusing your narrative on a specific person, place, or object related to your literacy history.  Many DALN contributors find that once they start thinking and talking about a literacy story, they can't stop talking about it!  Brainstorm ideas for literacy narratives with this document, or learn more about the DALN submission process--or stay tuned for a blog post later this week that walks you step by step through the online narrative submission process!

5. Help Others Record and Contribute their Stories

Family, friends, colleagues, and members of groups and organizations in your life all have wonderful literacy stories to tell.  Since the DALN accepts submissions in multiple forms--text, audio, and video--submitted online or via snail mail, many potential contributors are just one helper away from contributing their wonderful story to a permanent public archive.

This is where you come in!  Make contact with an organization or group, determine a time and location for setting up a simple recording booth, and help other folks record and share their stories.  Your contributors can use keywords to tie their narratives together so that they can be easily located as a group in the DALN archive.  Groups with many potential contributors might also consider becoming part of the DALN Contributing Partners program.

Stay tuned later this week for a post that walks you through the DALN submission process.  Jen, our own DALN Social Media Coordinator, will show you step by step how she records and submits a DALN narrative! 

Have you used the DALN in one of these ways, or perhaps in another way altogether?  We'd love to hear from you in the blog comments!

Featured Narrative Series, #891, "Home School and Literacy"

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Today we feature DALN narrative #891 from contributor Lynn Simmons.  In her DALN submission, she describes this narrative as being "about how my literacy story began while I was home schooled" during the 1990s.  She chose the keywords essays, literary terms, movies, home school, and georgiasouthern as search terms for her narrative in the DALN archive.


Feeling inspired by this story?  We invite you to

1. View the full item record for narrative #891 in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

2. Share this blog post with others!


3. Subscribe to our blog via email so you won't miss any of our Feature Narratives. Email subscribers receive an email anytime we add a new post to the DALN blog!  Join our email list in the right-hand sidebar under "Follow by Email."


4. Reflect on your own literacy stories and consider sharing one or more of them with the DALN!  The DALN submission process can be completed entirely online from any Internet-connected computer, and we welcome submissions from all around the world on any topic related to reading, writing, or composing!  Just click on the "Submit a Narrative" link at the DALN web site to get started, or stay tuned for a blog post later this week with a video walk-through of the submission process!