Abstract

My thesis going to be on why children have struggle with language in school and how educators are trying to help them. I came across this topic when I was reading Lisa Delpit's "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator" compared to when I previously read Min-Zhan Lu's, "From Silence To Words: Writing as Struggle". I decided to do this topic because when comparing the two I thought Lu as a child learned Chinese and Standard English eventhough she rarely spoke it while in Delpit's the black kids were having trouble writing and reading in Standard English even though they had to speak it almost all the time.

Abstract

As a main argument for this paper, I would like to talk about the issues of education in today’s society. I will use the stories “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” by Min-Zhan Lu and “Skills and other Dilemmas of a Progressive black Educator”. In Lu’s story she grows up and attends school during the communist revolution in china, but under Lu’s household she gets taught a western education by her parents. Her western education almost turns out bad for her because the government bans English from the country and becomes enemies with England and the U.S. In Delpit’s story she struggles with her teaching style because when she’s teaches in an open classroom her black students don’t do well while her white students excel. In her traditional setting her black students do decent but her white students still excel. I will also talk about how the similarities and differences between Lu’s and Delpit’s pieces and any way I can relate the two pieces to each other.

Abstract

I would have to say my argument is basically to stress that society and other factors in your life effect your education and your way of thinking. I will point out Lu's gov't situation as a main force as well as Jordan's issue wiht the death of Willie Jordans brother and it's impact. The argument of these things is very important because ifr not for these events then it is a completely different situation with a completely different outcome.

an abstract or something like it...

i'm not very good at writing abstracts so any advice would be appreciated!

this paper will address the topic of interest, dialects within in the English language, by using arguments from essays by June Jordan and Lisa Delpit, as well as examples from Black and Redneck English. the arguments will be delievered point by point, followed by a summary of the points given and a generalized conclusion that encompasses the two standpoints given. the questions raised by the authors of the essays, as well as myself, are the following: should other dialects of English be taught and why and how this should be approached, what impact would this have on the students and our culture as a whole, and is this debasing Standard English?

Abstract

My paper is about the very idea of culture and how Raymond Williams and Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen define the culture we live in today. Raymond Williams used his personal story to try and give a sense of what culture is which gave me the idea of using "In the shadow of the Image" to try and compare the authors ideas of culture. The authors are both correct because Williams lays down the aspects of a single culture while the Ewens try and give ideas about popular culture and the effects of commercial images. Raymond Williams does not use any ideas of popular culture in his story, his story was about defining the culture he lived in and how eventually over time the new ideas around his culture affected his community and made for change. I feel between the two stories that in the end I will be able to develop my idea of culture as I know from living and dealing with commercial images.

Abstract.

I think that my thesis for this paper would be focused on the fact that sometimes people need to accomadate there literacy skills to anothers in different social situations. The two stories i'm basing my paper around is Min-Zha Lu's " From silence to words: Writing as stuggles" and Gloria Anzalua's piece " How to tame a wild tounge". I"m compairing the fact that both auothers needed to adapt to different situations and how they use different languages in those situations. In Gloria's piece she tells us how difficult it was to adapt to using different forms of her chicano spanish language. In Lu's piece she disscusses how she tried to deal with all the simialar words in english and chineese. She also shows us how hard it was to go back and forth. Although these works are simialr they also have thier differences. Although Lu had to speak three languages she really only had to speak one, her family is the one who made her speak english. Gloria on the other hand had to learn different languages or dialects to make it through different situations in her story.


Hope this is right...wasn't in class last wednesday!

Abstract

My paper is based on individuality. I believe that Jordan and Delpit show strength in what they believe in. Both authors tried to pursue something they felt strongly about. Jordan and Delpit were treated like they had no place in the world for what they wanted the most. All they wanted was to succeed, for others and themselves. The world can sometimes be opened or closed more so to a certain group of people than another. I feel that they should be recognized for their great efforts. I think this argument is significant because its based around morals and common sense.

Abstract

Did we even get into a discussion of how to write abstracts last Wednesday?

My main arguement of my paper was that anyone can be literate and get over obstacles that come in the way of being literate. I realize it's not much of an arguement but still, I tried using Rose and Lu's essays to point out how the people in there stories were literate, because literate, became better at literacy even though they may have had trouble along the way. I guess my arguement is significant because I don't believe most people have a reason for being illiterate when they've been given the opportunity to go to public school. At least in America, nearly everyone is given the opportunity. These people got through there difficulties.

Abstract

I am thinking that a thesis for this paper would focus on the language barriers that one my face which leads to motivate one to either go back to school or to further their education past the normal requirement. I will be focusing on two litterary pieces, Mike Rose "Crossing Boundaries" and Min Zhan-Lu "From Silence to Words: Writing As Struggle" to help prove my argument. Mike Rose, talks about adults who are returning to school after being out in the society. These adults have realized that life without literacy is hard and that they can acheive much more with a better education. His students are extemely motivated and are willing to come back to school to learn the basics of the American language. Min Zahn-Lu talks about her own struggles with language and how by knowing two languages between two spilt cultures is difficult and confusing. She descirbes being consistently frustrated while trying to decide which language she should be using at what time. Both authors are discussing barriers but Rose is referring to the lack of knowledge towards literacy among adults and Lu is discussing how too much language can be just as confusing.

Abstract

It is my intent with this essay to demonstrate the influence of external social pressures on literacy. By paralleling Min-Zhan Lu’s “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” with Stuart and Elizabeth Ewens’ “In the Shadow of the Image” I will elaborate on the impact of continuous exposure to propaganda and peer pressure have not only on a person’s literacy, but also a person’s own identity. Lu’s essay illustrates her internal struggle with literacy and identity while trying to please both her Western cultured family and Chinese communist society. Her difficulty trying to decide her position on various issues under the constant bombarding ideas from her family and her school is similar to the struggle the typical consumers face in the Ewens’ article. The idea that these pressures from our environment can become ingrained into our subconscious is a very applicable concept to everyday life that deserves to be examined more thoroughly.

Abstract

Ok i'm never good at writing abstracts but here goes nothing:

In my paper I am going to talk about "Note-passing" and "In the shadow of the image". My thesis is going to show that whether its one perticular group of a school or a entire society of a school, similarities and differences will always arise causing the stress in any teenagers life. Both Finders and Ewens stories can relate to the lives of teenagers. Differences that they both have are Finders only decides to talk about one group of girls in a typical school, Ewens story of images can relate to teenagers but on a larger scale. Similar elements that they both have that can be brought up are how teenage lives can be affected by both note-passing and by the advertisment in todays society.

Hope i did this right

In my paper, I am going to dissect "The Shadow of the Image," and "Notepassing:Struggles for Status," by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewens and Margaret Finders. The thesis or argument of my paper will focus on how both these writers unique writing styles demonstrate how society today, especially cultured is highly influenced by language. Moreover, language today has changed in the last decade among adolescents and adults throughout the world. To add a creative twist to my paper, I decided to provide readers with concrete images and examples of how the Ewens and Margaret Finders describe literacy today. Furthermore, like the Ewens, I will wrote short paragraphs depicting stories of colorful images such as "The morning sun shines on the red-tan forehead of Billy O-Conner," (Ewens, 182) Also, I created a "note" of how teenagers express themselves today in their own language, such as Margaret Finders discussed in her essay, "yo! what's up?" (Finders, 131). Lastly, examples such as these, and explanations of these authors stories will tie into the core of my paper and how images and language effect society and culture as a whole today.

