eportfolio-sponsors of literacy final

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Thomas 1 Susan Thomas Dr. Jan Rieman ENGL 1103-H05 15 September 2010 Pre-Writing Assessment: I started off my “paper-writing-process” by brainstorming ideas based on the suggestions given to us in the instructions of the assignment. I felt that I had a lot of information to share and so I began writing. The problem that I often ran in to while writing my  paper was that I find it hard to write in a cohesive manner and it’s hard for me to transition  from one point to the next. I feel that sometimes I go off on a tangent; there is a point in there  somewhere but after a while I lose sight of it. Over all I feel I am satisfied with my paper and I  said what I wanted to say. I do hope to revise it and make some of the stories a little more interesting. Post-Writing Assessment: I took complete advantage of the peer workshop session. I really appreciated the input from the students. They gave sound advice of how to improve my paper. I  felt that I was equipped with an abundance of information to make my paper better. I noticed that there were a lot of points I brought up in my paper but didn’t expand on. I decided to tell more about each point that I brought up that contributed to my sponsors of literacy as well as make a connection to previous texts we read, such as Brandt and Alexie’s essays. I worked on making a connection throughout my paper instead of having several separate ideas. Overall, I have gained a better understanding of what a sponsor of literacy is and how that has an effect on my life and others around me. Readin’ Ain’t Eazy: Some May Call Me Privileged It was back in 1960 when my hunger for literacy began to trickle down the genetic line. Juliaette Sutton, my mother, was born, March 13 th , amongst a family that never stopped striving. Being born into a family where there were thirteen children brought many eventful times around the house for my mother and her family. There was always someone who was there to listen to you, as well as the occasional fight about whose turn it was to use the bathroom. My mother embraced her large family but saw the n eed to make herself distinctive. She picked up the habit

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8/8/2019 ePortfolio-Sponsors of Literacy Final

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/eportfolio-sponsors-of-literacy-final 1/7

Thomas 1

Susan Thomas

Dr. Jan Rieman

ENGL 1103-H05

15 September 2010

Pre-Writing Assessment: I started off my “paper-writing-process” by brainstorming ideas

based on the suggestions given to us in the instructions of the assignment. I felt that I had a lot of 

information to share and so I began writing. The problem that I often ran in to while writing my

 paper was that I find it hard to write in a cohesive manner and it’s hard for me to transition

 from one point to the next. I feel that sometimes I go off on a tangent; there is a point in there

 somewhere but after a while I lose sight of it. Over all I feel I am satisfied with my paper and I 

 said what I wanted to say. I do hope to revise it and make some of the stories a little more

interesting.

Post-Writing Assessment: I took complete advantage of the peer workshop session. I really

appreciated the input from the students. They gave sound advice of how to improve my paper. I 

 felt that I was equipped with an abundance of information to make my paper better. I noticed 

that there were a lot of points I brought up in my paper but didn’t expand on. I decided to tell 

more about each point that I brought up that contributed to my sponsors of literacy as well as

make a connection to previous texts we read, such as Brandt and Alexie’s essays. I worked on

making a connection throughout my paper instead of having several separate ideas. Overall, I 

have gained a better understanding of what a sponsor of literacy is and how that has an effect on

my life and others around me.

Readin’ Ain’t Eazy: Some May Call Me Privileged

It was back in 1960 when my hunger for literacy began to trickle down the genetic line.

Juliaette Sutton, my mother, was born, March 13th, amongst a family that never stopped striving.

