Sean's ePortfolio

Discourse

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 5 and 6
What is it? The saying(writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing combination.
Why is it important? It is important because, according to Gee, one must have all of these qualities to be “in” the Discourse. He refers to the neighborhood bar guy and he did not have all of them so he is not in the Discourse.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? What if someone sees it as using all of the saying-doing-being-valuing-believing combinations, but one sees one of the components missing. Are they in the Discourse?

 

Primary Discourse

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 7 and 8
What is it? It is the Discourse that “we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others”. So basically, it is the Discourse you accomplish from when you are a young kid.
Why is it important? One’s Primary Discourse can shape their other Discourses in life. For example, if someone is an uneducated young boy, they will not be in the Discourse of college per say.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? I do not like how if someone has a bad primary Discourse and how they can’t get out of it, because it is natural.

 

Secondary Discourse

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 9
What is it? They discourse we gain through social groups, institutions and organizations. Being an athlete, and being apart of a team, for example, is a secondary discourse
Why is it important? It is important because social interactions are very important and this is how one achieves secondary Discourse.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? If one associates themselves with a bad social group, they can be seen as deviant, even if they are not a bad kid.

Apprenticeship

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 7
What is it? Social interactions with people who have mastered the Discourse.
Why is it important? You can learn and gain knowledge from these people.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? I thought Gee says you cannot teach Discourse but he contradicts himself with this,

 

Filtering

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 11,12
What is it? Where aspects of language and values you gain from secondary Discourses are filtered into primary Discourses.
Why is it important? It is important because they go hand in hand and can affect one another.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? I do not have any.

Transfer

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 9
What is it? Where one Discourse can be transferred to another.
Why is it important? There are many overlaps in life.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? None.

 

Mushfake

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 13
What is it? Partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to make do.
Why is it important? One can not be all the way in the Discourse and fake their way in.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? I think if someone is doing a good job mush faking they should be considered to be in the Discourse

Metaknowledge

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 13
What is it? The ability to manipulate while growing and advancing.
Why is it important? Manipulation is important while advancing through life and from Discourse to Discourse.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? I do not have any.

 

Dominant Secondary Discourse

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 8,9
What is it? Discourse centered around money, prestige etc.
Why is it important? Money, prestige and status is valued in todays world.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? Money is not everything, although many people think it is.

Nondominant Secondary Discourse

Where is it in Gee’s text (pages/quotes) 8,9
What is it? Discourses centered around social networks which don’t bring money, prestige, status etc.
Why is it important? It is important because not everything is related to money.
What questions/problems do I have about/with it? People only see money as ways to advance, but that  is not true.

 

Coordination

There are various different reasons that teachers assign literacy narratives, but the big one is that teachers get to see these students “identities” and how they feel towards reading and writing.

-I gave a quote and then I implemented some of my thoughts. I said there are many reasons for assigning literacy narratives but the biggest one is teachers see kids identities. I used the text to put my thoughts down.

I say “and/or” because in many people’s specific literacy narrative, they do write about both, either because they go hand in hand, or they are talking about English class as a whole.

-I was talking about how students write about reading or writing. But then I said “or they are talking about English class as a whole” because some students talk about english class, so those are equally important.

The individual often blames his sponsor for making reading and writing worse, and making it extremely hard to succeed in.

-I challenged the text and then used my ideas using “and”. I gave my opinion as well, after stating what the writer had to say.

Subordination

Alexander says that writing a literacy narrative “discusses how someone took the fun out of reading and writing”, so she is inferring that reading and writing is supposed to be fun. However, for most of the time, she probably is right.

-I used Alexanders text and tied it with my opinion. I also used the word “However” to do so.

The victims can even turn to rebel behaviors, but it seems that the privileged kids are the ones doing that. Since they are so fed up with being victimized by their teachers, they will start critiquing it, saying it is wrong and this can lead them to fall behind on their studies.

-I used since after using the text to emphasize and tie my thoughts together.

The first thing I want to do is introduce the reader to what a literacy narrative is, since they are not the most common piece of writing, and an abundance of outsiders would not know.

-Right off the bat I use since and tie it to the rest of my introduction paragraph.

Noah Luccini’s Literacy narrative works well with my essay because he talks about this “really bad teacher” being tough, scary and intimidating. So, maybe it wasn’t her fault for Noah being a victim, it may be that he was just misunderstanding her. She could have seen potential in her students, and was pushing them, but sometimes students take that the wrong way. I talk about that in my essay.

In our archive, Rising Cairn, Noah Luccini, in The Mean Teacher writes that his teacher was tough, scary and intimidating; but these are three traits that can be taken the wrong way for victims.