Abstract

My main argument for this paper is going to be that there should not be standards of languages in any society. The two articles I will be using for this show examples in which two different scinarios brought up problems of using different languages. The two articles are June Jordan's "Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan" and Min-Zhan Lu's "From Silence to Words: Writing as a struggle." In Jordan's text, she explains how her class used black English. Her students were reading a story in black english called "The Color Purple." While they were reading this, Willie Jordan, a student in the class, his brother was killed by the Brooklyn police. June Jordan thought it was appropriate that they write a letter to the police station using Black english. Through it all, the community, overall, rejected the use of the language and the reasons that were presented in the letter. In Lu's article, she tells about herself and how she went through some hard times as a youth using two languages. She lived in China and was taught to only use Chinese in school. Her parents then taught her the "western language," or simply English. SHe had a hard time not using English once and awhile in school and was punished for it. Lu did not see why this was happening and felt that it was okay for her to be using it. Lu later on became an English teacher. There is not a real big significance surrounding my argument, other than the fact that there should be no language barriers or standards in any society.

Abstract

Through the course of our readings assigned in this class we are presented with two separate but similar programs. Both are based in the same geographical region and both focus on furthering the education of people in their region. However one concentrates on its attempt to further the literacy of the adult population in the area and the other is associated with those still in school: "kindergarten through university". One excerpt that we read for class suggested that one of these programs, The Bay Area Writing Project, has a controversial background, while the other, the Bay Area Literacy Program doesn't seem to cause any suspition . That is why I'd like to discuss these two programs. Specifically I'd like to determine the root of the controversy behind the Bay Area Writing Project, and determine why the other program doesn't is not affected in the same way. In the process of working this out, I'd like to cite similarities and differences between these two, as well as any connections that can be found linking them together.

abstract

Disclamier : I'm going to take a shot at this abstract. It may be a little bit unorginized so read carefully.

As a thesis for this paper, I would like to focus on the motivations and assumptions of schooling in today's society. I will be focusing on two litterary pieces, Mike Rose "Crossing Boundaries" and Min Zhan-Lu "From Silance to Words: Writing As Struggle" to help me illistrate my point. Mike Rose, talks about the assumptions lower class citizens put on the effects of education, and how those effects motivate them to go back to school to earn their High School diploma. Even though, these adult students know how to read, write and pay bill's they still feel as if they need to complete what they believe to be "standard education" in order to have a better life, or a higher paying job. On the other hand, Min Zhan-Lu talks about education as more of a 'handiecap' to her writing and schooling. In Min Zhan-Lu's household, she was taught "western" education because her parents thought it would be more of asset rather then an problem. Unfortunatly, because 'western' education was band in her school and newly reformed china, her prior education served to harm her more then it did to help her. Through this essay, I will expand on how roles of socity play a part in education, and how education in certain forms can be both helpful and harmful.

The two texts that I choose for my paper are Mike Rose's Crossing Boundaries and June Jordan's Nobody Mean More to Me Then You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan. I wrote about how Jordan and Rose were both professors. In Rose’s piece “Crossing Boundaries” Rose was teaching adults who came back to school because for many different reasons they were unable to get schooling as children. June Jordan was teaching students, who had difficult situations to deal with, but was also going to school at the same time. Mike Rose in his article was talking about the effects of lower class citizens with poor or no education. Yes these people know how to do every day stuff but they feel it’s important for them to become educated even if they are older, they feel they need it for the rest of there life that they have ahead of them. June Jordan's text has to do with education and people facing problems now, and using there education to deal with the problems they’re facing. In Jordan's text they are writting a letter after Willie Jordan's brother was killed. They are writing the letter in the language, Black English which they were taught in school. My arguments are significant because both of these teachers were teaching students that were dealing with some sort of problem. Some of the problems the students faced were not as severe as other but they all impacted there lives and these teachers had to help the students get around them and also learn. These teachers did not avoid the problems they worked through them with the students while using what they had been teaching in the class room.

Abstract

I had a hard time pertaining arguments for both stories so I have two. My arguments towards the two stories are teachers don’t take into account the different ways to teach multiethnic students who are lacking specific skills and are dealing with everyday life in their societies. In Lisa Delpits story Skills and dilemmas of a Progressive black educator" she starts out with leaving her classroom open for all students to learn not realizing it takes more work and broader teaching lessons for these students to comprehend. In June Jordan’s story "Nobody means more to me than you and the life of Willie Jordan" She shows students proper ways to speak and write, but doesn't realize how societies are effecting these kids until Willie's brother is killed. The significance towards my first argument is Delpit would have done a better job with her early teaching job if she could have realized some students just need more work done with them, and Jordan should have realized being school smart doesn’t mean anything when your not smart in the real world.

Initial thoughts

My Initial thoughts toward the proper were seemingly good, but seemingly bad at the same time. I thought this paper shouldn't be to hard to put together, until I actually sat down and tried to brainstorm and right it. I guess I just have the hardest time understanding how to explain the story's in a symathetic way. I'm trying to read the story's thoroughly and understand them as best as I can. I also have a hard time thinking about what issues to write about, i'm still in the process.

ABSTRACT

I expressed the differences and similarties of culture discussed in the two texts "Culture is Ordinary" by Raymond Williams and "In the Shadow of the Image" by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen. I argued that they both resemble some of the same ideas on culture as well as differences. Culture is made up of changes, and society makes up our changes is a similarity they expressed. Everyday, everything we do makes up our culture. They both backed up their ideas by explaining descriptions of events in everyday life. As well as similarties there there were also difference between the texts. Stuart and Elizabeth expressed in "The Shadow of the Image" that culture is being made up of mass-medie and commercial images, that they beleive culture is going to be taken over by a consumer society. Raymond Williams in "Culture is Ordinary" just expressed the idea of culture being ordinary and that society influences and makes up different cultures. The signifigance of my argument is to show that culture can be many different things, many things can make up what a culture is. People have different opinons on culture because our society makes up the definition of culture.

Abstract~

My main argument/thesis is that every student needs special help to learn. A teacher can not just always be correcting the student, instead they need to help by showing interaction with the student. In Rose's piece- this occurs when Rose is trying to help Millie. Rose finds that once he actually shows Millie to mark up her test and to interact herself with the problem she begins to understand. This is important because it shows the interaction. In Delpit's piece- this occurs when Delpit is trying to use the open classroom effect. Delpit learns that she can not have the student just do their own thing, instead the student needs to have the teacher there showing and guiding them through interaction. This helps the black students do better. The significance of my argument is that in both texts Rose and Delpit try to help many ways but do not figure it out until they both use interaction with their students.

Initial thought..

Well.. about this paper... lets just say I hope I am doing it right! My initial thought was that it would not be to bad to bring the paper together. I thought I had made a connection between the two stories I was writing about. (Rose and Delpit) Then I discovered that it was much harder than that. I found myself questioning everything I was writing and trying to figure out if I was doing it right. I approached the assignment doing each step by itself. I first got a sympathetic reading on both and then did the sumilarities and differences. My issues were.. Rose- He did not know how to help his students do better on their tests. Delpit- She wanted to find a way to teach black students so that they could learn all that they needed to suceed in life. I'm really hoping that I am doing this paper right!

My attempt at this Paper!

Ok so I started writing my paper and I have no clue if what i'm writing makes any sense or if i'm doing it right. It took me a while to actually get going with it, i had no clue how to start it off. After i did I was able to write but I have only been describing Finders and Ewens stories and how their different. I don't even know if is even right with the paper assignment. I hope I will get some good feed back from mr. mahoney.

