White House

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WHITE house NLLB-NO LITERACY LEFT BEHIND

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disclaimer

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This is not a “model essay.” You should not use it for educational purposes. It is basically a day in the literacy life of a graduate student, wife and mother of a toddler and does not represent reality.

SED TELLUS SUS-

CIPIT IN ALIQUAM

The Red Clock Diary

2:00AM-read the instructions on a temperal thermometer and read temp-no fever 7:15AM read dosing instructions for children’s ibuprofen and allergy meds 4:30pm-read message from husband who took baby to doctor-sinus infection-feverstasis-I am an idiot and can’t figure out how to take a child’s temp

Literacy Journals

12AM: took notes on El Conde Lucanor, El Cantar de Mio Cid, El Libro de Buen Amor, tres artículos académicos para la clase de epañol, Las Cantigas...

For writing assignment two it is necessary to document literacy as the author sees it and reflect on that field

experience in a 3 to 5 page essay in MLA format with pictures embedded in the text. For purely academic purposes I have already committed the fatal flaw of not putting my essay in MLA format; thereby, negating the possibility of an A. However, my strengths do not lie in personal narrative and frankly, I believe there are some of my students that could/did do a better job than I. I will showcase some of their work later in the text, I am not trying to be self deprecating, simply realistic. I spent several hours grading Monday evening and was amazed at the

1AM assessed sleep needsdeprived but took more notes, reread parts of the 3+ books we have for ENG675, searched class notes, continued writing Week in Review, interspersed with Camargo’s Finn Episode in Beowulf, the Beowulf,not as an appositive but as that I read...

6AM Driving back to school I listen to the Beowulf in Old English. I only understand a few words; is this literacy?

quality of work that my students had. I believe there could be seated amongst the students that are in my classes the next JK Rowling or Tolkien, maybe even a Yeats. I read several of their inclass- constructions to another TA; she asked if I had all honors classes. The technical answer is no, but after you too read some of their work , you may ask the same question. Each of us has a story, a text within ourselves. As instructors I think our job is to help each student construct, relate, and find the voice that echos that literacy experience.

KRYSTAL Krystal wrote about an artifact. I am not sure if it relates to literacy or not, but the writing and the description are precise.

their situations. I'm protective of my friends, so if you hurt them be prepared to get you’re a** kicked! I have a boyfriend who I feel strongly about. I don't cheat and I don't play games SO GUYS DON'T COME UP AND ACT LIKE YOU GOT SOME THING I CAN'T LIVE WITH OUT CUZ BELIEVE ME I'VE HEARDIT BEFORE AND I DON'T WANT IT!!! I want to thank BRIT forsetting my baby boy Sean and I up!”

DESTINY

Groups of dancing corpses circling to angelic tunes. Macabre sense of madness lit by bonfires on corpse dust dunes...

CHELSEA Every Christmas my Papa gathers up all the kids and before opening presents we sit around the

There are threads sticking out in some places and a permanently stuck pice of gum under its velvet pink tongue. Its cushiony soft texture has been worn out in a few spots. A marble sized black ball is keeping it from every being symmetrical. Its brown and white color has not, as of yet, been faded due to constant washing.

BRITTNEY-TXT “HeY EvErY BoDy, Most ppl know me well enough to know at least the basic facts but for ppl who don’t… I'm a freshman at TEXAS A & M. I’m told by several ppl that I’m the “go to girl” cuz I kno how to help ppl outta

fireplace and read the story of Jesus’ birth. My Mema was the one every year that none of the kids dared to cross. If one of us tried to sneak a peek,she would snatch us up and spank us. Then her words would be, “Don’t you remember Jesus always comes first?” This past year was our first Christmas without her, and nobody moved until I got up and went to the Christmas tree and grabbed

that sacred book. As I grabbed the book, I had a flashback of when I was little and My Mema lived upstairs from me. Every morning she would bring her bible, and have a quiet time with me after my parents and sister left for the day. I never noticed until I got older that before she would shut the bible, she would always read me the same verse. “You can do all things through him whom strengthens you” (Philippians 4:13).

encounter this fall semester of 2009. Therefore, I submit that these are valid literacy experiences for me as their instructor. Since the “purpose” of this paper is to document literacy experiences from the field work and our research, I will continue.

