Allow Myself to introduce Myself Volume 3

School and literacy haven’t always co-existed happily for me I recently wrote a poem and one of the lines is I wanted to teach before I’d been taught. In the 11th grade I was put into advanced American Literature which was part of a humanities track that was reserved for “really smart” students and my scholastic achievement to that point certainly didn’t warrant my placement in such a class. On the first or second day the teacher had the class select a passage and analyze its meaning. I can’t remember what passage I chose, why I chose it, or what I said, but I can remember Ms. Scarborough telling me I was brilliant at the bottom of my paper. She lectured about how reading was as much about understanding what the words on the page meant as it was about knowing how to pronounce them and use them correctly. Her class wasn’t just about reading stories it was about understanding them and understanding how and why they made people feel the way they did. Ms. Scarborough was one of many really good teachers I’ve had and her influence is part of the reason I want to be a teacher to this day, she allowed me to look at literacy and my relationship with it in a completely different way. I learned how to read at four but I didn’t learn why I needed to read until I was sixteen. I want to help my students get this place, I want to be a teacher that they remember for teaching them why words are important not just that they are.

"En Los Dos Idiomas"

By Teresa Espinosa

Where There's A Will, There's Lirico

The first part of this article talked about the course of the ethnographic study of Compadrazgo which means Compadre in Spanish which is translated as Godparent. The relationships of the 45 people consisted of family, friends and compadres. Their socio economic status were working class with limited or no formal education. Some had elementary (primaria 1-6th) and middle (secundaria 7-9th) school education while others had to work immediately to help support the family. What did this say about literacy? Well, some were taught literacy in school while others took th initiative to learn on their own. They called it lirico (lyrically). These are men in their mid thirties who learned literacy as lirico, which means they, "picked it up" informally from others (470). Farr called this a bare bones approcah which makes sense since the people were teaching themselves simply by copying the letters from a cigarrette box or by asking questions along the way and no formal schooling.

What I found very interesting was how some men were able to read and wrote poorly and one particular person was able to write but had to have someone read his response letters to him. Farr says, " that neither learning reading first nor writing first is more natural" (473). This study proves that both reading and writing can be learned without formal schooling. I supposed from this we can infer that when learned in this manner, literacy is bare boned and not mastered until there is formal schooling. The people who write lirico say that they know they will probably never write write properly since they don't know punctuation. However his belief that he didn't read well, he scored considerbly high on a fromal test of English literacy. Farr believes that learning lirico literacy is effective.

American Indian Communities

To some degree, Native Americans seem to have common culture with others such as African Americans in that they are strongly rooted in "storytelling traditions, the flow and structure of oral narratives, and the importance of oral traditions" (493). Studying these characteristics when observing a Native Americans writing skills may greatly benefit the teacher in locating the zone of proximal development of the individual student. It doesn't seem too far fetched to embrace the diversity of the cultures when trying to teach English to Native Americans. To deny students the roots of their culture makes the teaching process seem insignificant.

Ever-shifting oral and literature traditions

The societal consequences of literacy are based on the experiences of the people have with written language and their oral interpretation of it. A litterate society differs significantly at the cognitive level from that of a culture of oral tradition. Shirley Brice Heath cites research done by Goody and Watt, Ong, and Havelock to support her assertion of the extreme differences between oral and litterate societies. The differnces don't give one supperiority over te other and Heath uses research from Dodd to explain "Certain discourse forms, such as the parable or proverb are formulaic uses of language which convey meanings without direct explanation."(443) Heath goes on to state that "truth lies in experience and is verified by the experience of listners."(443) Oral tradition are especially prevelant in societies where access to written language is restricted or prohibited. Heath utilizes her own research to decribe the "Literacy Event" Heath says this occurance "is any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the nature of participants interactions and their interpretive processes.(Heath 1978)"(445)
The oral expression of te written language is an important dynamic in Heath's research, she goes t great length to explain the paralell evolution btween the traditions of what's spoken vs. what's written. She examines the art of story telling as a literary device and an extension of written language and an expression of personal involvement. A story given orally must have all of the same elements that a written story has to be successfull, and a written story is always attempting to invoke the human emotion that comes naturally to stories in te oral tradition. During her breakdown of the differences and similarities between written and oral traditions Heath raises an important question; written improves oral, what is the oral impact on written language?