Attempt to Paper # 1

Well my paper is only about 2 pages long as of right now but I am not really sure whether or not I am heading in the right direction. I am still writing about Lu and Rose's pieces and how they both dicuss the struggles of language and literacy. This paper has taken me a long time to write but i figure at least I am trying. I am not really sure what type of form my paper is written in because i am just kind of typing away with no real set format. But I am looking forward to class to get help.

I have no idea what i'm doin...

Okay! So I only have barley a page written and this paper is due in like 4 hours...I sat at this computer for about 4hours all together and can't think of anything. Maybe I don't understand how to write this paper! O dear. I need help...can anyone offer a hand?

help..

I'll be the first to admit that I'm stuck on this paper. Last nigth i spent two hours stareing at a blank computer screen, by then end of this two hours i could mangage to barly get out one paragraph. This morning i gave this paper another attempt, only to result in the completion of one full page. Maybe i started to late but, i guess i was putting it off in the first place because i have no idea where to start. If anybody could help me, I would really appriciate it ! thank you

2nd Response to Literacy Paper

I think I finally know how to set up my paper! In choosing to write about the Ewens and Finders essays, I decided to dissect how Finders and Ewens provide a reader with two completely different languages in literature; two different writing styles, images vs. improper language today. For example, my paper is going to be set up like Ewens and Finders, my first paragraph is a quotation of how teengers talk such as "Hey, what's up gurl..hit me up later tonight!" and from there I produce my introductory paragraph. Then I will write a short short within my essay like Ewens does, such as: John Smith looked outside his small opaque cottage window, with a cup of joe in hand, reading the daily news sports section, the same thing he does every early Sunday morning. Therefore in my paper, I am going to discuss language in the eyes of teenagers effecting society creating a new language to literacy, and how colorful imagery in Finders essay shapes society in its own form, language, and culture. Both of these languages, I will conclude to be very similar yet different at best.

paper

I have put much consideration into our assignment. Most of the story's I've had a hard time comprehending the general ideas. The two story's I seem best able to relate to are June Jordan's and Lisa Delpits writings based on Black English . My main argument will be mainly towards black education, meaning more time and effort should consist of ways of learning and comprehending skills. Jordan wants to help better Standard English, while Delpit wants teachers to better educate students and forms of literacy’s. I will use both texts to support my argument as well as to get my point across to the audience.

Sympathizing with myself

Deciding which texts to do this paper on has been difficult. Most of the works have mixed messages, whether it's stressing the importance of literacy, pointing out the discrepancies in multicultural education, or even the struggle of being literate in several languages. Every text has its own purpose and there's only so much overlapping between them. For now I'm writing about Rose and Delpit. Rose writes about his experiences teaching the “educational underclass” and the difficulties his students have in comparing to standards today. Delpit sort of writes about the same things, except there's her issue of race and how racial differences affect learning. She also writes about the importance of critical thinking on top of literacy. I hope i figure this out, it's getting late.

Paper

I am going to write my paper on Rose's and Lu's essays because those are the two that I enjoyed the most and fit the best together. My arguement will be how it is sometimes hard for people to get maybe the type of education that they wanted and that there are hard spots along the way to reaching their goals.

Idea about paper

I have put much consideration into our assignment. Most of the story's i'v had a hard time comprehending the general ideas. The two story's I seem best able to relate to are June jordan's and Lisa delpits writings based on Black English and how it affects literacy. My main argument will be mainly towards black education, meaning more time and effort should consist of ways of learning and comprehending skills. I will use both texts to support my argument as well as to get my point across to the audience.

Paper Idea

After changing my mind a couple of times, I have decided to go with my original idea which is writing about "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" and "From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle." I have all of my similarities pretty much worked out. Both authors speak multiple languages yet are limited in language when speaking to different people. Both struggle with keeping their identity while giving up significant pieces of themselves to satisfy whoever/whatever is superior at the time. As far as differences, I'm still struggling even as I am writing my paper at the moment. I'm thinking something along the lines of acceptance vs. rejection of language, culture, etc. Hopefully, something will jump out at me soon.

paper idea...maybe

initially, the idea that i had was to use jordan's and delpit's essays in conjuncture to present a new topic of interest with the format of two opposing arguements. unfortunately after reading both essays again i realized that neither authors were arguing the point i would be presenting specifically, or that they were arguing against each other. in fact the idea i would be preseting would be based almost solely on jordan's essay and the study of a dialect of english.
i chose this essay because it really made me think a little further beyond the actual context of the piece. it made me ask questions within the story's perimeters but with my own questions. if one can study black english, who's to say you can't study 'redneck/hillbilly' english? the perimeters of my paper being the following:
1. Learning [dialect] is not abandoning the standard english form.
2. Learning [dialect] is not debasing the standard english form.
3. [dialect] is not a butchered form of standard english. Rather, it is a form that is used because it holds cultural ties to those who speak it. *English isn't what it used to be when it was spoken by the English people themselves.*
I would also like to add some additional points to this paper based on my opinion of the essay by jordan. Such as:
1. [dialect] can be taught optionally to teach the aspects of a culture.
2. [dialect] could be considered a dissection of 'taught skills' which is then a reformatted version of standard english.
3. [dialect] essentially takes standard english and bends the rules to mold it to its own varying rules.

although the final format of my paper is not completely concrete as of yet, i have a basic idea to work with. i still need another essay to include with examples for my final paper. any suggestions are welcome!

Paper #1

I'm going to do my paper on Lu and Jordan's pieces. There are both about two languages being used or taught in a society where it is difficult. Lu's article shows how she knew her language and English, which was frowned down upon in her society. She says that she had a reason for learning it, but was still rejected for usining it. In Jordan's, the use of Black english in a classroom is brought up to write a letter to the police officers. The community also looked down on them for using it. The stories are both about two language struggles that are brought up in their own societies.

Initial Thoughts.

Forgot about this one... :/

I really don't know if I like this assignment. I have trying to find a common meaning between two pieces of writting I really don't like and then writing a long and boring essay based upon them. I think it'd be better if er could have gone out and actually found our own essays that meant something to us so that we could build upon them. But I guess that would defeat the purpose of most of these essays being about literacy and composition. I wrote down notes and formulated arguements to help me with the assignment.

Slight hangup on my paper idea.

I was going to write about Bay Area Literacy program (Rose's article) and Bay Area Writing project (Delpit) but I realized are not the same thing, oops. I saw "Bay Area" in both articles and assumed they were talking about the same thing, I think i'll see if i can still connect those two pieces in some similar way. Guess its good I caught that this morning at least.

Paper

I think im going to do my paper on Rose's "Crossing boundaries" and Jordan's text. Im not so sure what to write about because i still don't fully understand what were sopoused to be doing? But i think im going to do something with how they were both teachers? Jordan taught black English and Rose taught children and adults with all different learning styles and abilities. Im really not sure im just going to start writting and see how it goes or if i need to change it.

changing my paper idea

Okay! So after reading the story by Gloria something or other. I've decided to write my paper on that story and Lu's story. because they both deal with different language situations. They both want to speak one language but in society they find it hard because when they are in different social situations people are speaking different and they needed to learn to cope with that. Although I find these stories different also because in Lu's piece people told her she had to speak english one time, chineese another. But in Gloria's piece she seemed like she adapted on her own. Hope this turns out better for me than my last paper was going to!!

Paper Ideas

I decided to do my paper on Stuart and Elzabeth Ewen's "In the Shadow of the Image" and Margaret J. Finders "Note-passing". These so far have been the only two pieces I have really liked and actually understood. The differences with "Note-passing", Finders talks about one group of people the "queens" or as we know them the popular people. Images talks abou the society as a whole and not just one group of people and how they are affected and influenced by advertisment. Similarities between the two would be relating to culture and how they make people feel. The note-passing one makes between feel less of them selves by the peers around them and images makes people think about how they act, look, feel, etc by the products they use or see advertisments about. Hope I did this right!