UNFIXED VERSION:

The first thing I want to do is introduce the reader to what a literacy narrative is, since they are not the most common piece of writing, and an abundance of outsiders would not know. A literacy narrative is an essay in which the reader reflect on their ideas and relationship with reading and/or writing. I say “and/or” because in many people’s specific literacy narrative, they do write about both, either because they go hand in hand, or they are talking about English class as a whole. We have looked at a few incredible scholarly texts that are honed into literacy narratives themselves. In Kara Poe Alexanders text: Successes, Victims and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre, she states that “In general, literacy narrative assignments prompt students to explore and reflect on how their past experiences with language, literacy and schooling inform their perceptions of themselves as writers and literate beings (see Fox; Ryden; Soliday)”. Literacy narratives are often about an experience, either good or bad, that had an effect on them or shaped who they are today.

To understand what literacy narratives are, we must understand why teachers assign them as well. In Bronwyn T. Williams text: Heroes, rebels and Victims: Student identities in literacy narratives, he says that:

Some teachers have realized that these narratives can help uncover cultural constructions of literacy (Kamler, 1999), illustrate student passages between language worlds (Soliday, 1994), and raise questions about the politics of language acquisition (Eldred & Mortensen, 1992). Other teachers have used them to foster multicultural understanding (Clark & Medina, 2000), to complicate students’ definitions of literacy (Fleischer, 1997), and to connect to students’ parents. King, 1997). For me, literacy narratives provide a sense of students’ prior literacy experiences and of their general feelings toward reading and writing.

EDITED:

Looking at my title, you may be wondering what a victim and a literacy narrative are and I will start with what a victim is. A victim who is someone who is exposed to negative literacy moments. A literacy narrative is an essay in which the reader reflect on their ideas and relationship with reading and/or writing. I say “and/or” because in many people’s specific literacy narrative, they do write about both, either because they go hand in hand, or they are talking about English class as a whole. We have looked at a few incredible scholarly texts that are honed into literacy narratives themselves. In Kara Poe Alexanders text: Successes, Victims and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre, she states that “In general, literacy narrative assignments prompt students to explore and reflect on how their past experiences with language, literacy and schooling inform their perceptions of themselves as writers and literate beings (see Fox; Ryden; Soliday)”. Literacy narratives are often about an experience, either good or bad, that had an effect on them or shaped who they are today, but it is not always the sponsors fault, as many think it is. 

To understand what literacy narratives are, we must understand why teachers assign them as well. In Bronwyn T. Williams text: Heroes, rebels and Victims: Student identities in literacy narratives, he says that:

Some teachers have realized that these narratives can help uncover cultural constructions of literacy (Kamler, 1999), illustrate student passages between language worlds (Soliday, 1994), and raise questions about the politics of language acquisition (Eldred & Mortensen, 1992). Other teachers have used them to foster multicultural understanding (Clark & Medina, 2000), to complicate students’ definitions of literacy (Fleischer, 1997), and to connect to students’ parents. King, 1997). For me, literacy narratives provide a sense of students’ prior literacy experiences and of their general feelings toward reading and writing.

There are various different reasons that teachers assign literacy narratives, but the big one is that teachers get to see these students “identities” and how they feel towards reading and writing. This is important because this is when their true feelings come out about reading and writing, and this can help the teacher know where their students are coming from and eventually help them.

 

 

 

Part 1: My project adds and challenges specific ideas about literary acquisition. My project is also truly engaging the conversations within both Alexander and Williams text the most. My peers wrote based on my evidence in my draft that I had a unique approach to my introduction paragraph, and my texts are more than being about something greater than just explaining what they mean. I don’t believe there is other evidence in the narratives that I left out. My narrative reveals that victim narratives are common within students for many different reasons. It also reveals that it isn’t always  the sponsors fault. Through the data, I say that literary acqustion could be a little stronger in word usage, but it is only a first draft and I need to revise it even more by challenging specific ideas and adding new resources.

Part 2: My peers did not write about me having too much or too little of Alexander, Brandt and/or Williams, but I think I could use a little more of the scholarly sources. I did not use one sentence introductions for introducing the texts, but this is how I wrote it:

“We have looked at a few incredible scholarly texts that are honed into literacy narratives themselves. In Kara Poe Alexanders text: Successes, Victims and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre, she states that “In general, literacy narrative assignments prompt students to explore and reflect on how their past experiences with language, literacy and schooling inform their perceptions of themselves as writers and literate beings (see Fox; Ryden; Soliday)”. Literacy narratives are often about an experience, either good or bad, that had an effect on them or shaped who they are today.”

Revision-

“We have looked at a few scholarly texts that are honed into literacy narratives themselves. Within Kara Poe Alexanders text: Successes, Victims and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre, she states that “In general, literacy narrative assignments prompt students to explore and reflect on how their past experiences with language, literacy and schooling inform their perceptions of themselves as writers and literate beings (see Fox; Ryden; Soliday)”. In Deborah Brandt’s “Power, Priveledge, and Discourse”, she states how often students summarize the same types of writing concepts. Then we read Bronwyn T. Williams’ text: Heroes, rebels, and victims: Student identities in literacy narratives, and he talks about the frequency of different literacy narratives that students write, which is similar to the other two texts.

