Writing is a PROCESS Not a Product
It was a dark stormy grey cloud filled day. In the middle of November 2016. My teacher Mr. Mayden was standing in front of the class informing us about the timed write we were about to take. I was sitting in wooden desk relaxing eating a granola bar that my friend Haley brought me. It … Continue reading “People throughout history have acquired literacy programmatically”
I’d never really considered myself good at writing before, nor did I enjoy writing. I would even go as far as to say I use to dread it. Writing was always just a part of school that I had to do in order to get a good grade, it was never something I really cared about improving … Continue reading “Figures Who … Smooth the Way for Initiates”
When I turned 13, the dreaded and anxiety provoking time had arrive. It was time to start studying for my Bat Mitzvah. I had multiple sponsors who essentially forced me to learn how to read Hebrew, although that makes it sound rather dramatic. But it was true, growing up in a reform Jewish household, not … Continue reading New Generation of Learners
The clock finally hit 6 o’clock. 6 o’clock meant work was over for mom and it was my time to get help with my reading. I grabbed my tattered book, ran down the hall and jumped onto the huge bed and squeezed right next to mom. Tonight, we would venture into new territory: Junie B. … Continue reading Sponsors are powerful figures who bank-roll events or smooth the way
“Literacy as a resource becomes available to ordinary people largely through the meditations of more powerful sponsors.” A powerful sponsor in my life showed me the power of reading a book. Something I will remember and carry with me for the rest of my life. The first book that made me cry was … Continue reading Literary Narrative: How the death of a spider taught me the power of a book
Embodied Moments of Literacy Learning It was a typical Sunday afternoon, post-dinner that had been abundant with cousins and aunts and uncles alike. Dinners could regularly be found with twenty or so people, with the majority being kids my age. I was seven years old and was exhausted from the hour of play with my cousins, … Continue reading Literacy-Narrative
As a group of 30 sixth graders walk timidly through the long hallways of the elementary school, heading towards the band room, I stand somewhere near the back, as per usual when lined up by alphabetical order. We arrive indoors after a brisk moment of standing in the rain, the sudden warmth touching our eager, … Continue reading “…sponsors deliver the ideological freight that must be borne for access to what they have.”
When I started to read I didn’t know I was reading. I was a young adventurous two-year-old ready to take on snack time. There was applesauce and color goldfish to eat that day. Once I finished my snack I decided I wanted to “read”. Reading is in quotation marks because I wasn’t really reading the … Continue reading Little Leaguers who wear logos on their uniforms, not out of a concern for enhancing image but as a means for getting to play ball
Emma Gillaspie The Ideological Freight that Must be Borne My stomach clenched at the word coming out of my third grade teacher’s mouth. “Your poems have to be done by the end of the day so we can decorate our posters tomorrow.” Mrs. Lee announced. I had already been worried but now my brain kicked … Continue reading The Ideological Freight that Must be Borne
Where does one go to forget the real world, to surround themselves with a story so different than their own? I go to my books. I go to fantasy novels, diving into a universe of wonder and magic, some (mis)guided by the Hero’s Journey, but exciting all the same. This all began for me a … Continue reading The lengths people will go to to secure literacy for themselves or their children
