Blog 5

I decided for this blog to choose from one of my reading lists, which is a closer look at Sherman Alexie’s “The Joy of Reading: Superman and Me.” What I will do is revolve this blog around the notion of literacy sponsorship while taking into account of Alexie’s rhetoric.

In the beginning of Alexie’s article, he mentions his father who, “was an avid reader of westerns, spy thrillers, murder mysteries, gangster epics, basketball player biographies, and anything else he could find” (Alexie, 12). He then continues with “Our house was filled with books. They were stacked in crazy piles in the bathroom, bedrooms, and living room. In a fit of unemployment-inspired creative energy, my father built a set of bookshelves and soon filled them with a random assortment of books about the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the entire 23-book series of the Apache westerns. My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well” (Alexie, 12). What I find interesting with this passage from Alexie’s article is that his personal narrative doesn’t just begin his relationship with the Superman comics but also introduces his father. In a sense, this whole passage is a meta-narrative, where it’s a story of finding a literacy sponsor through a literacy sponsor of another. So basically, Alexie’s story began with how his father indirectly introduced literacy through the action of constantly buying books when he had a chance. Of course, the personal narrative primarily focuses on Alexie and him utilizing Superman comics as a gateway for his continued growth in literacy despite being in an academic environment where he, a Native American Indian, was being practically barred from having any literacy sponsors in a school environment due to societal roles expected from his community. Yet, it is important for Alexie to include a brief introduction of his father since it subtlety references how his father also chose to deter away from that expectation for males within his community to not continue their literacy pursuits. In doing so, his father wanted to continuing sponsoring himself for literacy by buying an array of different literary genres, from historical texts to murder mysteries. In doing so, his father not only sponsored his literacy but also for his family as well, including Alexie. Although the article doesn’t get into a great detail about his father, I feel that it shows how actions really do speak louder than words. The fact that he was surrounded by texts and saw his father reading was what sparked Alexie’s literacy. It made me think back on my own personal narrative, where instructors would request for me to read so and so as an aside for my leisurely reading. I often appreciated it when my former instructors made reading suggestions for me. And I often do the same with my own students, whether it be as a tutor or as their TA. And it also made me think of myself during my childhood, where I grew up surrounded by books as a well. I remember reading original versions of Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland since my mom purchased a set of anthologies filled with children’s stories at a garage sale. In doing so, is what I feel helped serve as literacy sponsorship for my own academic pursuits.

Thinking back and revisiting this article has made me realize perhaps “Superman and Me” isn’t just about Alexie and the comics but also, perhaps, him subtlety showing that his father was his literacy Superman too since he was the one who brought those books in the household.  Plus he mentioned that he looked up to him and thought of him as a hero. And so, perhaps it’s also an indication that we as instructors ought to aim in being a literacy super-hero as well.

Blog #4: Revisiting the Definition of Literacy Sponorship

Alexei, Sherman. The Joy of Reading and WritingL Superman and Me. 362-366. Bedford St. Martin Press. Boston: 2011.

Baron, Dennis. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies.” 422-442. Bedford St. Martin Press. Boston: 2011.

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Writing about Writing. Bedford St Martin Press. Boston: 2011.

Freire, Paulo. “The Importance of the Act of Reading.”

Golden, John. Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom. National Council of Teachers. 79-86. 1986.

Malcom X. Learning to Read. Writing about Writing. 353-356. Bedford St. Martin Press. Boston: 2011.

McCormick, Kathleen. The culture of reading and the teaching of English. Manchester university     press. Manchester: 1994.

The topic that I want to explore and address for my research analysis project is on sponsorship of literacy. That is, I want to re-visit on how we define sponsorship and how we ought to re-evaluate on what sponsorship of literacy exactly means. My topic inquiry question I have for this project is who really sponsors our literacy? And how might we expand further on the different dimensions of literacy sponsorships, other than just academic instruction. Of course, this isn’t to say that I’m suggesting that academic instruction should not be literacy sponsors. However, what I’m trying to vouch for is that teaching pedagogies calls for more outlets other than just the traditional guidelines for teaching reading and writing. Gaining literacy isn’t just from instruction but also goes beyond classroom instruction. In doing so, that is why classroom instruction these days needs to incorporate technology and visual texts since what literacy strategies is expanding in the 21st century.

From all the past course texts I’ve read and the past research that I’ve done prior to this semester, I’ve now learned that sponsorship of narrative comes from more than just the instructors and institutions but rather how one perceives is their literacy sponsor. For instance, I will be utilizing Sherman Alexei’s “The Joy of Reading: Superman and Me” and using his narrative of finding his literacy sponsor, which was Superman comics, as part of my collective research analysis. In doing so, it also sets an example of how we ought to incorporate different mediums of literature, such as visual texts, as other means for students in searching for additional literacy sponsors. Considering that what Alexei defines his literacy sponsors definitely differs from other narratives of literacy sponsors, I want to continue exploring other narratives and synthesize that with my research analysis.

