Response Blog: February 27, 2012

Penrose/Geisler Summary: In “Reading and Writing without Authority,” Penrose and Geisler argue the difference in authority where you need to gain more knowledge about a topic to sound like you have authority. They examine the difference between a first year student in college and a doctoral student. This showed the different understandings of what they found to be considered knowledgeable.

QD: 3. I believe the difference to be is that Janet is a freshman who just came from high school where the learning/teaching style is different when writing a paper. I know from my own experience it was a lot different than I have been learning in my College English course.  We were so used to being worried about the sources where we found everything then adding your own reflection into it. With Roger it is going to be different because their views on the knowledge are at different level and Roger is able to go in depth more and reflect in a better way than Janet was able too.

4.  I think this was the case because she was not confident enough in her writing where she could go about the conflicting ideas in her own way and to help express the differences.

5. I would say my writing is more like Janet’s. I have the tendency to not be as confident in my work and often I rely to heavily on what the sources say and from those authors because I am going to believe they are right even if I have an argument towards it I do not always know how to go about it in a way that can prove my point and know that it is an intellectual response.

MM: Next time I write a research paper I know I have to go into it with more confidence and to sound more knowledgeable while I am writing.

Reflection: I enjoyed this reading because I felt that I am a lot like Janet in the sense of not knowing exactly how to be authoritative in a paper and with reading this article it gives me a better understand and will be helpful with the research paper being due.  

Paper 3 - Final coverl letter

Katie and I did a Prezi presentation to show the evolution of literacy over the past 100 years. Our main point is to show that literacy has evolved readily since the past 100 years which then makes it common for people to just take advantage of. Throughout the presentation we show statistics and our points in showing how things have changed over the years and how we are fortunate to be where we are today with literacy. When we first started out we were not sure if it was going in the right direction, but after we got our peer response and sat back down to work on it we knew what needed to be added and we really enjoyed how it turned out.

http://prezi.com/x_ffazww3qcw/paper-3/

Response Blog: February 22, 2012

Wardle Summary: In "Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces," Ellizabeth Wardle argues the difficulties of authority and identity by telling a story about 'Alan' and how he was a new worker and struggled because of the issues of identity and authority in the new workplace. 

 QD: 3. I think Alan struggled because he didn’t want to change the way that he is to just fit in. To result in a positive way I think that he could have been more open about it and could have tried to compromise to better fit with the new workplace.

4. I agree with what Thompson says because a lot of the time people say things without thinking about them. You often hear people say think before you speak and that is because we unconsciously will say things and sometimes it is not always good because it doesn’t come out the right way.

5. I would agree with Gee because Alan was not willing to change himself to fit into the discourse community. With Gee being in a discourse is being yourself and if he wasn’t able too then it wasn’t the right discourse for himself.

6. I think that Alan is seen as a tool member because with him not willing to change or compromise people may not see that as being a community member.

7. I have had a teacher who was fired for inappropriate use of language.

AEI: 1. Authority is when you are able to be perceived by those you are speaking too in a positive manner. I was an assistant volleyball coach and I knew that the players listened and took in what I said because I had the authority over them, but I knew I had to talk to them in an appropriate manner because they had trust in me.

Reflection: I liked this article because I thought it gave a good insight to talking about identity and authority and the appropriate way it’s supposed to be used.

Response Blog: February 22, 2012

Summary: In "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity," Ann M. Johns discusses further the idea of conflict that can happen between discourse communities. She focuses on academic discourse community and what is expected when being in one.

QD: 1. Some complications would be the cost of affiliation, which are sacrifices such as creating a personal and social distance between them and their families and communities. Another complication would be authority, such as who is higher up after someone has completed a degree, published and been advanced.

 2. It means that not everyone is going to think the exact same way, but they do have similar conventions and are able to pull those together which can bring new ideas to the discourse community.

3. No I do not think so because I have never changed myself to fit in, if people do not like my values or beliefs then I would not be in that discourse community.

4. I agree because you have to have the same interest to want to be involved in a discourse community.

5. I do not feel I have had much authority because with everything I have had to write it is being made up by the Professor and you have to follow guidelines.

6. It is for students because it is the teachers who have the final say and you never know what may happen.

MM:  I think that it becomes confusing when you are told so many rules to be considered part of a discourse community, most of the time I feel you are not constantly thinking about the expectations it just becomes natural when you are belonging to a discourse community.  