Literacies Paper

I think I will do my first paper on Lu's piece and Delpit's piece. I don't know if they have to tie together, but if they do I think I will talk about how Lu as a child was proficient in writing and speaking the English language as opposed to Delpit who talks about Black English and how her colleage's say it's harder for black students to be creative writers in Standard English.

Mahoney's ENG 023 Blog

Whats Up class,

Im not really sure what two stories I am going to compare and contrast. I liked the "Culture is Ordinary" story and I think I would be able to use the note passing story in my paper and have a lot to write about. I feel that if I were to compare the way culture is ordinary than it would be easy for me to write about the topic along with note passing because I now realize that it is an everyday event for middle schoolers and some high schoolers across the country.

confused??? help--FIRST PAPER!

I have been checking all weekend to see if anyone wrote anything about the paper, because I wasn't sure if we were suppose to, but I guess so.

Preferably my favorite stories were the two we discussed on friday about the "note-passing" and "In the Shadow of the Image." I would like to discuss the two but I'm not quiet sure how I could. I guess I could show similarites between them, like about culture and society. But I don't know if that's good. Anyone have any ideas? Or I was wondering if it'd be possible to discuss the ever-so-popular "Culture is Ordinary" by Raymond Williams and "In the Shadow of an Image." I think they both have to do with culture, and the authors different views on culture, because "The Shadow of an Image" discussed ordinary people and ordinary life and changes that happen everyday and "Cluture is Ordinary" discusses culture and how its ordinary because of changes. I don't know if they can be compared very well, or if that's even a story to choose from. I'm not sure, I'm so confused. I need some advice and ideas?

comp. paper

I'm going to compare and contrast about Lu's article and Jordans. I chose these two because i found them most interesting to read. In Lu's she is being chastised for knowing 2 languages and very capable in both. In Jordans they are also learning basically 2 languages, the standard and black english's the class is not respected by society when they choose to use black english as well as how Lu is not respected by her use of the english language. It is important to look at the enviromental factors surrounding both of these pieces, and the family issues.

"Literacies"

Hey everyone,
I also, like Sarah, want to write about the "Note-Passing", and "Shadow of the Image", articles because I found them the most creative and intriguing above all of our reading assignments. I really liked them because they related to personal situations of every day life in sociey, and I feel like I can write about these two stories well. Most importantly, from each artice I grasped key concepts about how societies and groups of people change over time, how different one culture or individual is from the other.

i have no idea

Allright. I'm trying to get a sense of these stories so I'll be able to tie them together in some clever way. I really enjoyed the past two articles, Ewen and Finders, especially Ewen. I thought it was a very interesting article with all those little historical moments in our lives that we never seem to pay attention to. But I think I'm going to have to do..... a comparison of how important literacy and writing is in our culture with either Rose and Jordan or Lu and Jordan.

First college paper ~!

For my first paper, I'm going to compare and contrast Min-Zhan Lu, "From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle" and Mike Rose, "Crossing Boundaries". Both pieces dealt with each authors struggle with language. They both encounters and over came personal barriers but each in their own circumstances. In this paper I will also respond to the issue of how society uses different types of language to distinguish class type, and political views with in the home life.

Ahh!...Paper # 1

Well, I am definately not one of the best writers in the world so this paper is going to probably be so much harder for me to write then it really is.

For this first paper I plan on writing about the articles from Min-Zhan Lu and Mike Rose. Both authors discuss language barriers that people in society are faced with depending on whether they are America's "educational underclass" or if they are living in a split culture. A difference is that Rose' article is from a teacher point of view and Lu's article is from her own point of veiw and her struggle while growing up.

I am not really sure if this was a good start or not..so if anyone has any ideas or is willing to help me out that would be great!

Paper

I think for my paper I'm going to write about Note-Passing : Struggles for status and In shadow of the Image. Similarities between these two stories would be that they are both relating to culture. In the note passing one it is talking about the culture of girls and note passing and with the vignettesit's reffering topopular culture with commercial images. Also another similarity is how they make people feel. A difference would be Unlike the Ewens, Margaret Finders only explores the popular girls in school. The Ewens though look at different people living in America.
Hope this blog is correct...

Paper Idea

Well now that I know this is what I was supposed to do:

For my paper I'm going to do a piece on how cultural literacy influences identity by connecting Lu's story, From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle with the Ewens' work, In the Shadow of the Image.

Now don't steal my idea or else I will be a sad panda. Any input, ideas, or comments will be much appreciated.

Edit: I should probably elaborate on my idea. I choose these two seemingly unrelated articles because I found that the issue of identity being affected based on external influences to conform as a common theme in both. I hope that clears things up for you all.

Paper #1 "Literacies"

I'am going to do my paper on Lisa Delpit and June Jordan. I'am going to talk about how they focused on different issues raised by Black English. I chose these two readings because they were the easiest for me to understand and comprehend. I also took and interest in them because I want to be a teacher and I have similar views from both of them. I think these two topics will hold up good arguements...

Reflecting on your posts

I've been reading your posts from last week and began thinking about some of the issues of literacy we've been discussing. I continue to come back to the complexity of the issue of literacy when we start considering what is involved with the ways we learn language and the ways in which culture is intertwined with both language and identity. For example, Lu, Jordan, Delpit, Rose, Anzaldua, and Finders all point out issues of "shame" or discipline around language. Anzaldua tells us, "if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity--I am my language" (521). In telling the story of her struggle between her "home" language of English and her "school" language of Chinese in Revolutionary China, Lu writes: "Constantly having to switch back and forth between the discourse of home and that of school made me sensitive and self-conscious abotu the struggle I experienced every time I tried to read, write, or think in either discourse" (136). And Jordan argues that "Black English" is a "irreplaceable system of community intelligence" (145) and that the "syntax of a sentence equals the structure of your consciousness" (149).

I am also thinking about our discussion of Finders's article, "Note-Passing: Struggles for Status." As I said in class, it was very interesting to hear how discussing your everyday experience or thoughts about note-passing became intertwined with issues of gender identity and how gender is framed and disciplined. That discussion seemed to further complicate the issue of literacy. Now I am paying attention not only to language, but also to the practice of literacy. For example, in Sizer's article, he "tests" the official rhetoric about educational goals against the practice of everyday life in schools. He concludes by arguing, that the "rituals" of education tell us that school is a place in which "adolescents are supervised, safely and constructively most of the time, during the morning and afternoon hours, and they are off the labor market. That is what high school is" (113). Sizer also tells us that the classroom is devoid of dialogue and that "probing of students' thinking is not a high priority" (112). Likewise, Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen barrage us with a series of vignettes and then conclude that these seemingly disconnected moments from daily life form an "ensemble, an integrated panorama of social life, human activity, hope and despair, images and information...a pattern of life" (185). They argue that this pattern is tied to the rise of industrial consumer society and "spells new patterns of soical, productive, and political life" (185).

A whole lot to consider! Anyway, these are just some thoughts roaming through my head as I think about your writing!