So, for my research, I want to explore on the abstract and subjective views on literacy sponsors. For this project, I’ll provide article reviews on each of my selected sources while also synthesizing my analysis on how this relates back to literacy sponsorship and how it sets a precedent for what needs to be established in academic instruction. Additionally, I will revert back to the question of “who really sponsors our literacy” and think on the history of literacy sponsors and comparing/contrasting that with modern day developments of literacy sponsorship. Since it feels as if literary texts and technology are slowly becoming “conventional” for academia, I want this project to address the importance on how and why literacy sponsorship needs to be re-evaluated, most especially since what defines sponsorship unfortunately falls too much into “privileged” discourse communities. So essentially, it would require me to revisit and re-evaluate the notions and definitions of literacy sponsorship.

Of course, all this is not set in stone. My topic ideas still need a lot of work and I’m not 100 percent on my selected sources. And of course, I will continue adding/omitting my sources. However, my reading list so far feels efficient enough, for now, where I can evaluate and address how each of my selected sources sets an example of or refers to the ever-expanding notions of literacy sponsorship.

blog 3

For this blog, I would like to revisit a reading that we have completed thus far, which is Paulo Freire’s “The Importance of the Act of Reading.” The reason why is because, to be honest, I have grown so enamored with this essay. Call me biased but I think it’s totally important that we ought to re-read the world since that essentially is connect with language. And so I want to revisit this essay as the topic for my blog #3. Though no need to fear since this blog isn’t just going to gush over the language Freire has in his analytical and rhetorical essay. For this blog I will incorporate with the plans that I have for my course plan semester. So basically, this will reveal what I am currently working on in my ENG 710 course. In doing so, I am going to connect with how Freire’s essay correlates with what I have planned for my future course in composition.

Originally last semester in ENG 709, I didn’t want to have a focused theme in my course semester plan units (or actually, year-long plan since my final was going to be the stretch year course, ENG 104/105). A theme that kept popping secretly in my head was the theme of identity. However I figured that it was “pointless” and that I didn’t want to be that teacher with an agenda every class considering that my expertise of interest in my research consists of such topics like women and gender studies, race/class/gender topics in pop culture, etc. I guess it came from my undergrad days when some students would complain about how their female instructors kept pushing their feminist agenda in their literature courses. Looking back, I found it interesting that the ones who complained the most were coincidentally male students. This isn’t to make a generalization since all my male friends are very open-minded about feminism. Sadly, it is typical to see males who react that way towards female instructors that want to create a diverse platform for students. Nevertheless, it would be problematic if these instructors only relished on feminism without adding context and connection with the course topic.

In referring back to last semester, I finally then realized during winter break, that it would be best to rely on a theme. However, I wasn’t sure if I needed to rely on the theme of identity. Yet it wasn’t until just this semester, when I read Paulo Freire’s essay, that suddenly everything came into place for me. I realized that I HAD to do a theme on identity since it was necessary for me. I think a section from Freire’s text that would best connect with my revelation is, on page 8, which he states

“A little while ago, with deep emotion, I visited the home where I was born. I stepped on the same ground on which I had first stood up, on which I first had walked, run, begun to talk, and learned to read. It was that same world which first presented itself to my understanding through my reding it. There I met again some of the trees of my childhood. I recognized them without difficulty. I almost embraced their thick trunks —- young trunks in my childhood. Then, what I like to call a gentle or well-behaved nostalgia, emanating from the earth, the trees, the house, carefully, developed me. I felt the house content, feeling the joy of someone who has red-encountered loved ones” ( Freire, 8).

So, with the purpose of the quotation in connection to my revelation, I like Freire, had to revisit my own thoughts. While I didn’t go back to my old childhood hometown back in Northern Virginia, I reminisced a bit on my own educational experiences. My best moments, was when I was allowed to truly express myself and emphasize on why my voice matters. Plus, referring back to his quotation, revisiting places, whether literal or abstract, is important and is key when practicing academic reading and writing. So, with this essay, I would have students annotate this article and write a difficulty paper on this, since the language, though beautiful, may be tricky for developmental students. Additionally, it would help aid them in understanding the text by first expressing what they might find difficulty rather than to immediately search for meaning. And I’ll constantly ask students to revisit and re-read the text throughout the semester. Since they’ll need this as one of their guides when working on an analytical paper on how identity is misrepresented in pop culture as their assignment. That way they can understand how reading is actually a constant cycle and they must not only read the world, but re-read the world. And by re-reading the world, that includes literary texts as well.