Being born into a family where there were thirteen children brought many eventful times around

the house for my mother and her family. There was always someone who was there to listen to

you, as well as the occasional fight about whose turn it was to use the bathroom. My mother 

embraced her large family but saw the need to make herself distinctive. She picked up the habit

8/8/2019 ePortfolio-Sponsors of Literacy Final

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of reading. At first, it was just simple things around the house, but then her eyes were opened up

to a world of literacy that she was eager to discover. My grandfather was a preacher so my

mother was instructed to read the Bible daily. She adored the small stories that always seemed to

connect to her life, but decided she wanted to challenge herself more. She dived into novel after 

novel, forcing herself to make meaning of the many words that were becoming infused into her 

 brain. My mother even described times of sneaking into her older siblings’ rooms to grasp their 

textbooks in between homework sessions and snack breaks to try to make sense of what seemed

like Spanish to her. During those times of my mother’s upbringing, Jim Crow laws governed the

lives of Black Southerners. She experienced segregated schools and unfair access to the up-to-

date textbooks. She hated how her people were treated because of the color of their skin and

decided that day to overcome adversity. She knew that the only way to succeed was to become

more knowledgeable of her civil rights. If she knew what her rights were, no one could tell her 

wrong. My mother wanted to become knowledgeable about the different customs of the world.

She wanted to learn about the practices of different ethnicities in hopes of sharing them with the

 people around her, who would share what they knew with others, creating a world that embodied

cultural pluralism. She had a passion for learning and reading and understood that she must also

excel academically to make herself a fair competitor in society. She wanted to pass this

knowledge on from generation to generation and the journey began with her children. The

 journey began with me.

My definition of literacy is partly about one’s level of understanding of reading and

writing, but literacy can be further clarified. There are many factors that contribute to literacy

and that also can help classify what someone’s literacy level truly is. Literacy can be gained

through experience, not just by reading and writing. The day to day hustle of life can make one

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knowledgeable of his or her surroundings. Whether they take that knowledge and move beyond

it truly determines just how literate they are. There is not one sole contributing factor to one’s

literacy; rather a pyramid, with a sound foundation to build upon. My foundation began during

my early education. Attending pre-school was very advantageous to my development. The

catalyst that catapulted me to want to learn more were the concepts I acquired here. We studied

numbers, colors, and shapes and took many field trips to museums in our area. This was the

moment I began to open my eyes and soak in all the information around me. There was a whole

world out there that I hadn’t yet discovered, and I was going to become more knowledgeable

about the world so that I may make my dream a reality. At this point, literacy is seen as a

gateway. I realized that there is power in literacy. Literacy can open doors to more literacy. At a

young age I realized that literacy was the key to success. I began to strive to learn more about

reading and writing in hopes creating a better future for myself and my future generation. I was

 pushed at a young age to excel in writing and reciting my ABC’s, learning the sounds of each

letter, and later applying that to read words, sentences, paragraphs, and then on to books. I

remember reading my first chapter book. I was a preschooler about to embark on the passage to

kindergarten. I accomplished the unthinkable. Although each chapter was only about three pages

long, this was an instance where I felt I could do anything. At this young age, I was empowered.

I felt as if I had an upper hand compared to other kids my age. People were telling me that not

many kids my age accomplish the difficult task of reading a chapter book let alone

comprehending the message the book is trying to convey. I received motivation from my parents

and teachers who encouraged me to not stop at this milestone but to continue increasing my level

of literacy. It was at this age that I first became conscious of my adoration for reading. I always

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strived to reach my goals in reading which were to enjoy reading and obtain a high reading level

and I took these ambitions with me to later grades in hopes of increasing my level of literacy.

I attended an elementary school that was year-round and implemented a global studies

 program, which meant we were in school longer and had a global perspective of learning. As I

matriculated through elementary school, I was introduced to the Accelerated Reader (AR)

 program. It was a school system initiative to encourage reading. We would read certain books

and take tests to gain points; the more points we accumulated the better. The points were

recorded on our school library account and we could go to the AR store and purchase fun prizes

 based on the number of AR points we had. At the end of the year, there was a local trip planned

for those who had obtained five-hundred or more points a year. The levels of the books were

distinguished by different colored dots. This system encouraged me to read the higher level

 books because they were worth more points. I began to expand my vocabulary, the tests helped

me to work on my comprehension level and of course, I never missed a trip. This external reward

embodied my internal feeling of empowerment mentioned above. It showed that my hard work 

had paid off. I was a diligent reader who read for comprehension. The comprehension skills I

developed early on as a preschooler helped me in elementary school when I was directed to

answer questions about what I read in certain books. This was a good result of positive

reinforcement. I continued to improve my reading habits and skills and was rewarded in the end.

