I have to start with something of an embarrassing confession: when I first read the prompt, I did read the word “ecosystem” as the word “economy.” I thought that was an oddly specific consideration, but by the time I realized my mistake I had sort of a hard time letting it go. I think it does constitute a “collective structure,” so I’m going to stick with it.

Part of the reason thinking about the class as an economy is interesting to me is that the exact topic came up in class with my students. We were talking about Brandt’s essay and I described literacy and sponsorship as a kind of economy. Literacy can act as a currency with which individuals can buy access and agency within different communities and discourses; sponsors are the gatekeepers of that currency—the banks that issue funding.

Brandt also talks specifically about teachers in her article and essentially posits that teachers aren’t (or shouldn’t be?) sponsors themselves. I disagree with that wholeheartedly and frankly think it’s an irresponsible position. I mentioned briefly in class the fact that it’s not possible for teachers to teach literacies in a way that’s ideologically neutral. We bring our own ideologies to the way that we teach and we’re also inherently responsible to represent the ideologies of the institution (even in the sense, for instance, that we’re responsible to teach a curriculum that’s predicated on meeting institutional standards for composition). I want my students should be sensitive to the fact that “sponsors…gain advantage by [sponsorship] in some way” (Brandt 166) and to question why/how that is true in institutional academia.

With that in mind, I’m trying to be more conscientious about the economy of literacy in my classroom in two ways: 1) if I am the “banker” in this analogy, in what ways am I “collecting interest”—that is, what expectations do I have about what I want to gain (teaching experience, pedagogical ideology, personal satisfaction, etc.) from teaching my students? With that in mind, I also have to be mindful of whether I’m stewarding those expectations and interests ethically and responsibly with regards to my students. 2) If I’m going to operate out of a belief that literacy = currency = agency, what are the powers I both hope my students leave with and believe I can provide? If I am a gatekeeper to some kind of literacy, I need to at least attempt to locate what that literacy really is and evaluate honestly in what ways I am or am not equipped to provide it.