Paper #1

I'm not sure if we are posting anything about the paper or not?!? I think I am going to write about "Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan" and "Skills and Other Dilemmas if a Progressive Black Educator." My argument would be showing the difference ways teachers teach students from traditional ways to their own separate ways. I'm really not sure of any audience issues that need to be considered. Any ideas?? Please let me know :)

In the Shadow of the Image & Note-Passing

After reading both of these short stories I found that both were very interesting. I liked Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen's "In the Shadow of the Image" because it kept changing. To me it seemed like they were trying to advertise something in each little story. I especially liked the one with Archie Bishop and how he got a shower and actually read the directions on the shampoo bottle. I know most of us have done that before but never would you think of doing it while actually taking a shower. It was more fun to read because they were using everyday things that we could relate to and help us understand better. I can see were people might get confused and not understand why they jump around so much but I thought it was fun because it kept you on your toes to keep up with them (the writers).
The note-passing story was just very funny to read. I found it very amusing that someone would actually want to write a story about it though. I can definitely relate to the story because I would pass notes all the time in grade school. I think everyone in our class can say they passed a note once in their life during grade school. While reading this it reminded me so much of middle school and how much fun we had finding ways of hiding the notes and trying to pass them to one another. When I read the part about the "queens" achieving more status in school by receiving more notes, I felt that Finders was wrong. It did not matter what type of clique you were in or how popular you were. Everyone passed notes no matter what type of social status they had in school. It never fazed me that passing a note could mean that you were some how popular.

Images Vs. Note-Passing...two writing techniques

Hey everyone,
I'm not sure what all of you thought about these short stories, but I personally like them the most out of the readings we discussed before, "The Shadow of the Image", is a great story in which almost everyone can relate from adolescents to adults, throughout every day life. Not only do Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen, demonstrate accurate descriptions of ordinary people confined to an ordinary world, both composed their "stories" within a story, as very diverse at the same time. Most importantly, what stood out in my mind as creative and attractive to readers, was the Ewens, brilliant usage of color in detailing, each picturesque image throughout this reading. For example, a short narrative about a man named Bill O'conner just sitting, leisurly reading his daily news, says, "The morning shines on the red-tan forehead of Bill O'Conner..." The first word to jump out at me, in reading this sentence, is "red-tan", because I think that most of us beings are sensory indivudals, and look for something vibrant and interesting to catch our eyes. Therefore, adjectives such as these, keep the reader wanting to read more about these images, and more about the people mentioned further in this reading.
In the "Note-Passing" article by Finders, she introduces a simple writing style, that almost ever teenager throughout the world can relate to, passing silly notes. Who in this class can honestly say that never passed a funny, embarrassing, or even risky note? Most people have. I know I have, I even got in trouble plently of times doing so. When reading this I realized, back when I was in middle school, we just wrote notes for fun, not for status. Finders points out in her story how the "queens" achieve status in school by the more notes they recieved and how uncool you were if you did not receieve many. This is the main thing that interested me the most, because to me notes are just notes, who knew pen and ink and a simple, cute note could make you so popular! ~Angel~

Response to Lu and Rose's pieces.

Both pieces are of a struggle, Lu's a more personal one and Rose's is of a struggle that society is dealing with. When dealing with Literacy I find Lu's article is torn between her own govt's conflicts, she is well advanced for her age and it gives her problems, that is looked downed upon by everything around her. Rose's dealings with literacy are that people are willing to cast aside the illiterate rather than give help. I liked Lu's more because it was easier to read for me.

Sympathetic Readings of Delpit

I am all for the "open-classroom" teaching style. It seems that when Delpit tried this way of teaching in 1970's was fairly new compared to the way her and other older black educators were taught. The traditional style of "...students practiced handwriting; I wrote on the board; I got some tables to replace some of the thrown-out desks." was what seemed to work with black students more because it was the way they could relate their own language to that of Standard English. Maybe black students we'rent giving enough attention or maybe Standard English wasn't as prevelant in their home as with white students, so it made it harders for them to jump to "writing creatively". But I do admire Delpit trying the change the rules even when in the long run she had to abandon her views.

Sympathetic Delpit

Research can not account for what is true for every individual. Delpit expresses this throughout the article. Every time she is put in a situation where she is applying her research in teaching, it fails for a certain group of children. She expresses how much she was dependent on research in the begining of her article when her family would tell her, "I didn't ask you about what any research said, what do you think?" This statement haunts her throughout her teaching career. Everytime Delpit is faced with the research vs. reality obstacle she has a major internal conflict in deciding which is best for her students. I sympathise with Delpit in this conflict. Everyday we are taught things that may not nessecarily comply with actual life. Research can never fully encompass how every individual thinks or feels. So what do we go by when real life situations arrise that we were taught about in a certain class? What do you think? Exactly, what do YOU think. No research can ever overide a persons critical thought in a situation. I believe it is best to go by instict which is not nessecarily throwing out the textbook and your college education but rather combining both your thought and research.

Sympathetic Reading on Jordan's entry

As I began the reading by June Jordan I began to think about her position while writing this article. Jordan was teaching "Black English" so that her children in the classroom could learn all different types of languages. The children did learn "Black English" but it was not easy. It took a while because it was so hard to go to something so improper. Jordan is trying to understand that even though "Standard English" is taught in school, that not all children use it. The children that do know "Standard English" have a difficult time learning "Black English" because it is so different. At first the teaching was just for a fun activity, but then Willie Jordan's brother was killed by the police. The students took it hard and decided to write a letter to the cops telling them what was on their minds. The letter stuck out and was respected not only because it was written with love from the students but also because it was written in "Black English" just the way Willie's brother would have wanted it. June Jordan could never have guessed that teaching "Black English" to her students would pay off so much.

Sympathetic Reading...Lisa Delpit

I was taught that all children can learn...I know thats true but is seems to be a very broad statement and Lisa Delpit puts it all into perspective. She was taught to do things one way and came to learn that it might not be the way for everybody. This led her wanting to have what they call an open-classroom. There, children were in control of their own learning. Years past and several statistics were reached. It turned out that different cultures learn differently at their own rate. That could very well be questioned because educators sometimes don't look outside the classroom to understand their students. Lisa Delpit did. She made objectives for herself and put her students and co-workers first. Lisa Delpit wanted the best for everyone and to make the word "failure" not exisit...

Min-Zhan Lu & Mike Rose

What a difference...These two essays were much easier to understand. When both authors were discussing their issues of literacy, I felt like I was right there with them. For the most part they were very straight forward and said what they had to say. I believe that Lu truely believes in what she was saying and feeling because it was said that she was brought up in two conflicting worlds. She knows right off hand whats she has to do and does it. I felt that Rose didn't support that so much. It was like an opposite in a way. I feel that both essays made good points that were easy to follow...

Lisa Delpit, "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator"

First and foremost I believe Lisa Delpit is speaking with a great frame of mind when it comes to discussing the problems in trying to teach black students to be "fluent" with the english language. In order to be fluent with a language, one must be able to communicate with other people by using the language, which is not the problem according to Lisa Delpit. The problem for her students in philadelphia and the problem with her peers students revolves around the "skills" of critical and creative thinking. The problem with-in her article and the way she explains it comes from the majority not understanding and listening to the minority. She discusses how her fellow black teachers were disgusted with the Bay area writing project because it was "racist" and wouldn't teach the black children how to become better educated for the world of college, since it lacked the "skills" approach. In conclusion I agree with the way Delpit approached her article, my opinion is somewhat forced because I don't know much about the education system and the best way to be taught. I do know that Delpit brought up a good argument and it is the "skills" a child must learn to become better educated.

Jordan

In the beginning of this short essay, Jordan talks about language, black language vs. white language. How the English language does not live up to its standard of geography, and class. In the midst of reading "The Color Purple" with his class, Jordan runs with the idea of teaching the linguistics of Black English. First this is a fun experiment for the class, they turn sentences and phrases into Black English, and they come up with rules and guidelines for the qualifications of the language. They even take excerpts from great American plays and novels and re-write them in Black English for their final. Toward the end of this essay one of Jordan’s students has a run-in with the police. Willie Jordan’s brother was brutally murdered for no apparent cause by the New York Police Station, which turns the class main focus to racism in society. The class tries to find a stand with their Black English, writing letters to the media and to the police station unfortunately getting pushed "under the rug". The message of this essay turns from language to a harsh reality.