Reflection: I didn’t get very engaged with this reading because I felt it was a lot like Swales and Gee, but I did find it interesting with what is “expected” of discourses.

Response Blog: continued from first part (got cut off)

QD: 3. Discourse with a capital D 'saying (writing) -doing-being-valuing-believing combinations. Discourse with a little "d" means connected stretches to language that make sense.
4. Primary Discourse - One we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others.
Secondary Discourse- After home community, each of us interacts with various non-home-based social institutions.
Dominant Discourse- Secondary discourses bring acquisition of social "gods"
Non dominant Discourse- Secondary discourses which often bring solidarity with particular social network.
5. Failing to fulfill this you do not have an identity you are a pretender or beginner. If you have a lack of fluency it makes you a non-member of a discourse community.
6. Discourses always involve more than reading and writing. You are growing their ability to say, do value, and believe.
7. Many middle-class do stress superficial features of language.
8. They happen so that the group knows if they relate to them or not. A benefit would be they know they are close with others in a group.
11. Metaknowlede is the sum of what has been perceived or discovered and is valued for the successful students and social change.

AEI: 2. Since birth, I have belonged to a primary discourse of being in my family and we all have the value and the communication that is between us. Where in an academic setting it is going to be different because we are not going to be communicating the same way and we feel that we need to sound as prestigious as we can.
4. Different discourses are going to have different values and beliefs, but you navigate by just knowing those values and beliefs in the discourse community at the time.

Reflection: Just like with Swales I thought this was longer, but I did grasp a better understanding from this piece then the others.

Response Blog: February 20, 2012

Swales Summary: In "The Concept of Discourse Community," by John Swales argues about the ongoing argument social nature of language use and what a discourse community is. He talks about the six characteristics of a discourse community and deems them necessary for identifying a group as a discourse community.

QD: 1. 1) Common goals, in a discourse community with your friends you all have the common goal to always be there for each other.
2) Certain ways of communicating, with your group of friends you have a certain and special use of language that not everyone else would understand
3) Take advice and give information, this is what your close group of friends is for is to listen to you and then help you by giving you what they think is the right solution
4) Able to advance their goals, be able to advance with your friends as different things develop and with age
5) More complex, (not quite sure about this one)
6) Have changing members, as time goes on and with differences people may leave the group of friends or along the way you may meet more friends with common values.
3. No, because he talked about in par. 28 that an academic class is unlikely to be a discourse community in the beginning, but a group of more advance students who are more familiar with the material which I think a graduate class would count.
5. A discourse community would be my sorority. It fits his characteristics because we all have common goals and are very involved. We were also chosen to be a part of the sorority and we all have common interests that form a bond.

MM: I didn't realize how many different characteristics went into being in a discourse community and it made me realize and understand a bit more of what discourse communities I am involved in.

Reflection: I found this piece harder to focus on, it was very long and lacked grabbing my attention so I am not sure if I got out of it what all I should have because of my lack of interest.

Gee Summary: In "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction," Gee is proving how in a discourse you are either recognized by being in it or you simply are not. He introduces what he explains as Discourse with a capital D and the difference between that and discourse without the capital D.

Q

Cover Letter - Paper #3

Katie and I decided to do a Prezi for our project. We thought it would be a fun and different way to do it but it was harder than we had anticipated.Our main point was to show how literacy has evolved over the past 100 years. We did not completely finish it because we wanted the peer feedback on how it was going because we were concerned with the flow and if it was making sense from one point to the next.We just want all the feedback we can have before we turn the final paper in because it would be a lot harder to try and go back through the Prezi with all the information so we wanted to get input first, thanks!

http://prezi.com/x_ffazww3qcw/edit/?auth_key=nme2l69&follow=-nvhqx7-pmqb#4_1812515

Response Blog: February 15, 2012

Summary: In Tyler Cecchini and Hugo Perez's article "Motivation in Literacy Development," they discuss the reasons why students are motivated to read. They interviewed eight first-year students because they wanted to see what the early effects of motivation were for them. They found out that families were a huge part of their literacy skills, hobbies were also a motivation, technology, and those who were in special programs gave the students that extra motivation they needed.

Questions: 1. The authors did not put themselves in the article.
2. I often refer to myself in 1st person.

Reflection: I liked this article a lot because it gave a good insight to see the motivation that it takes for many people to read and write.