Autobio #6 "Switching Discourse Gears"

By Teresa Espinosa

I had to do another "week 6" since I had the perfect weekend for this topic...

"Switching Discourse Gears"

It was the perfect weekend for this autobio since my family went to my mother's house for a bbq. It is interesting because I noticed right away when I switched discourse. On the way to my mother's it is about a 30 minute drive and my husband and I were discussing the swine flu issues in Mexico. My argument was how over dramatic some parts of this country is reacting an his argument was that we should over react, this way more people will practice cleanliness more consistantly.

While we both has strong arguments going, once we reached my mother's house, the conversation came to a halt. I tried to carry the conversation over to where my sisters were and they were disinterested. Instead, they changed my topic of conversation to gossip about another sister that wasn't present. Once in a while my sisters will discuss world news but it is not that common. They like to stick to gossip and local news. The discourse changed immediately after arriving.

It's not that I don't enjoy the occassional gossip but it gets boring and tedious after a while. When I try to discuss what is going on in school or world news/politics, they quickly become disinterested and shift gears.

Inventing the University

By Teresa Espinosa

Learn the Discourse First

Bartholomae, author of "Inventing the University", explains how an incoming freshman writes for the faculty of the University for an a placement test but writes by "trying on the discourse" (512) of the University. What he meant by that was how the writer wrote for them using specialized language that is an approximation of their jargon. The article explains how some students make the mistake of not taking into consideration who their reader is. They write blindly without audience awareness. Linda Flowers argues that beginning writers do not imagine how a reader will respond to a text as an expert would.

Bartholomae stated that a "writer has to build bridges between his point of view and his writers" (515). I have heard this before from my teachers and I agree that it is important to consider the reader, however, if it is fiction, creative writing that is being written, I think that is a special occasion when it is not as important to focus on one audience. (I am certain they are just talking about essays here). Bartholomae stated that a successful writer is one who can "manipulate" an audience. Although I think he is right that a writer should know his audience, I don't agree with the extent to which he wants his students to be good writers. I don't know every single one of my professors well enough to know exactly what they would write and I have been successful in writing a well written essay that returned a good grade.

I am going to wrap this precis up by saying that Bartholomae believes that before a student can be a successful writer, he must become part of the communal discourse. If the student does not assimilate into the discourse, he cannot possibly write successfully. Bartholomae seems narrow minded in that sense.

Richard Rodriguez's, The Achievement of Desire

This autobiography has so much to say about the individual. It is obvious that from the beginning of school, that Richard wanted to please his teachers and their idea of what was important about Western Culture. Hiding behind books, his family became irrelevant to his future and he denounced the importance of family for the importance of books and education. His identity as a "scholarship boy" accepted a western education without embracing his own cultural heritage. He thought all his answers could be found in the books he read, but later realized that through this method, he was never allowed to come to his own understanding, it was always the author's understanding. I can see how the pressure and differences between education and a working-class family can put a jagged gap between the importance of family and culture. Richard's family did not have a western education and as Richard looked to succeed, he saw his parents as stupid for what they did not know. I think one of best things that Rodriguez comes to understand is that, "education requires radical self-reformation". Through this theory, Rodriguez realizes the lack of self-esteem he had because of his rejection of his family. He didn't want to reform himself, he wanted to become something completely different than he saw his parents. I agree with Rodriguez's statement, and think that self-beliefs should be challenged for rationality, but that the past and one's familiy also plays a role in educational reformation, setting the balance between who one is before an education, along with the benefits and insights that an education can bring.