A Sympathetic Reading on Jordan's Entry

As I began reading this, I not only began to truly sympathize with Jordan, but also began thinking about other 'forms of English', that may have slipped into the cracks of our own culture. This thought process began with, ' " What we causually call ''English'', less and less defers to England and its ''gentlemen''..." ' Considering how many people, how many nations use English in their culture, it is no wonder that the language has changed vastly from that which was used by its predecessors. In fact, one could almost broaden this essay by moving beyond 'Black English', into specific dialects of English in countries like Australia, Canada, South Africa, where their forms of English are more colonial based. However, what I find absolutely fascinating is that we all are taught the same basic form of English in school. It's when we leave the school grounds that we use this language however we see fit. Yet if we were to write out the words we say in their true phonetics, we would hard pressed to understand what was written. Such was the case when the Black students began to read 'Black English', out of the book, 'the Color Purple', by an accomplished author Alice Walker. This book was written purposely using 'Black English', yet because the students were taught, or beaten into, Standard English they found reading the novel quite challenging. Though it took some time to understand and learn Black English, it was used more frequently in writing by the students, most notably after their classmate Willie Jordan lost his brother Reggie in a brutal police murder.
Further reading shows that like any other language, custom, religion, or form of culture, it cannot be put into a stereotypical box. This doesn't mean there aren't borders and rules; simply put any aspect in a culture has many more elements to it than at first glance. "There's a whole lot more to Black English than mothafuckin'.'' This can also be true with religion, there's a lot more to them than the rituals themselves. There is a reason why we speak how we do, why we worship who we worship, so on and so forth. I believe that is the point Jordan is trying to make, at least on some level.

Sympathetic Jordan

June Jordan tries to teach her class about Black English. When they all finished reading their first assignment of it they all were confused saying it did not make any sense. But why would it be difficult for them to read if Black English was originated from the Standard English? When she tried to show them how to interpret it into Standard English, they all realized it was not as hard as they thought and started having fun with it. It became much easier for them to understand and enjoy. Black English is just another unique language that shows a different approach to its meaning. They were able to take the Black English and use it to express to the police how they felt about the killing of Reggie Jordan. The Black English helped give them their own chance on expressing how they felt in a different style text which opened them up more to the people. Even though their letters did not make it into any newspaper or television news station they felt better knowing they still were able to express themselves in a unique manner.

June Jordan: Sympathetic Post

When June Jordan first introduced that she was using Black English in her class to teach, I thought that it allowed her students to go at learning from a different angle. For some students, it may have made it easier to understand, for others harder. I say this because most of her class felt that the way the language was made it improper and they did not belong. The purpose of the text was to show how the use of black english was used in her class. Willie Jordan had a brother who was said to be murdered by the Brooklyn police. They assumed it to be a police brutality case based on the race of his brother. Jordan and her students wrote a statement to the Brooklyn police because they felt what happened was unethical. They wrote these letters using black English because they felt that the message might get across more clearly and the way they wanted it to throughout the black communities. The use of black english in the reading was a great way to get across how the actions that occured lean towards racism by a white cop on a black male. I also think that with the students use of the black english it opened themselves up more to the community and it helped them get their point across.

Sympathetic: Jordan

Also biting my tongue with Sam….forget the Tylenol, pass the Gin!

Why us spose be speakin good English, they English?  We take they English and makes for us.  It sound right ta us, and longs us understan it, that what matter.

Black English, though separating itself from the standard structure of words, is a suitable language that offers a different approach to expressing thoughts.  It is unique for it necessitates the learner to abandon almost all rules concerning verb tense, the use of double negatives and pronouns of Standard English while still forming complete and clear sentences.  Black English is an aide to those who use it to allow themselves to connect with each other on the most honest level.  Although its general form originates from Standard English (which was once withheld), it has been transformed into a language all its own for its native users.  It allows its users (those who were/ are in oppression) to feel that one area of their life—the most important—is untouched by those of dominance and it serves as a means of survival from that same control.  Jordan’s class’ decision to write their letters using Black English demonstrated their support of their language and the ongoing struggle while protesting not only the killing (murder!) of Reggie Jordan at the hands of the police but the resistance to the conventionalities  of the dominant power.


  

A Sympathetic Reading for "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator"

In "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator," Lisa Delpit describes going through school and always her "Black English" corrected by her teachers and mother into "hypercorrect Standard English." She also talks about the way she was taught "'skills' and grammar" in her writing. These ways of teaching were not meaningful to her at all. Instead she preferred a method of learning to speak the correct way by speaking to others who spoke in that manner and prefered "writing in meaningful contexts" over learning the way she had been taught up until graduate school. It is certainly a lot easier to give a hands on approach to speaking and writing as apposed to sitting in a classroom and correcting grammar in a text book or being condemned for every 'ain't' or 'me' where an 'I' should be when you speak. Consistent sentences to correct, is sometimes a good form of learning, but with a more direct and meaningful approach, such as writing a short story, grammar can become a lot easier. The same goes for speaking. The author preferred a more "holistic" form of teaching where reading and writing are mixed together and focus was on the meaning and not just the form.

Sympathy for Delpit

My understanding of this article was that Delpit suggests that school systems cannot rely solely on skill based learning(traditional drill based learning and specifically in this article grammar and writing protocol was mentioned) or progressive "fluency" based learning (it doesnt matter what your work looks or sounds like as long as its your own voice because you're special), a compremise should be reached. It also seems to suggest that she believes black and white children need different training.

Really I dont know what else to say, since I have no opinion here, and no deep insight to offer, I'm just spitting back out what i read.

Sympathizing with Delpit...

"Why do the refrains of progressive educational movements seem lacking in the diverse harmonies, the variegated rhythms, and the shades of tone expected in a truly heterogeneous chorus?"

In those words, Delpit opens a can of worms. The condition that the education system is currently in, the condition of academia in general, and even our own cultural standards come into question. Delpit is asking, with all the openminded, "progressive" individuals involved in education, what keeps ALL of us from being allowed to shine in our own particular way... Ultimately her writing deals primarily with the issue of black literacy in education and why innovative practices and new age educational ideals aren't cutting it.

Language shapes perception. That's the foundation for learning. Language is the channel that ideas, both mundane and revolutionary, are transmitted on. People of different cultures come to see the world according to their own cultures' language (Think about last week's readings, about how Min-Zahn Lu saw the word "red" changing and warping as her culture evolved around it.)To teach a multicultural classroom, one needs to take all cultures present into consideration. What may accelerate the learning of one cultural element in the class might impede another. It is this core that forms the basis for Delpit's arguements against contemporary "one size fits all" educational standards.

Delpits sympathetic reading

After reading Lisa Delpits "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator" I have come to conclude that she believes that it is the educators problem for why black students are not grasping the concepts of literacy as well as other students. Delpit describes the different styles of teaching and how different styles can reach students more than others. Throughout Delpits teaching years all she has been interested in was teaching in an untraditional way but she found that students were not understanding the material as well as when being taught in a traditional way. The problem with teaching in just one way is that other teachers are not willing to hear other ways of teaching and are unwilling to compromise in a teaching method. Black teachers find themselves to feel as though their voices are being hushed from non-minority educators. Therefore, until educators can come together and develop a style of teaching that works for all students, the students are the ones suffering.

