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What are the importances of literacy
What are the importances of literacy
What are the importances of literacy
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If someone asked you if you knew what literacy is, how would you respond? When my English professor asked us that same question, my first thought was that it had to do something with writing. I was in the right path, but just half way there. Literacy has to do with the ability to read and write. Now let me ask you one thing, do you remember who your first sponsor was? You probably are making a lost face expression, because you have no idea who it was. Dont worry I had that same expression a few weeks ago, but Deborah Brandt helped me get rid of that lost feeling.
How so? By reading some of her writing tittled Sponsors of Literacy. In this write-up she does a great job in explaining to the reader what a sponsor is. “Sponsors, as I have come to think of them, are 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
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Butler noticed I was having a little bit more trouble than the rest of the group, that's why she offered to give me extra help during lunch time if I wanted it. And of course I said yes, I was eager to learn. I would eat my lunch fast and hurry back to her classroom, while the rest of my classmates were enjoying their recess time outside playing. There were days where I wanted to stay and play with my friends, but I would have to remind myself that it was for my own good and that later on I would see the results of my hard work pay off.
Like in her reading Brandt talks about sponsorship and access, I feel that somewhat my story fits in there perfectly. In what way you may ask. In the way that my access was limited only to school. From Monday through Friday I could get help from Mrs.Butler, but that was also limited to one hour per day. That hour had to be shared among six other students, so the only really one on one time was during lunch time. Unless she had to attend to meetings, then we wouldn't meet until the next
When one thinks of a sponsor what do they think of? Your first thought probably wouldn't be of a sponsor of literacy. It's a term coined by Deborah Brandt in her analysis of the development of literacy in College Composition and Communication. Best described by Brandt herself 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.” The best evidence of this term is depicted in an excerpt from Bootstraps by Victor Villanueva. In the excerpt, Villanueva narrates his journey from a GI to a rhetoric professor. This transition is promoted by his sponsors of literacy.
Brandt (1998) defines Sponsors of literacy as, “any agents, local or distinct, 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.” (p. 166) What this means is that anyone who is involved in engaging others into learning literacy is a sponsor of their knowledge of literacy, and their ability to read and write. Today in the United States, most people learn to read and write through their parents, and through public schooling. However, there are those circumstances where gaining the knowledge becomes very difficult for some people than others. Brandt gives a number of examples of this in the journal she wrote,
The well-known and used definition of literacy sponsor is Debra Brandt’s, that says they “are any agents, local or distant, concre...
In the article The Sponsors of Literacy Deborah Brandt talked about “Literacy Sponsors”, which she defined as being, “any agents,
Literacy sponsors “are powerful figures who bankroll event or smooth the way for initiates” (Brandt 167). Literacy sponsors are people who help to shape who we are in the future. They provide their skills to help us learn or better understand ideas and abilities. Anyone can be sponsor, as long as they help influence a person’s understanding or knowledge of certain concepts or ideas. “In whatever form, sponsors deliver the ideological freight that mist be borne for access to what they have” (Brandt 168). Everyone has literacy sponsors, we may not realize it at first, but thinking back on my life I have thought of a few literacy sponsors who have helped shape me into who I am today.
Life is like a tree, it grows and develops branches and leaves that come and go as we progress. The environments we live in determine which branches wither and fade and which prosper. Every branch holds some form of learned literacy from the end of the roots to the trunk and highest branch. Literacy encompasses many aspects of life.
As a child, I have always been fond of reading books. My mother would read to me every single night before I went to bed and sometimes throughout the day. It was the most exciting time of the day when she would open the cabinet, with what seemed to be hundreds of feet tall, of endless books to choose from. When she read to me, I wanted nothing more than to read just like her. Together, we worked on reading every chance we had. Eventually I got better at reading alone and could not put a book down. Instead of playing outside with my brothers during the Summer, I would stay inside in complete silence and just read. I remember going to the library with my mom on Saturdays, and staying the entire day. I looked forward to it each and every week.