Autobiography Week 6: Written is Easier

Although I do make language negotiations on a daily basis, I find it is much more difficult for me to speak than it is to write. I deal with parents on a weekly basis and do allow some relevances to be discussed with some parents that I never would with others. This depends on my assumptions about the individual and my comfort level with them. Living in a small city means that you tend to run into people all the time outside of work. This can be a good thing, but it usually leads to discomfort for me, mostly because I usually communicate with them on a professional basis and my interests outside of work may not coincide with theirs. One thing I have noticed though, is that I tend to be soft spoken until a topic comes up that I am passionate about (and have usually had a few beers). A few weekends ago, some of the parents and kids from my son's T-ball team went out for pizza and I got to know them a little better. One man and his girlfriend were very nice and my boyfriend really thought it might turn out to be a nice couple to hang out with until I opened my mouth. This man prided himself on being racist and very determined that these values coincided with his religion. Ok, so these two topics are very important to me and I began to question his views on the differences and similarities between races. I stopped him at the old Thomas Jefferson theory that black people are a form of ape or orangutan and are not the same as white people. I asked him if he knew that we all originally came from Africa because it is where the oldest surviving homoerectus fossil was found and the tone changed after that. Maybe I should have just let him preach on, but instead, I told him that he and I were very different in that I embrace the variety of cultures that surround me, where he rejects all those that are not of a white culture. I could have gone on and on, but I didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable so I just finished my beer and brought up something else. I find that I limit my negotiations so as not to upset others because although I am strongly rooted in my personal beliefs, I still feel that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and I guess I don't want to be the one to take that security away from them. I have even been the butt of jokes that I let go, because of professionalism, maturity and other things, but most of my emotions come out in a flurry when I write. It is here that I can find my own audience, and expand on my ideals and problems with society and I am not presently attacked. If people want to attack my writing, that's ok with me, but to attack my comfort zone and overpower my beliefs is not acceptable and I would never do that to someone else.

Autobiography Week 6

Tone Down the Vocab!

This is an interesting topic for an essay. As I have mentioned before in other blog posts I have done, my family didn't really value education past high school. My mother was content with just passing and graduating high school.It should be of no surprise when I say that when I started in college I was put through the ringer a lot. I remember one particular time, I had just started in college at San Bernardino Valley College and my mother and I were having a one on one conversation. She was talking about all the lines in her sister's face and was wondering if hers were as bad. I said, "mom, hers are much more defined than yours." She looked at me and said, "Defined? What, do you think your a big shit now, going to college, you have to use 'defined'?" I was so confused as to why she was would see something wrong with me using that term. I said, "what's wrong with that?" "Well, aren't we just the educated one? Why didn't you just say the lines are more clear?"

Well, I still to this day believe she was threatened by me being in college so instead of arguing with her, I would just 'tone' down my vocabulary while I was around her and I still do it with the rest of my family. What's sad is, by doing that, I feel I forget the stronger vocabulary I have aqcuired through the course of my college education and when I am around my peers, I stumble on my words a lot.

I try not to 'tone' down my vocabulary anymore, however, I have been in school a long time and have been doing it for so many years, I am used to it. I never tried to make my family feel like they are anything less just because i am in school, however, I go out of my way to make them feel comfortable with me going to school since I am the black sheep for going.

I feel that when I write, the words flow a lot better than when I speak. I have no idea why that is.

Allow myself to introduce myself Volume 2

All about books

I’d have to say the first book I ever connected with was the Bible and because both sides of my family are so spiritual I grew up in homes filled with them. Part of what makes the bible so special to me is my connection with my maternal grandmother and the clarity of my memories of her are all wrapped up in the Bible. My family read a lot and not just my immediate family but almost my entire family, there are pockets of people who were workers or hustlers but for the most part everyone was about education. Even some of the people who didn’t do school the traditional way are incredibly literate and very well spoken. I was always surrounded by books my mother loves to read I think I’ve been to almost every public library and college library in San Bernardino County because of this. I recently read Love Poems by Pablo Neruda I love reading poetry more now than ever because the words seem to come to life for me and I’ll go back and read a poem three or four times if it really speaks to me. His collection of poems about love appealed to me because I’ve been so unlucky with that aspect of my life and I wanted to feel his take on the most essential aspect of the human condition. Love is so big and so expansive and Neruda makes it seem so simple and beautiful it almost gives me hope that one day I’ll know what it’s like to experience it.

