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I AM: Sponsorship Evaluation

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I have previously read Deborah Brandt’s Sponsors of Literacy. This reread took me to an entirely different place, due mostly to the goals and aims of our Literacy Narrative assignment.

This time, I focused my attention internally. I needed to deepen my understanding by cutting into my levels of sponsorship and reveal complicated interwoven paths to my current situation. As Brandt stated, “…everybody’s literacy practices are operating in differential economies, which supply different access routes, different degrees of sponsoring power, and different scales of monetary worth to the practices in use” (Brandt 561).

I am… a critical thinker. Not by practice, but by influence.

When was in elementary school, my teachers described me as a “handful”. I would consistently question the rules and the lessons of the class. At first, this was due to necessity. Our family was moving constantly and knowing the curriculum and lesson plans early in the year would be essential to my success in a class. However, I soon realized that many of my classmates rewarded this questioning with terms like “smart-ass” and enjoyed the fact that my interruptions would lead to a break in the monotones of the teacher’s lectures. Although I would be burdensome in the classroom, my report cards would generally result in “A”s, due to my critical analysis of the standards and my ability to meet and exceed the grade requirements. This positive encouragement by my peers and praise from my teachers reinforced my literacy practices throughout my grade school career.

I am… a writer. Not by choice, but by construction.

“There once was a man/ who lived in a land/ where he could do nothing.” This was the first line to my first published poem, written during my 5th grade year.

“I see all/ I hear all/ I feel the love all around./ Yet in the shadows/ lies the evil/ creeping from the underground.” This was the first line from my first recorded song, written during my 6th grade year.

All writing that took place in between these creative works were standard preparation for the dreaded 5 paragraph essay format (book reports, article reviews, summer vacation short story…). I noticed that every piece of writing, creative or academic, drew the same set of sponsors. My parents. My teachers. A grade or prize. Or in other terms. Family, Institution, and reward. Looking back I realized that this framework began to shape my writing depending on the position that each sponsor was placed on my personal hierarchy. My personal hierarchy was based upon my beliefs at the time, and moving forward into my career, they shifted based on the external values placed upon them by society. As Brandt described, “…the course of an ordinary person’s literacy learning- it’s occasions, materials, applications, potentials -follows the transformations going on within sponsoring institutions as those institutions fight for economic and ideological position” (566). This struggling and balancing of my literacy hierarchy brought me deeper into my chosen career…

I am… a teacher. Not by definition, but by function.

I love to teach, because I love to learn. My own sponsorship of literacy is navigated by my choices within my love of language and knowledge. It is the reason why I chose to continue my education, and it is the reason why I love reading this article… Even if it is the fourth time :)


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The Author’s Chair

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For my literacy narrative, I chose to interview my mother. She is a kindergarten teacher at a private school in Roseville. Although most of the kids are able to read and write when they come in to kindergarten, my mom has a few tricks for encouraging her kinders to love reading and writing. One trick is the author’s chair. To say that the kids dig this would be a massive understatement:

“After the children have at least two sentences with a picture to match [in their journal], they may sit on the Author’s chair (barstool) and read their writing to the class.  Everyone claps and the child gets a sticker to place on the cover of their journal. Every child needs to read once before another child can have his next turn.  They LOVE this!  They are authors.”

When she says “everyone claps,” she means genuine, enthusiastic applause. And you’d think that blue barstool was a throne. As much as they love it when my mom and I read to them, the kinders adore listening to each other read. Kinda makes me wish I was going on to teach kindergarten instead of college level writing.


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Parallels to the Bible in Bessie Head’s “A Question of Power”

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Having chosen to live my life as a believer of Jesus Christ and a Christian I cannot help but notice so many parallels between the structure of this novel and new and old testament. On one hand there is the change in structure while Dan seems to replace Sello in the second half of the book, Christian’s especially in biblical times experienced a God who changed from the old testament to the new testament. After the atonement of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world people were able to come to their God without any kind of intercession. This ability or opportunity changed the structure of their practices and beliefs.
In this quote there is a closer reading of these parallels, “‘The Father’ had stood on the doorstep of her hut on the one night, with the light of the sun on his face. He had returned again the next night with the air of one who had come back to make a final statement about their past relationship. He had stood looking at her for a moment, with an intent expression, and then he mentioned a name she could not later recall.” (nook edition pg 92). What could be seen here is an alluding to the idea of the second coming, the belief that Jesus will return with his kingdom. Also, an idea of the return of Jesus to his disciples after he was crucified, possibly a reference to the Jews sacred name for God which was “yahweh”, and to the story of Elijah experiencing the presence of God. In the first sentence of this quote there could be a reading the references Christ return to his disciples after his resurrection and crucifixion. He returns to them to explain or redefine their relationship, now that the sins have been atoned the relationship the disciples and Christ has changed. In the final sentence where she discusses the name that she could not recall made me think of the scared name “yahweh” which in todays society we are not sure how to pronounce it was such a scared and personal name of God that not even the Jews would pronounce it. And, that brings us to the middle sentence which could be the experience of the presence of God for Elijah it was great brilliance and because of the glory of God Elijah was only able to see the back of God. While this sentence describes the sun on the front of Dan’s face the idea of brilliance and veneration is still presence in this passage.