During that time we would work on tricks I could used to stay focused on one like at a time. It would be a strip of transparent paper that would highlight one line of a book at a time. This tool would help me not jump ahead in my reading. As time went on I improved and we would move on to using a tool that would highlight a paragraph at a time. After a year or two of this extra help, I did not have to go as often. Although this helped, it made me feel like I was not as smart as the other students. I felt like everyone was looking at me when I would leave to go with the other
At least 40 million American adults need stronger literacy skills to take advantage of more lifelong learning opportunities (Knowles 12). Low literacy limits life chances, regardless of how it is defined or measured. According to The Random House Dictionary literacy is defined as “the quality or state of being literate, esp. the ability to read and write.” Another breakdown of the word, from the same source is “possession of education.” Basic skills and literacy abilities are widely viewed as necessities for lifelong learning and the development of success among individuals, families, communities, and even nations. Better knowledge about literacy is an essential condition for improving it. Helping children improve their literacy skills can help them develop the capacity for lifelong learning, keep pace with changing educational expectations and rapid technological change, and achieve their life goals. Today in society there are many adults with poor literacy skills who lack the foundation they need to find and keep decent jobs, to support their children’s education and help them mold a literate future. I have taken one small step towards this problem by tutoring at two schools. The more time people put towards helping the youth of America is the more literate our population can become. Every small action can help, even if it is just tutoring at local middle and junior high schools.
Mandeville reassured me that I was not dumb and she guided me to where I am today. I thought of her as intelligent and she genuinely cared about me and my condition. As the years progressed she taught me how to overcome the condition and how to not let the disorder affect my everyday life. She embarked in me a desire to read and learn as I began to overcome the condition. Novelist, Deborah Brandt describes a literacy sponsor as a person who enables, supports and models literacy. This description perfectly resembles Mrs. Mandeville. She guided me along my literacy path with grace and supported my journey. John Swales, the author of “The Concept of Discourse Community” states that a discourse group is a type of literacy within a group. Mrs. Mandeville and I developed a discourse community and made up distinct lexis between ourselves. Every time I would see her she would ask me “how are your a’s and e’s doing” as a way to examine my reading status. Educator, Mike Rose, underwent similar experiences in his literacy journey. Mike Rose’s literacy sponsor was his English professor named Mr. MacFarland. His teacher also guided him along his literacy process and pushed him to achieve his goals attending a
Most of us have struggled with literacy at one point. Literacy is a learning process; there 's always something new to improve on. My biggest struggle in literacy is
Literacy embraces reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Integrating all of these into a literacy program is key. Teachers must provide endless and ongoing opportunities for their student to read, write, listen, and speak.
I was born in Mexico and came to California at age 4. I lived in many places such as San Jose and Madera but ended up living in Huron. I started at age 6 in kindergarten. Everything went well until second grade. The reading got harder and so did the spelling. The teacher wouldn't really help me, she would just continue class as usual. I started to not do my homework and not work in class. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, I did want to but the problem was that I didn't know how to do it. I had no one at home that could help me due to everyone being Mexican and didn't know any English at all. At the end they sent me to a DSPS program.
Growing up in working class family, my mom worked all the time for the living of a big family with five kids, and my dad was in re-education camp because of his association with U.S. government before 1975. My grandma was my primary guardian. “Go to study, go to read your books, read anything you like to read if you want to have a better life,” my grandma kept bouncing that phrase in my childhood. It becomes the sole rule for me to have better future. I become curious and wonder what the inside of reading and write can make my life difference. In my old days, there was no computer, no laptop, no phone…etc, to play or to spend time with, other than books. I had no other choice than read, and read and tended to dig deep in science books, math books, and chemistry books. I tended to interest in how the problem was solved. I even used my saving money to buy my own math books to read more problems and how to solve the problem. I remembered that I ended up reading the same math book as my seventh grade teacher. She used to throw the challenge questions on every quiz to pick out the brighter student. There was few students know how to solve those challenge questions. I was the one who fortunately nailed it every single time. My passion and my logic for reading and writing came to me through that experience, and also through my grandma and my mom who plant the seed in me, who want their kids to have happy and better life than they were. In my own dictionary, literacy is not just the ability to read and write, it is a strong foundation to build up the knowledge to have better life, to become who I am today.
My relationship with literacy began when I started elementary school and that was the first starting point of my positive relationship with literacy. I really started to grow as a reader and writer throughout my middle school and high school years. Throughout my years of going to school I had many positive experiences that shaped my view of literacy today. My literacy skills have also enhanced throughout my educational years.