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RJ #1Sponsors of Literacy

Deborah Brandt1. The satisfaction of the best paper is what gets me motivated to continue to write and to learnhow to write better. There has not been anyone who has discouraged me, especially in poetry. Iused to get a lot of negative feedback, because the poems were dark and depressing, but only because they were worried for my safety and well-being. They loved my writing!2. There are hectic schedules in today’s standards. Time is scarce, and when it comes to choosingliteracy versus “every day” activities, such as jobs, families, and entertainment, the latter sectionalmost always overcomes increasing literacy skills.3. The word sponsor means a person or a company will support, represent, and uphold a certain promise to the person they are sponsoring. In sports, companies will sponsor an athlete to notonly advertise, but also to encourage the athlete to do well (and trust the athlete in upholdinghis/her reputation). ———————— 1. According to Brandt, the function of a “sponsor of literacy” is to be a figure of standard or encourager to a person who is less familiar with literacy, human or otherwise. The sponsor isgenerally more knowledgeable in a particular area of literacy, whether it’s because the sponsor has been in the field longer, or because the person who is under its care needs guidance ingeneral literacy. Brandt claims that “[the sponsors] lend their resources or credibility to thesponsored but also stand to gain benefits from their success”. An example would be a restaurantsponsoring or encouraging a new employee to read over a handbook about their food costs,which helps both the employee to further his/her knowledge in the role they play, as well asincreasing the wellness of the company.2. Literacy is indeed in pursuit of all beings, as without reading and writing, a person is almostcompletely incapable of communicating with the world. Due to this, a person who is in need of being sponsored or pursued must submit in some form or fashion to literacy. The sponsor can permit literacy knowledge by refusing the willingness to work with the sponsored, such as alanguage barrier. To permit literacy, the sponsor can provide resources (anything from requiredreading materials for a job to the simpler access to books that a wealthy family may have) to promote literacy knowledge.3. The experience I have with literacy, and continue to have, is like that of Raymond Branch. Hiswork experience is very similar to that of school for me, and I have had the near constant accessto information that I desire. My sponsors in the past have been my parents, English teachers,church leaders, my restaurant job, as well as myself. I have had access to the internet since I was12, I have lived in a University town with a large library for 11 years, I worked at the PublicLibrary in town for just over a year, and God has blessed me with the desire to know andunderstand more about the life around me. The latter requires me to study, research, andexperiment with books and other available literacy resources.4. As stated previously, the key sponsors are my parents, teachers, church leaders, myself, work employers, the small but decent financial status of my family, and the opportunity to live in atown with a University’s library. I know these are my sponsors, as they have pushed me to exceland gain more knowledge through studies and debates. The only way to understand the issues at

hand (such as information about work safety, essays for a class, or what the Holy Bible states) isfor me to work with the resources I have and learn about the topics. This increases my literacy.5. I have not been able to purchase a car, and that in itself can be an agent that prohibits myliteracy, due to the fact that it would be less convenient for me to walk to a library than to drive.Aside from physical agents, I was also unable to purchase information-vast textbooks because of the financial situation I was in (with my parents providing all things that money required). But because I was unable to purchase books or information that I desired, I learned to save my ownmoney. Now, I am buying my own school books for college!

RJ #2

The prompt for the first Writing Assignment seemed to be slightly looming at first, as wewere told to discuss what Brandt’s method is and how we can relate it to our daily lives. Iunderstood what we were to write about, but it was what Brandt had discussed that confused me.Looking over some other students’ essays (found at the back of Literacies in Context), and thenre-reading and reflecting over the essay Brandt wrote, I slowly began to understand the conceptof the sponsors of literacy, and how dependent humans are upon the idea.Just as with all of my essays, I begin by just writing. I allow my mind to wander over thesubject, and my fingers to type without any direct guidance. My first draft ended up describingthe earliest memory I have of literacy: my parents reading to me out of a lullaby book. Icontinued on from there, slowly easing into more detailed memories. From this point on, theessay was no longer a difficult assignment; instead, I was excited to continue writing and stayedat my laptop for much longer than intended. The rough draft was almost complete when Irealized that the topic was not just how I came to know literacy, but also how I can incorporatethe method of Brandt’s essay into my own. Luckily, Brandt’s ideas had made an impact on me,as I had subconsciously integrated her theories and ideas into my own essay.As of now, I am unsure of what my final project will be. I feel myself leaning towards poetry, as that is what a large majority of my Writing Assignment is about and it is a topic I amcomfortable with. I do not have any questions at this time.