Reading Lu and Rose

The readings by Rose and Lu put one thing forth: literacy is an essential tool for enriching any life. To be literate in the eyes of Mike Rose is to have the power to lift one's self above the shackles that illiterate life imposes. In Lu's opinion, literacy is the cornerstone (albeit a burdensome one at times) of a cultural perspective, without which, one would be limited to the views expressed by a particular interest or group. While both authors stress literacy as a tool needed for success in general, they both go about proving their point in very different ways.

In the reading by Rose, literacy is being experimented with by the Bay Area literacy program. It's participants are all older, and all have had personal opportunities to observe the pitfalls illiteracy poses in every day life. While these people have all grown up without the insight literacy fosters, Lu had been raised with a multicultural background from the start. It is in this distinction between the age and experience of its characters that the true meaning of literacy is found.

When given the tool early, even despite a tumultous context, Lu was presented the privelage of being allowed to decide for herself what her political views were. What she read may have had concequences for her socially, but inside her own mind, her literacy allowed her a greater choice personally. Inside the minds of the students of the Bay Area foundation, literacy was an elusive beast that had known as well as unknown implications and even sometimes scared the students with its complexity.

All in all, both texts are uplifting reads... Whether it's the musings of a young student or the triumphant victories of an older one, literacy empowers.

Sympathetic Reading of June Jordan’s Essay

For this post I’m going to have to bite my tongue so hard that it’s going to take a fistful of Tylenol™ to numb the pain. Personal opinion on the article aside, it’s time to sympathize!

As a college English professor, June Jordan views “Black English” not as a bastardization of the English language, but as a cultural literary and communicative device. Under the influence of her students’ reaction to the use of “Black English” in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Jordan felt compelled to create a course in which rules were created for the use of Black English. The focus of the essay then switches to an individual student who happened to be doing an independent study project on racial inequity in South Africa. Coincidently, this student, Willie Jordan, had a brother who was murdered by the police in Brooklyn in what was presumed to be a classic police brutality case based on the race of the victim. June Jordan and her students felt so deeply about the murder that they wrote a statement to the Brooklyn police department in Black English. Professor Jordan believed strongly that the use of Black English in a statement issued to a major police department would get the message across about the affect of police brutality in the black community. In order further develop this issue of social inequity and racial prejudice , June Jordan’s essay concludes with a personal statement written in “Standard English” by Willie Jordan about how his brother’s death influenced his views on the injustices in South Africa.

Avoiding being critical of this essay took a lot of effort on my part. I’ll try not to hurt myself patting my own back.

Rose and Lu

Rose and Lu

In “Crossing Boundaries” Rose talks about looking past deficiencies, and working towards helping illiterate adults. Rose struggles with finding a teaching method. He is working with people who are past the age of using education to achieve long term goals and dreams. These adults are going back to school only to attain a high school degree so that they can receive a better wage at work. Rose describes how these adult are smart, they can get by in their everyday lives. They are literate enough to help others in their community. Unfortunately when tested these adults fail because they become intimidated by the unfamiliar words. On the other hand, in Min-Zhan Lu’s “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” She talks about her conflict between languages and knowing too many words, or too many meanings for words. For Lu, the words and language she used became more of a hassle then it did anything else. She describes the way she moved between languages like putting on and taking off clothes. Both worlds taught Lu that she should only take one side, home life or her country. Both of these literature pieces were very different in their message but they both talked about their struggle with language.


..i hope i got the message from both of these readings right.

Delpit reading

After reading Lisa Delpit's " Skills and other dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator", it made me realize that even though some ways of teaching is excellent for others it may not be good for some. Although I already knew this concept some where in my sub consciousness, it almost brought it into prospective. Delpit really wanted to be a non traditional black teacher she wanted to use what she learned to benefit the black children. Couldn't most people sympathize with her? Don't most if not all teachers want to take what they have learned in school and use it to better educate and help those that they teach?...For some reason this is sounding more critical...Maybe I just don't understand what a sympathetic reading is. O well...On we go...Throughout her story she shows the reader that she understands others teaching styles, but she rather her own. It's almost like she is saying to each their own but my way is better. Although through the story she tells the readers the difference of people. Some are fluent and some have skills. When Delpit realizes that her open teaching does not work for all children because all children are different, she finds herself becoming more like the black "traditional" teachers. I'm glad that she found that all students learn differently and that she was able to accommodate all children.

Lu and Rose

I really enjoyed learning what an actual struggle in life is. I mean in every day life I am faced with simple "struggles" that make the world seem so difficult, like waiting too long in the lunch line. Lu had to face two seperate worlds that collided everyday. It taught me alot about dealing with life and how lucky I am to be able speak one language!

Rose took the opposite role in his article. Instead of being the student facing these struggles, he was the teacher that had to find ways to help motivate students. Rose is a great example of a person who wants to see people reach their potential and live up to their future aspirations.

Rose & Lu

Well I liked these two better, i guess its because they were nice and straightfoward. I enjoyed Rose's discussion, especially how he gave neat samples of dialog between him and students. It seemed to really validate the article.

I think Lu also did a good job. I dont know why, but I kept putting myself in her shoes. Maybe its just me. I wanted her to embrace one side or the other in her struggle. I guess thats what I would have done.

Lisa Delpit..a sympathetic voice...

After reading, Delpit's voice on "Black English" and sympathy towards Philadelphia's minority , educational system, I better understood the difference between teaching students "skills" in learning, and teaching them how to be "fluent". Throughout Delpit's, teaching experience, she tries to differeniate between why some students can be fluent in literacy, but do not seem to aquire the proper guidlines for literacy, and vice versa. She understands and sympathizes with her students and collegues to see every view point, the inside, deeper effects of teaching methods. I came to learn, that many minorities are "fluent", in some aspects, the way they talk, and how they choose to be fluent, but some may not know how to put their voice into skillful and successful ways in writing. However, the point is, to help minorities understand that they can still be themselves in their voice, but also comprehend traditional English values as well. As Delpit mentioned, I to hope teachers, black and white, Irish or Italian, would accomadate to everyone one of their students of all colors, in all degrees.

Lu and Rose

Both articles this time were much more comprehendible and also knowledgeable. I found it interesting to see how difficult it was for Lu growing up and facing the problems of her home life and her school life. For anyone it would be difficult and I found it inspiring that she never gave up on either no matter how hard things became. She grew up basically with no friends since she was different and everyone else seemed to be the same. She counted on her family to be there for her but at some points did not know if what they were teaching her was right. Keeping her two worlds, the school and then home separate was a challenge and struggle but one that helped her continue to keep pursuing her education, and eventually leading her to a future career as a teacher. Reading about someone else’s struggle to get and education in another country made me look at my life and see how it wasn't so bad after all.
Rose on the other hand had to deal with the problems of illiterate adults. People who grow up in poverty do not have a strive to get an education or try to make something of their education. They know that they will not be able to get anywhere and just don't try. Being a teacher and wanting to help them learn how to understand words and phrases he teaches them in a way that they will be able to remember a word and what the meaning of it is. He hopes that with this help of their education they will be able to make better lives for themselves and find better jobs to make their lives a little bit better.

