Technology.... Literacy skills or not?

This post is about certain literacy skills. Some people think literacy skills are simply books, and words, but is this true? Our world has become so technologically advanced that some people have become literate in things such as gaming, computers, and computer programming. Certain people (mostly the old people who don't know anything about technology) do not consider these things as literacy. One question that was raised in this article is why aren't the people teaching us using the technology we use to teach? This world is technologically advanced, books will more than likely be obsolete soon, so the only thing we can do is conform to this changing world, including teaching in a more effective way. In my post I touch on this subject, and how we use technology for communication.

Brainstorming Journal 4

            In today’s society we are heavily dependent on technology. Back in Aristotle’s time communicating a message had few aspects such as body language, eye contact, speaking, and writing. These aspects are still relevant in today’s society however we are far more advanced now. The writers of this article state we “compose meaning not only with words but also with digitalized bits of video, sound, photographs, still images, words, and animations” (183). This statement is very true; in our society technology is our crutch and this statement means that not only are words important in communicating a message, but also using technology to help us better express our true meaning through pictures, sound, and videos. Some examples of “composing” a meaning are, creating a video game that has clues to lead you to an ultimate goal, making a television commercial for a campaign, showing someone your meaning in pictures so they can have a better understanding of what you are trying to communicate, and using sounds to set the “mood” of a situation.

            Danielle claimed to learn literacy skills such as visual, kinesthetic, and interactive components of gaming, through her experiences in computer gaming (185). The authors of this article argued that this was indeed literacy skills, however others may argue otherwise. Personally, I do believe these examples are literacy skills, mainly because one must be literate in relation to the technologic world we live in. Also, I would like to point out that everyone is different, we as individuals learn in our own unique way, Danielle happened to learn through technology, and gaming. I personally have literacy skills that could be debated as being classified as literacy skills. I use technology to perform everyday literacy tasks whether it is texting, Facebook, or e-mail. I use pictures, sound, and video to communicate my messages as well. Some debate that technology cannot possibly be considered literacy skills, but since we are such a technologically advanced world, it is a necessity to be literate in terms of technology. In a sense, we have created our own classification of literacy skills through technology.

Plagarism and my experiences

In my Composition 2 class we briefly discussed plagiarism. Of course when you think plagiarism it is automatically a negative thought, which in a lot of cases is true, however some people disagree. Some people believe that if you take multiple ideas from people, and form it in to one, it is not considered plagiarism. Something we have been learning in this class is how to form research questions from our readings, and not just research questions to be simply answered with a yes or no, but questions that can be debated, questions that spark interest in society. In the following brainstorming entry I have given some of my personal experiences with plagiarism, and how they have affected me. Also, other literacy issues that have helped, and hurt me in becoming the writer I am today. On another note, my advice to you eleventh grade honors students, learn MLA, APA, and Chicago formats before starting college, it helps, a lot!

Brainstorming Journal 3

            Plagiarism has always been an issue with schools, and as a student I have had a couple of experiences with plagiarism. An extreme account of plagiarism that I have experienced was during my sophomore year of high school. There are the sports clubs, the art clubs, and then there are the academic clubs, perhaps the most elite was the National Honor Society. This organization had the best students, the students who wanted to make something great of their lives. I, along with the rest of the school, had a great respect for this organization, so when the President of National Honor Society was dismissed from the society for plagiarizing a speech, it was quite disappointing. What he did was unacceptable, and had a huge effect on me, so when I received an officer position in National Honor Society my senior year of high school I made sure to always make my work, my speeches, and my essays, my own.

            Now that I am in college I see that plagiarism is taken a lot more seriously than in high school. I never realized how easy it is to commit plagiarism, and sometimes you can do it without even realizing it. One of the positive aspects of college is that, to prevent plagiarism from happening, most courses require a cited page in their writing assignments, so it makes writing a little easier for students.

            There are some things I have experienced that have made me a better writer, and there have been some obstacles that have held me back from being a better writer. In my four years of high school, I have had two teachers that helped me improve my writing more than anyone else. Through these teachers I learned how to annotate, understand the deeper meanings of readings, and write well written essays. A few obstacles that have held me back as a writer is not being exposed to certain writing formats until my senior year of high school. Before senior year I didn’t know what MLA, APA, or Chicago format was, so in a way this has made college writing a little bit more difficult for me.

Malcolm X "Learning to Read"

This is my second journal entry for my Composition 2 class. This journal is from a piece of the Autobiography of Malcolm X. I never really researched Malcolm before this, and I have to say it was quite interesting to learn about him, he is the ultimate inspiration to anyone. The questions I have answered in my response are followed:

1) Drawing on Brandt's definition of literacy sponsor (this definition is in my previous journal), list as many of Malcolm X's literacy sponsors as you can find. Remember sponsor's don't have to be people, but can also be ideas or institutions, that can withhold literacy as well as provide it.