RJ #3

The changes I made to WA1 weren’t too far and great. However, I did manage toincorporate Allie’s suggestions throughout the entire essay, not necessarily key points or moments that she hit on. A large addition/deletion was my discussion (or lack thereof) on how poetry from my younger years affected my life in both high school and college.The draft I am submitting for teacher revision is more structured, organized, andfinalized. The first draft was never fully complete, though the main ideas were there. I knewwhat direction I wanted to take with the essay, but I was unsure where the reader saw the essay.After having Allie proof the paper, I knew that the direction I was headed in was the correct path.I really appreciated the comments Allie left me, especially when she mentioned that Brandt’sopinion was not fully understood in my first draft. This helped me realize that I needed to re-readBrandt’s essay and key ideas, and really mold certain spots in my own paper to fit the ideas of the sponsors of literacy.

Because there were several additions towards the end of my essay that were not in thefirst draft, I have not highlighted the copy for my instructor. Instead, I will list what the major changes are and attach it with the copy I turn in.

RJ #4Literacy in School and Out

Lauren B. Resnick

Before You Read

Resnick believes that “schools are not the only – or perhaps even the primary – source of literacycompetence.” I must indefinitely agree with her.I am a ‘90’s baby. Growing up in the era where gigantic, chunky computers can be transformedinto tiny hand-held devices has been a huge impact on where and how I become knowledgeablein literacy. The first half of my life (1990-1998), school was the primary source for my literacycompetence. Sure, my parents helped me and I enjoyed studying on my own, but my teacherstaught and encouraged me while I was sitting at a desk. But the imaginative scale seemed to levelout as I began to be introduced to computers.Our family was able to purchase a computer (Dell, I believe) that operated under Windows ’98.Immediately I became fascinated by the advanced brain of the device. Having only owned theoriginal Nintendo, the ability to download games onto the computer without having to blow outdust, restart the consol 50 times, or dig through a slew of boxy game cartridges astounded me.My parents were required to monitor my time on the computer, even though I used my time onthe PC to learn about math, reading, writing, and science.Being 9 at the time, and a big sister to a 4 year old, the CDs to the educational games quickly began to show up with scratches, fingerprints, and cracks. Somehow, beyond what my parentscan even describe (to this day!), I was still eager to learn… even if it meant teaching myself. Itdidn’t take long for me to discover programs such as Word Pad, Paint, and Microsoft Office.Using these programs, I taught myself where the letters were on a keyboard, how to type with both hands, and began to incorporate the grammar I learned at school with the short, pre-teen journal entries I saved on the computer’s hard drive.The computer is a major resource for my literacy both in and out of school. For middle and highschool coursework, and even now, I use the computer to type up essays, find websites tocontribute to my research projects, and I sometimes “cheat” on my English assignments by usingMicrosoft Word’s spelling and grammar correction instead of looking it up in my English book.Outside of school, I continue to use the computer for purposes that, unintentionally, contribute tomy literacy competence; I use the internet for information on a vast subject of things, I enjoytyping as opposed to writing as I am able to transfer my ideas from brain to paper faster, andwith the help of Instant Messaging and networking sites, I continually find new ways to state myopinions by using different words or making up my own.

After You Read

1. Apprenticeship is defined as a person working for a master to learn a particular trade. [FINISHQUESTION]2. From what Resnick describes, she claims that if literacy is viewed as skills that are pre-conceived, then the education for literacy is more about organizing the thoughts and gathering upthe information that is already stored in our minds. But if literacy is viewed as a cultural practice,then literacy becomes more about socialization. I agree. The apprenticeship concept is when a