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Literacy Narrative from 8 to 90

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So I don’t think we had a blog due per the calendar, because it said “No blog next week: work on Literacy Narrative”, but I know we always got somethin’ to post. So here are some answers from my Literacy Narrative thus far that I really enjoyed.

When asked where you see writing in the next ten years, or how important it will be, my interviewees said this:

“I’m afraid its gonna be erased. I don’t even think the telephone will be the telephone. It will be all clones (in reference to automated operators). We depend too much on the machine and not using the brain as we should.” – Diana 90

In the next ten years, I’m “Pretty sure you won’t know how to fucking read or write because the computer will do it all for you … People are going to rely solely on computers”. – Angela 36

“It will be an important thing in my life. Something like I have to do for life. (brief pause) I just think when I’m in college, because I’m planning to go to college – even though it’s nothing to worry about at my age , it’s going to be important for my grades and stuff. Do you know what I mean?” – Jayden 8

“Oh! Everything. But it’s gonna be online…well, not everything…but a lot of it.” – Summer 15

And when I asked about the importance of computer literacy, they said:

We need computer literacy “So they know if the machine is operating as it should. If we don’t understand the machine, it could tell us anything. If you take it as gospel there could be problems”.

She compared these statements to going into a store and the register stops working. The guy who just took your dollar for the sixty five cent item doesn’t know he owes you thirty five cents because the machine didn’t tell him. Or how many times have you went to a store that the power is out or the registers are down and they say they can’t ring you up? Can’t they legibly write it down and transfer that to a bookkeeper somehow? “Has the world stopped spinning just because the computer has stopped. It’s frightening. It’s really frightening.” – Diana

“If computers do everything for you, you have to know how to command it. You have to know something. But I’m sure there’s an app for that”. – Angela

“Totally” – Jayden

“Yes, internet literacy would be great! Because it would be nice to know what you’re doing, especially if they are going to expect us to do everything online.” – Summer


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It is Literally All the Things…

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I keep getting all the readings mixed up so forgive me if this and Fosen's readings cross over. I always intend to blog sooner, but I get overwhelmed with my notes that by the time it comes to blogging, I have no idea what to say and I feel like the blogs I give need to be "correct" but I have no idea what "correct" is because I need to discuss the readings before I can write about them, if that makes any sense at all? I feel like reading and blogging then discussing feels completely backwards to me because I have all these thoughts, but putting them in a blog that is posted for all the class to see makes me feel dumb because I know I probably didn't read the readings right or got a whole different idea from them. Anyway, my current distaste for blogging is purely my own insecurities. I am not sure how last semester I felt I had a really great grasp, but this semester, I feel like I am just not getting the material...I feel like I am purely regurgitating information but not actually utilizing it, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, aside from my random side note, this last weeks readings. The London Group was a dense one for me last semester and I feel like trying to sum it up briefly will not do it justice, but I feel like I have to because it hits education right on the nose. The 10 authors are trying to solve an almost unsolvable problem, but they do really have something with their concept of Multiculturalism where they are trying to optimize education with an understanding of the complex realities of schools and education as a whole. Here at Chico State we talk a lot about multiliteracy which is, “...the multiplicity of communications channels and media, and the increasing saliency of cultural and linguistic diversity” (63).In other words, how can we do all the things? And that is where there are so many issues. How DO we do all the things using all the things for all the people. It is a heavy concept knowing what it is we are trying to achieve and yet knowing all the things we need to achieve it. All things are possible, right?

“A pedagogy of multiliteracies...focuses on the modes of representation much broader than language alone” (64).  This is actually covered in the reading we are doing for Fosen's class, "Made Not Only in Words" and "The Available Means of Persuasion:  Mapping a Theory and Pedagogy   of Multimodal Public Rhetoric". The idea that literacy is more than just words on a page. It is a film, it is a photo, it is a thing that is not just a thing, but a form of literacy, so why do some insist that only pen on paper is considered literacy? Any how can we fix that? Good luck with that answer!

