In the reading, The Sponsors of Literacy by Deborah Brandt she talks about how literacy was received and withheld from people because of socio-economic classes. Brandt claims that there is a connection between literacy and economic development or as she refers to them as sponsors of literacy which can either help, sensor, or withhold all together the ability to be literate. Literacy provides an upward mobility or at least the means to move upward in social classes and without literacy there is no means to gain an edge. In her interviews of Raymond Branch (European American) and Dora Lopez (Mexican American) Brandt found that even though both were born in the same year and had moved to the same town when they were younger Branch was introduced…
A lot of books I can remember reading made my childhood so great. Growing up as a child, going to the library was one of my most favorite hobbies to do. My mother would always take me there and she would read to me anything from Junie B. Jones to Arthur books, Dr. Seuss, Charlottes’ Web. Dr. Seuss was one of my most favorites. Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham will always be a childhood favorite. At the library, my mother would read word by word very slowly to make sure I’d understand what she was reading. Age 3-5, I would take part in a summer program at the library that involves reading. The volunteers who were…
As a child, it is fair to say that I was raised by my grandparents. My earliest recollections date back to about the age of four. My grandmother managed an in home daycare with about ten students and 5 who would come after elementary school. It was open till 5:30 p.m. so I became quite familiar with the other students enrolled. Being that I was among the youngest I enjoyed the benefits of having twice the education as the other students. I would learn phonetics with them in class, and once they were gone, my grandmother and I would have special “reading sessions”. An activity I would profit from for the rest of my life.…
I’ve always had the desire to write beautifully, from penmanship to placement and flow of the words. I remember getting birthday cards from my Granny with elegant cursive writing. Attracted to the way each word blended so smooth and soft, I would get a piece of paper and mimic the slants of each word connecting each letter, more like one lowercase “l” after another, to the next. One day I’d be able to spell the words in my mind, and until that day I’d practice my “cursive” one squiggly line at a time.…
At first, it was difficult to come up with literary text that had impacted me, but once I started thinking an idea came to me. The first thing I did was to think back to what books I have read, text messages, poster boards, and quotes. Then, I thought about how these have changed me in a way or how they have impacted the way that I thought. Afterwards, I thought about anything that had happened in my life and if anything that I have read that impacted me. At last, I was able to think of something and decided to write about it.…
During my early years of education, school was a bit more challenging for me than the average student. Consistently my performance appeared below expectations and I lacked the ability to comprehend information as quickly and efficiently as other students. Reciting the dreadful memories I experienced during my early childhood literacy development remain fluent this very moment. Classes were my least desirable event to experience everyday, and my attitude and mindset during those school hours did not enhance it. Being vocally active in the classroom was a challenge that I never willing conquered, I was not accustomed to speaking in front of other people, especially not my competitors. Often I would find myself standing within the perimeters…
English is not my first language. In fact, I didn’t learn it well enough to have a conversation until I was about 10 years old. I remember the embarrassment of being new to a country I called home after living in Mexico for years. Things changed quickly the first day of 8th grade. I remember being energetically greeted by a slender athletic man in his fifties in a muggy summer morning. The hum of the air conditioning as welcome sound as we found our seats in this room that smelled of being closed the last few months. His name was Mr. Goodman and he was, by most accounts, an “asshole.” This was a descriptor of which he was proud. Even the other faculty thought so. He was a strange man, but he had his reasons. Surprisingly, he was also one of the best teacher’s I’ve encountered to this day. He had a brutally visceral way of making you care about learning. His class would soon change the way I spoke English for the rest of my life.…
Over the past few weeks, the struggling student that I have been observing is called A. I started to know A better when he was undertaking a center plan activity during the literacy class. I inquired about him and he told me that his name is A and he is 6 years old. I asked A about his family back home. He told me that everyone at his home was okay. I probed him for more information about his family and he told me that he lives with his mother and two sisters. He mentioned that both of his sisters are older than him and that his mother is a nurse. When I asked him about other family members, he said that his grandfather comes to visit them once in a while and that he always brings him a gift. For example, the last time A was visited by his…
My early literacy experience was not a big of a deal for me at an early age. When I was in school I always took a reading and writing course with a grain of salt, it was just one more class on my schedule. Literature did not really appeal to me in my early experience. I always think that why do I need to take a literature course in order for me to succeed in the future.…
Growing up in a bilingual household has affected my literacy journey. It affected my Spanish writing because I focused more on English. This course has helped me look at English literacy beyond the point of it being another credit to simply cross off my list. A specific reading from this course that I was able to really retain and relate to was Victor Villanueva's excerpt from Bootstraps: From an Academic of Color. Here he brought up several points that made me think differently about literacy and how it can affect my life now or even after college. “One professor said my writing was too formulaic. One professor said it was to novel. Another wrote: ‘nonsense.’ “ (Villanueva 112) I really like this quote because relating it back to literacy and my college experience ahead of me, it makes me understand that there will be times…
Typically, people think of reading when they see a novel or a short story, but I think of reading when I’m out on the baseball field. When I hear the word “reading”, unlike most people, I think of a green grassy baseball diamond at night, with the lights lighting it up, filled with fans in the stands. Believe it or not, I read all the time on the field. I read the ball coming off the bat when I’m playing in the field. When I hear the “ding” of the metal bat and hard, rubber ball colliding, I know that there is a chance I could make a great play. I can see the ball getting bigger and bigger as in approaches me. I read the ball coming out of the pitcher’s hand, picking up the spin as soon as I can so I can know when and where to swing to make solid contact with the ball. I even read people’s body language when I’m pitching. I can tell a lot about the batter by how he’s standing and the facial expression on his face.…
I came from China to live in United State as a resident. Literacy sounds more important to me and became a life issue. I did have my literacy which is in Chinese. When the time I immigrant here. America use different culture and literacy. I have to say I got stuck sketching totally. Literacy is affecting my families, my career, and my social perspective.…
“This is the day,” I said to myself mentally as I looked upon a computer screen. “I’m going to need to know sooner or later,” as I hovered the mouse over the ‘Final Grades’ tab before quickly Putting over the exit button. It had been two weeks since the grades had been posted for my spring classes, and I could not gather my nerves to look them up online. I knew that I had done well enough throughout the semester, but I was afraid of unknowingly bombing the final test. Deciding that I was being ridiculous after another week had passed, I gathered my nerves, and clicked the link that said “Final Grades” on my computer screen. I stared intensely at the page when my mind begins to discern the letter grades to be…A, B, A, A, A. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt an enormous pressure lift of my chest, a vast difference to the last time I was in a similar situation.…
My memory of my how I became literate is and always will be a part of me that I will never forget. I suppose I heard the sounds around me and connected them with emotions. Crying, I noticed, got a quick response from my parents, and usually some food. My communication development was identical to every other child learning to talk. Listening. But everyone has a story behind their literacy. Mine was one day, when we were driving to the grocery store, with the radio turned on, my jam turned on. It was the ABC’s. This song was unexpected, not only because of its difference in the nature of the regular pop songs, but that it was a new song altogether. Nonetheless, I began to rock along with the catchy tune of the song. I longed for more and demanded it…
My experiences with literacy had a great deal of variation throughout my middle and high school years. When it comes to reading I have found that I greatly enjoying reading for entertainment but when I am forced to read something for scholastic value I often struggle to find the drive to actually read it and will take me twice as long actually comprehend what I have just read. When it comes to writing, I’ve always felt like it is one of the areas in which I find the least enjoyable and have the biggest difficulty in. Although I do not consider myself I terrible writer I always struggle finding the right words. When it comes to remembering my time in middle and high school, writing just seemed like another part of my life.…