Allow myself to introduce myself Volume 1

My relationship with words

I have always felt a special bond with words, I learned to read at three because my older cousins teased me and called me a baby when I couldn’t. My maternal Grandmother taught me to read by reading me bible scriptures like Deuteronomy and having me read them back to her. I wasn’t the first child Betty-Jean Johnson taught to read. She worked in the Pomona Unified School District for many years in various capacities and literacy especially with young black males was always a focal point of hers. My paternal Grandmother was also an educator with PUSD and I always got books for Christmas and my birthday. Growing up reading wasn’t just encouraged it was expected. At a family event grown ups would ask me what books I’d read lately or what I was working on in school. Once I began writing reading became an escape from my own words, it turned into a way to refresh my creativity and foster new ideas. I can only remember reading children’s books for a short time. They just never really interested me I read the paper I read the books on black history and culture that my step-dad kept around the house. I read sports magazines, and hip-hop magazines, I read song lyrics, and album covers. My literacy style is a big part of my identity, because as far as reading went nothing was off limits so I was allowed to explore and figure out who I was.

Literacy, Discourse, and Liguitics or What is Literacy?

In James Paul Gee's intoduction he explores the idea that through "intergrating the psycho and soocio approaches to language from a variety of disciplines, is emerging, a field which we might call literacy studies."(525) Applied linguistics is another term sites as related to his rearch in this area stating the foundation of his work
"should not be language or literacy but social practices."(525) Conversation and discourse is a huge part of literacy according to Gee's research, because oral expression of ones ideals and social interactions are a demonstration of one's literacy level. "Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which intergrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes." (526)Gee refers to discourse as an "identity kit" so naturally your literacy style is part of your discourse. Upbringing and family life are essential to our discourse, primary socialization begins at home at a very young age Gee calls this devolpment our "primary discourse". As we grow we develop other discourses, if someone comes from a home where only certain topics are addressed they may seek outside stimulation and develop "secondary discourses" to meet their needs. This is also a part of language/literacy aquisition, the understanding and application of new language is integral to human development and societies that encourage this flourish while those that don't fail. Within a given culture certain enclaves that are not establishing new disciurse may exist but those people restrict themselves and their children through this practice as new and different language is a part of man's advancement. Gee defines literacy as "the mastery of or fluent control over a secondary discourse."(529) He also states in the same passage that "literacy is always plural..." literacy having more than one meaning is a key element to lteracy studies and applied linguistics. Gee goes on to draw a line between the two and provide research to support the idea that "we are better at waht we aquire, but we consciously know more about what we have learned."(540) Undestanding that primary discourse is aquired and secondary discourse is learned explains the difficulty with defining literacy and evaluating it without taking into account the socialization of liguistics. Language is power it has been used to control people throughout time understnading how it relates to discourse and the perception of literacy style make it more clear that the command of the written word needs to accessible to all people.

Revision of "The New Literacy Studies" article...

By Teresa Espinosa

Street, author of "The New Literacy Studies" conducts a study on literacy and learns of two models presented by theorists and researchers of literacy. The two models are 'autonomous' and 'ideological'. Although Street identifies both models, he really doesn't sway in agreement with one or the other. He explains what they both mean and compares the two models based on theorists findings and research.

The autonomous model is described as literacy free from and unaffected by social context and outside forces such as media, culture, etc. It is driven by institutions. I don't agree with this model since I believe that society and culture are very important in learning literacy. Interpretation based on individual experiences help when developing literacy. One's experiences would motivate someone to write and perhaps read as well in search for something relative.

The ideology model is more the model I agree with. It says that "literacy practices are inextricably linked to cultural and power structures in society to recognize the variety of cultural practices associated with reading and writing in different contexts" (434). Literacy is driven by outside forces contrary to the autonomous model. Olsen stated that text differs from oral language however, they cannot be uninfluenced by culture or society.

The big question is, did writing change us in a way we do analytic thinking? I think not. I believe that writing is a technology that only enhanced the way we think critically. It is a way we can remember things yet we still need to analyze text to gather meaning.

"The New Literacy Studies"

By: Teresa Espinosa

Street discusses two theories regarding Literacy. One of which is called, The "autonomous" model and two called the "idealogical" model. What I think the autonomous model means is that speech is free from outside influences in most cultures and text is written freely without orality. I didn't quite understand the autonomy model, however, the Idealogical model is more of a power structure of language. He states, " Any ethnographic account of literacy will, by implication, attest it's significance for power, authority, and social differentiation..."(434). This model understands cultural wholes whereas the autonmous model does not.