-My revisions are better because I can use all three sentences introducing the texts as their own sentence starters. I can get more details and explain what is exactly said in the texts by using the new introductions for the scholarly materials.

Part 3: Since Alexander offers little stories for her examples; Brandt and Williams both uses rich descriptions so the reader has a deeper understanding for their analysis’ being explained, it makes the introductions of the literary narratives much more unique. I needed to add a description or context to the end of my citation of the text. For example, “We have looked at a few incredible scholarly texts that are honed into literacy narratives themselves. In Kara Poe Alexanders text: Successes, Victims and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre, she states that “In general, literacy narrative assignments prompt students to explore and reflect on how their past experiences with language, literacy and schooling inform their perceptions of themselves as writers and literate beings. Here, I am offering the right amount of context for the reader and background on the literary narrative I chose, which was Alexander’s text. This excerpt above is enough because it includes one good one-sentence introduction and clearly states what I am about to say in a matter similar to Brandt and Williams which is through descriptions.

Part 4: Scholarly sources and literary narratives help signal the conversation that needs to be engaged within the text. The three narratives are the key in support of my writing. In Kara Poe Alexander’s text: Successes, Victims and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre, on page 626, it is summarized how people think that underprivileged students are victimized more but the privileged students write about it more. I mentioned most of this information in my text and I now can go more in depth about it because it helps me understand a further knowledge of why its so puzzling for a victim narrative to be more privileged to students. I think it is interesting how we think that underprivileged people are victims more often but the privileged students write about victim narratives more often then the underprivileged. I could relate this to the frequency of victim narratives in my essay.

collreadwrit2a

My specific focus for my essay is: why are victim narratives so common? The scholarly sources I will use are the writings by Alexnder and Williams. I will use Alexander because she talks about the frequency of victim narratives. I will use Williams because he talks about victim narratives in depth, although it is a short reading. The literacy narratives I will use are by Mike Tuzzo, Ashley McCarthy, and Noah Luccini, because these are relevant for my focus.

collreadwrit2a

These annotations are me underlining what I think is important, relating this narrative to the scholarly texts, and questioning things.

Sometimes these victim narratives can be associated with rebel narratives, but that does not mean they are overall rebel narratives. Social class plays a huge factor. When students rebel in victim narratives it has to do with social class and upbringing; somewhat. Brandt says “How are we to understand the vicissitudes of individual literacy development in relationship to the large scale economic forces that set the routes and determine the  wordly worth of that literacy”? There are factors that play into a child’s development of learning. One is social class and getting used to what people are doing around you; they will literally follow. Different social class comes with different factors. In the first quote, we can conclude that when kids rebel in victim narratives, it is usually from lower social classes because they do not see importance in schooling (sometimes), and follow what their peers are doing around them. This one is the exact opposite. Alexander says: “Perhaps Kristy’s willingness to adopt the victim role may be the product of entitlement where, from her priveleged socioeconomic place, she sees it as a natural right to critique schooling… where as others without privelege may not.” Both Alexander and Brandt talk about economic class, but with different approaches. Alexander says that priveleged kids are more likely to critique schooling (because of how they grew up and the people around them) and Brandt says that kids rebel against learning in lower classes (because of how they grew up and the people around them). So, they do have opposite ideas, but the same reasons for their respective ideas.

The way Alexander states how victim narratives are supposed to be is very similar to Williams ideas. It is often said that, with victim narratives there is a negative sponsor or educator, who seems to work counterintuitively and making reading and writing worse than it is. Alexander says “[Someone] is a victim of negative literacy experiences” and “discusses how someone took the fun out of reading and writing”, and classifies that as a victim narrative. According to him reading and writing tends to be fun when one is younger, but kids start to dislike it when people start telling them how to read and write. Students simply do not like to get told what to do and how to do it and when teachers start assigning things to read, (Instead of reading for fun) students start to lose interest. Alexander uses the word “stigmatized” to describe victim narratives and how the student or victim feels. It seems that in Williams text, “Heroes, Rebels and Victims: Student identities in Literacy Narratives” she uses the same terminolgy as Williams. Willaims says “Paterson (2003) also found students who wrote about being stigmatized through their literacy experiences, particularly in school where the student is the victim of bad or intensive teaching.” Both Alexander and Williams have similar ideas about the victim narratives. They do because they think the teachers (or teacher-like figures) bad teaching styles or ways, force these victims dislike reading and writing. They are saying that it is not the victims fault, but the person in charge either “took the fun out of reading and writing” or the student is the victim of insensitive teaching.

collreadwrit2a

One literacy acquisition that highly interests me is the victim narratives. I am so interested in them because I can relate to them, and I know a lot of people who can as well. Some victim narratives I am going to use are narratives by Michael Tuzzo, Jillian Hegarty, Ashley McCarthy, Noah Luccini, Samantha Vigue, Mitchell Rotandi.

collreadwrit2a