Which then brings us to New Literacy Studies “...the concept of a “continuum” is inadequate because spoken and written activities and products do not in fact line up along a continuum but differ from one another in a complex, multidimensional way both within speech communities and across them” (431).

Take a breath and reread that. I had to. But then when you get it, you nod and go, well, "duh!" But yet, at the same time we end up falling back on what we know, are comfortable with and what we were taught. Or then again, we want to break free of that "continuum" and see the reality of literacy, like in the readings I did in Fosen's class. (Again, all of this has become a big blur, so I hope I am getting it all right). Which, brings us to this, “Literacy can no longer be addressed as a neutral technology (autonomous model)... but is already a social and ideological practice involving fundamental aspects of epistemology, power, and politics: the acquisition of literacy involves challenges to dominant discourse, shifts in what constitutes the agenda of proper literacy, and struggles for power and position” (435).

Which we can go back to our last weeks reading and before hand about the "power" of literacy, etc. The idea that literacy has power, but how are we finding ways to use it. Like in Jim Ridolfo's documentary about free trade. Was his statement via still camera not more impacting than had he written an article? Multiliteracies create a big impact overall for literacy in general. As we have seen in our readings, given the opportunity to use the tools, we should. Literacy is more than just pen and paper...it is all the things

Blogs, Syndicated

It is Literally All the Things…

by  • 

I keep getting all the readings mixed up so forgive me if this and Fosen's readings cross over. I always intend to blog sooner, but I get overwhelmed with my notes that by the time it comes to blogging, I have no idea what to say and I feel like the blogs I give need to be "correct" but I have no idea what "correct" is because I need to discuss the readings before I can write about them, if that makes any sense at all? I feel like reading and blogging then discussing feels completely backwards to me because I have all these thoughts, but putting them in a blog that is posted for all the class to see makes me feel dumb because I know I probably didn't read the readings right or got a whole different idea from them. Anyway, my current distaste for blogging is purely my own insecurities. I am not sure how last semester I felt I had a really great grasp, but this semester, I feel like I am just not getting the material...I feel like I am purely regurgitating information but not actually utilizing it, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, aside from my random side note, this last weeks readings. The London Group was a dense one for me last semester and I feel like trying to sum it up briefly will not do it justice, but I feel like I have to because it hits education right on the nose. The 10 authors are trying to solve an almost unsolvable problem, but they do really have something with their concept of Multiculturalism where they are trying to optimize education with an understanding of the complex realities of schools and education as a whole. Here at Chico State we talk a lot about multiliteracy which is, “...the multiplicity of communications channels and media, and the increasing saliency of cultural and linguistic diversity” (63).In other words, how can we do all the things? And that is where there are so many issues. How DO we do all the things using all the things for all the people. It is a heavy concept knowing what it is we are trying to achieve and yet knowing all the things we need to achieve it. All things are possible, right?

“A pedagogy of multiliteracies...focuses on the modes of representation much broader than language alone” (64).  This is actually covered in the reading we are doing for Fosen's class, "Made Not Only in Words" and "The Available Means of Persuasion:  Mapping a Theory and Pedagogy   of Multimodal Public Rhetoric". The idea that literacy is more than just words on a page. It is a film, it is a photo, it is a thing that is not just a thing, but a form of literacy, so why do some insist that only pen on paper is considered literacy? Any how can we fix that? Good luck with that answer!

Which then brings us to New Literacy Studies “...the concept of a “continuum” is inadequate because spoken and written activities and products do not in fact line up along a continuum but differ from one another in a complex, multidimensional way both within speech communities and across them” (431).

Take a breath and reread that. I had to. But then when you get it, you nod and go, well, "duh!" But yet, at the same time we end up falling back on what we know, are comfortable with and what we were taught. Or then again, we want to break free of that "continuum" and see the reality of literacy, like in the readings I did in Fosen's class. (Again, all of this has become a big blur, so I hope I am getting it all right). Which, brings us to this, “Literacy can no longer be addressed as a neutral technology (autonomous model)... but is already a social and ideological practice involving fundamental aspects of epistemology, power, and politics: the acquisition of literacy involves challenges to dominant discourse, shifts in what constitutes the agenda of proper literacy, and struggles for power and position” (435).

Which we can go back to our last weeks reading and before hand about the "power" of literacy, etc. The idea that literacy has power, but how are we finding ways to use it. Like in Jim Ridolfo's documentary about free trade. Was his statement via still camera not more impacting than had he written an article? Multiliteracies create a big impact overall for literacy in general. As we have seen in our readings, given the opportunity to use the tools, we should. Literacy is more than just pen and paper...it is all the things