Street writes about many reasearches and studies in Literacy and how the social context and culture plays a role in aqcuiring literacy.

Autobiographical Essay Week 5: Fear of Public Speaking

Back when I was still acquiring my Assiciates Degree at RCC, I had to take a class on public speaking. Just the thought of speaking publically made me sick to my stomach. I remember the professor would give us the speech assignment in class and just sitting there thinking about it made my stomach turn. I thought, how could I possibly do this?! After the assignment was given, I began to think about how to present it. It helped that the assignments had to do with personal concepts which definately makes things easier to talk about. I did one speech about the person I admire most, Frida Kahlo, and one about being a mother. Each time before I spoke, the fear was so strong. But thankfully, my professor had given us tips on how to present, such as index cards and practicing and timing the speech before the day of. Index cards really helped me to stay on track during the speech and it was funny how my fear was so great before I spoke, but as soon as I began the speech, my fear seemed to immediately dissolve. My voice is loud which helps overcome the timidness of it and because I was passionate about the topics, I had no trouble spouting out a few minutes. I still get this knot in my stomach when I am going to do a speech, but I know now that it will only last until I start the presentation. I think this class helped me overcome a great fear of public speaking and makes me more elegible to become a teacher.
Teaching, for some reason, I view differently than speaking publically, but speaking to any audience holds the same qualities and concerns. Who is your audience? What is the point of the speech? Are you loud enough? Is your timing accurate? Have you made your point clear, etc.? Getting this specific perspective on speech and language made me view speaking with a more optomistic approach rather than a fearful one. Since that class, I have given presentations in front of classes, teach my own class of children, have spoken in front of my church among other things, all of which I am proud to have accomplished.

Autobiography Week 5

Power in Debate

I can't remember the first time I felt very powerful, however, there was this one time, about 5 years ago when my older sister tried to belittle me by reminding me of how much smarter she is than me. You see, growing up, she did very well in grade school. Most of the time she had straight A's, she studied harder and had so much more discipline than I did. All the while, she would constantly remind me of how much smarter she was than me. Well, there we were many years after high school graduation and her searching for a job after being laid off by a retail store and with only a high school diploma to show for her education.

We were having our typical competition of who was smarter and I was winning! I was able to articulate my argument and I out witted her. She through in my face that she is still smarter than me and I just looked at her and said, "aw, how cute, you still think you're smarter than me!" She gave me a look like she felt defeated and had nothing more to say.

It took many years to be able to win an argument with her but through careful word choice and taking my time to think carefully, I did it. I took a debate class before that argument and I was able to use skills I learned in that class to strengthen my argument. I felt powerful. And by the look on her face, she felt like I did after every argument prior to that day.

That day proved to me that I am smart and it gave me the confidence to stand up for what I believe in regardless of the opposition. It's funny because although I had so much education to back me, I was still too intimidated to stand up for myself because I always second guessed myself when it came time to debate. Not anymore!

San Diego Zoo (Week 5)

To be perfectly honest, I've been told that as soon as I learned how to talk, I didn't stop. My mom tells me that she used to say, "Nora, my ears are so tired. Let them rest" because I talked constantly. It's really funny, actually, because it worked- I would stop talking at least for a little while. The first time I remember feeling powerful because of my language abilities was when I was in first grade. My parents took me to the San Diego zoo one weekend, and I asked my teacher if I could tell the class about our trip. She said I could, so I brought in a butterfly made of paper my parents had bought me and told the class about the zoo. I remember loving that the class was listening to what I had to say, and I really felt that what I was talking about was extremely important. Technically, it was my first class presentation, and I loved the attention I got from it.

I'm not as big of a chatterbox as I was in elementary school, but I do still like to voice my opinions either in class or just when talking with friends. What I remember most about that "presentation" was that I got to teach the class about the zoo, and I loved it. I guess it really wasn't that big of a shock to my parents when I told them I wanted to be a teacher in third grade because of my "love for the spoken language," as my mom endearingly calls it.