RYAN Ryan or Klink, as some of the other students refer to him, is writing his literacy experience through music. I do not mean to say that he is a musical composer, although he may one day very well be. I mean to say that he wrote a beautiful essay on music (as in the notes) as a text that he “read.”

I personally like to think of music as the use of two unique languages, much like someone who is bilingual, that work together to create total harmony for the user to manipulate the language onto an instrument. Much like the alphabet basic rhythms must be mastered before even expanding to a chord, or a word, and then combining all this into a full bar phrase or a sentence. Rhythms break down from a whole note, which takes up an entire phrase, and then to a half note, which breaks down the whole note into half and continues in this manner. Once the simple rhythms are mastered the user can develop these “letters” into words and eventually entire phrases.

I realize that these three examples of writing are not “my” literacy experiences, but it does relate the caliber of students and writing that I

the next day

“Morning has broken, blackbird has spoken,” and I read more student papers and discuss texting, literacy, and peer reviews with my students. During the discussion one student states the reasons that she would prefer peer reviews face to face. “When someone reads your paper and you read theirs, and then we about the things we liked or maybe didn’t understand, it’s like, well, a conversation

about writing.” I just smile, shake my head, and then tell her how brilliant she is. She is, brilliant I mean, and I get to be the instructor. Another student hands me a note with a movie and she says I remind her of the teacher in the movie. My eyes well up with tears, the note is thanking me and I have no words to say.

the critics

This embracing of literacy as more than just books, reading, and writing has many critics. It seems to me reminiscent of the history of higher education when it was not considered “true study” unless in was “difficult” such as the study of Latin or Greek. English was not considered of enough merit to study by itself. If as writing teachers we are content with the status quo regarding writing and the way students view writing then we should not open anymore doors in the halls of literacy. However, if we wish to inspire students to value their writing as well as others then we must expand the writing focus to include the ever changing horizon of critical

literacy.

"Reading does not consist merely of decoding the written word or language; rather, it is preceded by and intertwined with knowledge of the world. … [R]eading always involves critical perception, interpretation, and rewriting of what is read." -- Paulo Freire & Donaldo Macedo, Literacy: Reading the Word and the World

Victoria As I wrote this paper however, I felt no dread or anger as I was easily able to write it. I exclaimed to my mother, “I just wrote my first paper without becoming frustrated.”--

what is literacy? Driving the two hours home, I listened first to my Beowulf class, then the medieval Spanish class that I am taking. Incidentally, I have books beside me begging to be read, their glossy black covers, unopened, creamy crisp pages, with no personal annotations. They arrived yesterday, my books,

VEL SAPIEN SIT As the day nears an end, literally, it is 13 minutes before midnight and my battery light is almost gone, I will settle down El Conde Lucanor and Los Romances Viejos. When sleep overtakes me, the paperback books will fall to the tightly woven Berber carpet and wait their retrieval on the morrow. Incidentally, while studying Chaucer, I did dream in Middle English and wonder since I did not understand the majority of the text, was this a literacy experience?

but since I did not get home until after ten, I could not read them then. So, they sit waiting and I write wishing... In continuance to that drive home, I listened to one of Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holms. Several books are available now as an audio text. Since the poor yellow road runner’s demise while I was DWR (driving while reading), I have preferred this audio version of texts, at least while driving or running the vacuum.

TYPI HABENT

Also, not only does TAMU-Commerce boast some of the leading experts in the field of literacy studies, we also boast bards and an “Open-mic” on Thursdays. Is the rendition of their text considered literacy?

Writing Assignment (WA2) Document your everyday literacy experiences. Create an image in words for your reader to view your literacy experiences through your eyes. Walk your reader through your day by describing in detail what your literacy experiences are. What do you read? What do you write? What surprised you about documenting literacy in this way? By the end of your paper your reader should know you better.

PURPOSE 4 WA2

1

To develop research skills by documenting everyday literacies through the diary study and clock activity

Reflect

Research

Revise

2

To use the field data findings to compose an essay reflective of the research

RELATE

3

To better understand and connect the way literacy functions in our lives, why is it literacy?

4

To explain and explore the multi-faceted aspects of literacy by creating a

vivid image of those experiences in our lives