Final Paper - 2

Cover Letter: With this paper I was giving the audience an idea of what it takes for me to write a paper and my main point I wanted to get across was procrastination. Throughout the paper I gave a description of what it took and how procrastination came into the way I write a paper. I incorporated some of the articles to explain how as a writer I am beginning to look at writing in a different way in the hopes it will help. I think the part in the paper where I give the story of how I write was a part that I really liked. I  want the readers to let me know if they think it flows right and what I should do better or what I need to work on. After looking at my peer review, I went back and tried to add some more of myself in the paper. I still feel that sometimes I struggle when adding things because I feel I have to be following a guideline but overall I was a lot happier with how my paper went!

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/81125789/Paper-2-Final-Copy

response Blog: February 8, 2012

Baron Summary: In Dennis Baron's "From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies," he discusses the view points on the advancement of writing technology and talks about the very beginning of pencils being made to the newest updates with computers.

QD: 2. I agree with that because in paragraph 59 he talks about how even with technology we are still surrounded by text and with new computer communication technology it can increase text exposure even more than it has in positive ways.
4. Another literacy technology would be books, they were considered high in technology, but now their are kindles which are becoming the higher part in technology.
6. The illustrations contribute by giving us a better understanding of what he's talking about by having a picture to go along with it. I understand them as writing because it's another form to show text. I think it could be added because pictures are evolving in technology like writing and literacy.

Reflection: I enjoyed this piece because the advancement in technology is increasing and it was intriguing to read about earlier methods.

Malcolm Summary: In Malcolm X's "Learning to Read," Malcolm discusses the journey that it took for him to be able to read and write.

QD: 1. I feel it was directed to those who feel discouraged.
2. He defines it as being motivation and school-based is the ability to read and write.
3. Prison, Muhammad, School until he dropped out, Library. I think being in prison and having the books from the library influenced him the most.
4. I believe he could have because he might have read some of it the wrong way.
6. I feel it's true because college students take for granted the ability they have to read, but he needed too to understand his experience.

AEI: 1. I think the advancement in technology has helped with literacy.

Reflection: I liked this article a lot because it shows the struggles of someone who overcame them and to see them make it through the tough times.

Alexie Summary: In Sherman Alexie's article, "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me," he talks about the obstacles he had to face in order to beat the odds of being looked at as dumb because he was Indian.

QD: 1. Expectations can impact children's literacy learning because if they are expected to succeed, and praised for their good work then they will try their best and will know that they are capable of doing it. Those who are not given high expectations will not feel as though they should even try because they will be looked at as dumb or not worthy of knowing. I was always encouraged throughout school by not only my teachers but my parents as well to do my best.

AEI: 1. I think that is the case because if anyone can set their mind and be determined because no matter of race or money if someone tries hard enough to succeed they can. It may take some longer than others, but they can. Their are many famous people who have overcome obstacles and are role models today.

Reflection: I thought this piece was very inspiring and it shows with determination that you can succeed.

Response Blog: February 6, 2012

Summary: In Deborah Brandt's article "Sponsors of Literacy," she did in depth interviews with a diverse group of people between 1900 and 1980 to explore the ideas of how they learned to read and write. Through her work she realizes they are filled with references to sponsors, which are people, institutions, and circumstances that make it possible for a person to become literate. (pg. 331)

QD: 1. Literacy sponsors are people, ideas, or institutions that helped us become literate, but literate in specific ways. Some characteristics are usually richer, more knowledgeable and more entrenched.
3. Sometimes they "misappropriate" their literacy lessons by diverting the sponsor's resources toward ulterior projects, often projects of self-interest or self-development.
4. By the term stratified I am guessing that she means the stage of the opportunity and access and by 'stakes' I would say talking about the literacy 'norms.'

AEI: 1. My primary literacy sponsors were my teachers, parents, and my church. They taught me how to succeed with my academics, grow stronger in my faith and civic literacy. If I didn't have them in my life I wouldn't be where I am today with the knowledge I have gained and pursued.

Reflection: I liked this article because I have never really looked back on the ideas of how I learned to read and write. It helped me to gain a better insight of the people and institutions that have the impact on that.

Paper #2

Cover Letter: With this paper I was giving the audience an idea of what it takes for me to write a paper and my main point I wanted to get across was procrastination. Throughout the paper I gave a description of what it took and how procrastination came into the way I write a paper. I incorporated some of the articles to explain how as a writer I am beginning to look at writing in a different way in the hopes it will help. I think the part in the paper where I give the story of how I write was a part that I really liked. I  want the readers to let me know if they think it flows right and what I should do better or what I need to work on.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/80378285/Paper-2