This method of testing for comprehension was a positive sponsor of literacy in my life. Unlike

other students who felt it wasn’t an accurate measure of their reading levels, I found the program

very rewarding in that it helped me to read books and gain a better understanding of extracting

the main ideas and themes. This skill is evident in my work now and I am grateful for having

such a program in my elementary school. We also had Apple computers in all of our classrooms

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and labs. We were able to learn about Ultra Keys, a keyboarding program that taught students

how to increase the speed of their typing, and about word processing programs. Although I grew

up in an age of computers, the majority of my peers did not have access to this new technology.

This prior knowledge of how to use the computer and its programs helped me later in my

schooling when just about all assignments were to be produced on a computer. I had mastered

the machinery, in a sense, but my mind still yearned for more. I had to present myself with a new

challenge.

In middle school I was in a program for Very Strong Need (VSN) students where I began

to read even more complex texts. The VSN program was also a positive sponsor of literacy. Here

is when I first began to learn how to interpret texts and find out why author’s used specific

styles. These skills helped me in high school when I applied to be a part of my school’s academy.

We would take rigorous honors courses for freshman and sophomore year, all Advanced

Placement classes junior year, and senior year we were dually enrolled at a college campus and

high school –as we hadn’t yet received diplomas. In a sense, these experiences made me

 privileged. In Brandt’s essay, she noted that often ethnicity determines access to literacy. I

immediately I began to think about my own race. For so many members of the African American

community, there are not resources available for them to succeed. Many come from families who

have not pursued an education beyond high school and for some, even beyond middle school. In

many of the schools I attended, the children lived in single parent homes and many were even

homeless. Some did have the advantage of having a home and both parents there but they never 

took advantage of opportunities that were in place for them because they didn’t know any better.

The high school I attended had a high drop-out rate, many students repeating grades, and a low

graduation rate compared to other schools in the system. This motivated me and made me want

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to become more than a statistic or stereotype. Being a traditionally, predominantly, African

American school, the students were often required to go above and beyond just to prove that they

could be an average student. Alexie described in his essay how he often had to break the cultural

 barrier that divided him and his education. I refused to fall short and always surrounded myself 

with the best. In this case, I was a sponsor of my own literacy. My dedication to not stick to the

status quo allowed me to be very successful in school because I set high standards for myself.

Although education is very important in my life, it doesn’t receive all the credit

for developing my literacy. I have been a part of a dance troupe for five years where we perform

all over the nation. I became more cultured and more disciplined in the performing arts. I began

to read literature that was relevant to old world theater, classical ballet, and art terminology. This

allowed me to become more cultured and challenge myself to learn more worldly views. I

continued my education through my travels. I ventured to Paris, France and Australia for leisure

trips. I became accustomed to how the different cultures meshed together over the years to form

the culture they had today. I was amazed by their lifestyles, their monuments, and how much

alike these countries really were to America. This bridge between the cultures connected me with

the world and motivated me to want to learn more. My mother’s philosophy and principles began

to guide my life, and I was more appreciative than ever. I was glad that at a young age she had

ambitions to explore the world and not just remain stuck in her quaint hometown that didn’t have

much to offer in terms of an exceptional and privileged education. She always encourages her 

 biological children and even her school children to explore the world and never stop learning.

Coming from a family that is financially stable has helped in my academic career. I

always had access to materials and the latest technology. My mother and father wanted more for 

their children, and never let us settle for less. The things I have learned from them as well as the

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message received from my school system was that no matter what hurdle gets in my way, I can

 jump over it. No matter what obstacle blocks my way, I can overcome it. No matter what space

is between me and my goals, I will build a bridge to conquer it. I have a hunger to learn more

 because I want to set an example for future generations, like my mother. I must remember the

shoulders of my ancestors that I am standing on. My literacy is like a pyramid built with a strong

foundation from my lineage, literary skills I have learned, as well as cultural immersion, that

should never be demolished. My level of literacy is the sole contributor to my success.