2) Brandt explains that people often subvert or misappropriate the intentions of their sponsors (also in my previous journal). Was this ever the case with Malcolm X? How so?

Brainstorming Journal 2

            In the previous reading, Brandt states her definition of a literary sponsor as someone who “enables, supports, teaches, models, recruits, regulates, suppresses, or withholds literacy, and gains advantage of their sponsorship in some way”. The famous Malcolm X’s story is quite inspiring, his drive to learn literacy was something special, a drive that most people do not have, through his hard work and literacy sponsors he successfully educated himself, and became an extremely literate man. In a sense one of the biggest sponsors of Malcolm’s literacy journey was actually jail. Without jail Malcolm would still be on the streets, or even dead. Jail was the very thing that motivated Malcolm to learn, it provided him with a place to study without distraction, Malcolm states “I don’t think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did”. Another sponsor would be Bimbi, Malcolm envied his intelligence and tried to imitate his literacy skills, he was one of Malcolm’s first role models in a sense. Maybe one of the biggest of Malcolm’s literacy sponsors were books themselves, starting with the dictionary and continuing in to more advanced readings including his favorite topic, black history. When Malcolm was in the Norfolk Prison Colony, instructors from universities such as Harvard, and Boston University came to the library to teach classes to the inmates, and hold debates.  Muhammad was also one of Malcolm’s sponsors, and a role model to Malcolm. Muhammad’s teachings inspired Malcolm, he states “Mr. Muhammad couldn’t have said anything that would have struck me much harder”. Muhammad was one of the first of Malcolm’s sponsors to inspire him to read about black history.

            I don’t believe that Malcolm subverted or misappropriated his literary sponsors at all. The unique aspect about Malcolm was that he looked at negative things in a positive way. One of his sponsors was jail, instead of letting jail affect him in a negative way, as it does most inmates, he let jail form him in to a new and better human being; he used the resources provided to him in jail such as the library, seclusion, and time to advance his knowledge in literacy. Malcolm used his knowledge of black history from the books he read to become one of the most memorable, and influential leaders in history.

Sponsor's of Literacy brainstorming journal!

This is a journal entry for my Composition 2 class at the University of Central Florida. This specific article, "Sponsors of Literacy", was written by Deborah Brandt. Brandt is basically discussing her view point of literary sponsors, their characteristics, and she gives examples. In my entry I have answered the following questions about the article.

1) How does Brandt define a literacy sponsor? What are several particular characteristics of a literacy sponsor she offers throughout the article?
2) Why does Brandt claim that sponsors always have something to gain from their sponsorship? What does this motivation have to do with Brandt’s finding that the sponsored sometimes “misappropriate” their literacy lessons?
3) Offer at least two examples of how literacy sponsors can gain from their sponsorship, and then develop at least two examples from your own experience.

Entry 1:

            Brandt herself defines a literary sponsor as, “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy-and gain advantage by it in some way". According to Brandt literacy sponsors have characteristics such as compliance, loyalty, assistance, influence, power, and are knowledgeable.

            In the article Brandt suggests that sponsors are powerful, leaders, usually wealthy, and more knowledgeable than average. Brandt points out that literary sponsors are always looking to gain something from their sponsorship. Brandt states “sponsors deliver the ideological freight that must be borne for access to what they have”. She is basically saying that the reason people sponsor is so that they can gain some sort of reward, or compensation, and usually this compensation they seek is not monetary, most of the time they seek social credibility, or opportunities to excel.  The reason for this yearning for gaining something from sponsorship is because it is what keeps the sponsor successful, or helps their success. In her research, Brandt discovered a linking to this “motivation”, surprisingly, in religion. She gave the example that Protestant schools offered free reading instruction to the children, as a part of their evangelical duty, however this backfired on them. The parents of the children receiving the free instruction soon started demanding more of the church, they now wanted writing, and math instruction for their children as well. This example shows that the Protestant church was offering this free instruction because it was their evangelical duty, not because they wanted to, but because they would present themselves as good Christians.

            Literacy sponsors can gain a lot from their sponsorship. Brandt points out the patron-client relationship. Services such as, loaning land, money, and other favors allows powerful people to exploit their services to other clients. She also points out that the client’s trade their labor for access to opportunities for themselves, and their children. From my own personal experience, I have sponsored numerous volunteer services for community service hours for scholarships, and college applications. I also volunteered at Shand’s Hospital to gain more knowledge in the medical field, and to gain hands-on experience in the field. I assume the moral of this article is that even though we don’t always mean to, we as humans are always looking for some sort of compensation in everything we do.