Lu and Rose...much better

These two articles were intellectually stimulating as well as comprehendable. Lu describes her troubles from growing up in two conflicting worlds and being a student, where she must use a diferent language from what she uses at home. For anyone this would be a challenge hard to overcome. She recalls her school life and home life as being full of frustration and confusion. As Lu went through school she was learning two meanings for words such as the word "class". She was excluded from groups of friends in school because of her background, and as we all know it is hard to be different when everyone else is the same. Lu overcame the differences between her family and society and became a college professor and she teaches her students to struggle, for it was her struggle that lead to her success.
Rose, on the other hand, describes the struggles of adults who are illiterate in society from a teachers point of view. People who are born in underclass families or grew up in bad neighborhood tend to get "lost in schools" causing these people to be stuck in unskilled and semiskilled jobs. He teaches them in a way that they can understand; therefore, they can make better lives for themselves.

Sympathetic Reading on Jordan's text

In Jordan's text I think she used "Black English" as not just a language, but to help disclose many issues in society. I think the use and teaching of "Black English" was to make Afro-Americans feel more respected. Many felt that they grew up in a place where they could not show their true face, as if they do not belong. The "White English" language that was spoken made them feel hostile, something that will never look or sound "right" to them. They believed that white standards control verbal proficiency, correct or incorrect language skills. In order for themselves to learn their way around the enviroment, they thought instead of hiding their word habits, to surrender their own voice hoping for respect from others who don't normally respect others, other than themselves. It made them feel better to have their own language and rules and to be able to control it, rather than one dominated by the white population. They wanted to show their true selves. I think the Willie Jordan story fit into this text perfectly because it was about a black male being murdered by a white police officer, and society did nothing about it to prosecute the murder. I believe the teaching of "Black English" made Willie Jordan and the rest of society want to speak out and to stop the discrimmination. They already spoke out in developing and using their "Black English," so why stop there. They wanted to prove something of themselves in society.

Lu and Rose Response

I found these two articles to be rather enlightening. Lu took an autobiographical narrative and weaved it into a personal statement on how language can subconsciously influence a person’s identity and thought process. Rose provides a narrative on his work experience with impoverished adults and their struggle to become literate in intellectually competitive environment. Even though Lu and Rose both used a different approach to display their point, one from the perspective of a student and the other from the perspective of a teacher, both articles have a focus literacy playing a vital role in the shaping of people as members of society.

Lu and Rose

I enjoyed these essays, but the Lu one kind of lost me a little bit in the middle and im not sure if I'm exactly correct on what I'm talking about, but here it goes.

Lu and Rose are both college professors and in both their essays they strongly depict the motivation of education. They are both similar in that way, but I think they differ a great deal on their educational dilema's. In Roses' essay he discusses helping others who are "working-class children, poorly educated Vietnam vets, underprepared college students, and adults in basic literary programs" (Rose, 124). He had a passion to help people who dreamed to one day be correctly educated and be able to obtain a job with a decent wage, and to be in control of their economic life. In Lu's essay she discusses her own education. An education that was dominated by memories of confusion and frustration. Her education was torn between two worlds, and two languages; home and school. A world dominated by the ideology of the Western humanisitic tradition and a world of a society dominated by Mao Tse-ung's Marxism.
Rose longed to help understand why his students take tests certain ways, why they don't understand the big picture, because it was a time when many were "intellectually deficient." He wanted to help those who suffered because of lack of education. He wanted to help them socially, by educating them so they can eventually have more open-minded oppurtunties that can improve their health and the welfare of their families. Lu longed to be able to maintain the education of the english langauge that she had worked so hard to learn, as well as maintain her chinese language. She was torn between the two, and suffered through controversy because of the Chinese Revolution. She was torn between her family and the way her family educated her and between her school and society and how they wanted to educate her.

Sorry, it is long!

Lu & Rose Discussion...not to bad

hey everyone, these two readings were enjoyable so I might write a lot, sorry! There is nothing like reading a story that motivates a person to stay on the path of learning throughout their life. According to Roses' work, their are many underprivilged students, that may start out their lives ignorant towards the English language,however in the end, those students who practice at learning, continue on successfully in life. Lu explains a similar view point, however she discusses her own life, and how her daughter followed in her footsteps.
As a professor of education at UCLA, Rose visits students from the lower population of society and shows them how to develop into bright young individuals, through a clear meaning of a word, a "certain" word. For example, by looking at parts of a word such as the word "egocentric," one should realize that the beginning part of this word means self. However, many students were so confused by this, they never understood one word having multiple meanings. Rose tried to show them that many things in life have different meanings, if u look hard enough you can find the right answers, because it is your choice to do so.
At the University of Wisconsin, Lu is an English professor, a teacher just like Rose. Lu grew up knowing that education was a huge part of her life, however, the adolescents from Roses' story went to school, just to go to school in the beginning. Both stories expressed an internal struggle in Lu, and Rose's students to not give up or be tempted to give up their dreams for many reasons. Rose's students came from the bottom and elevated to the top, as did Lu, but Lu had everything, had an initial will to improve her education because of her strict familial background when many of Rose's students, stated above, did not at first.Furthermore, both authors insist to encourage young teens to "preserve their discourse in learning,". Hope this was helpful and easy to understand.
~Angel~

culture is ordinary

This was my first chance to post my opinions of Williams writing due to my stupidity with computers, it probably helped that we looked at some other opinions in class yesterday because after reading this again i got a better feel for it and found myself asking the same questions, at first i was puzzled as to why he was going on and on about the landscape he was looking at and then about his grandfather and father. But then it started coming together as he explained the modes or changes he has seen throughout his time, still i was not all that impressed with his writing, i was bored for the most part and that is sad because it was only a page long. He goes on about the word "culture" and how ordinary it is, i think he was getting at that your culture to you is ordinary but societies culture as a whole is most def. not

What counts as "good writing?"

I was re-reading your responses to Raymond Williams's "Culture is Ordinary" and came across several statements you all made about what you did not like about the essay (some of you liked it, I know). But I thought your statements might be useful for us to considerover the course of the semester. From your posts I compiled the following list of what you consider "bad writing":

• writing that is "very vague"
• points made in essay are "redundant"
• you "learned nothing new"
• "stating the obvious"
• being "long-winded"
• "contrast of writing styles"
• "constipated and boring narratives"
• "writing style???" (do we need to develop a definiton of "good" style?)
• "confusing" (how do we figure out what causes confusion?)
• "culturally naive" and "unsophisticated"
• "pretentious"
• "overuse of imagery"
• confused by "format" (prefer five paragraph essay)
• if your reader has to "go back and re-read" your essay
• if your reader has to "work to hard to grasp" what is being said
• "repetitive"
  
• "narrow-minded"
• "distract[ing] readers from the message"

Perhaps one of the things we can do is use this list as a way of discussing writing practices and what we consider "good writing." Given this list, I am curious about what would be considered "good writing?" And, for that matter, what about those of you who liked Williams's text? What did you "like" about his writing? Just some ideas to consider...Great postings so far everyone.

Culture Is Ordinary..

Hey everyone, I'm Angelique and I'm a second year Psychology student. I started to read this article, and I was very confused. I will say that whether his article on culture was supposed to be informative or persuasive, I found it to be very vague. "Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings..." is a very evident point when you think of any society. I felt that whatever point he was trying to get across was redundant and I learned nothing I hadn't already learned before.

i didn't get the book!

Hey everyone! My name is Kelly and I am a sophmore here at KU. I am undeclared and will be until I am forced into a major. I didn't get the book yet because the bookstore is a horrible place and they decided to close for the weekend! However, from the rest of the blogs I assume it was something about culture being ordinary. Which is completely true. Although many cultures may seem out of the ordinary or strange they are simply ordinary people brought up in a different way of life.

Culture Is Ordinary

Hey everyone I'm Sarah...When I read this article for the first time I was a little confused. I was to the point where I could understand where Raymond Williams was coming from but then he would state something else and I would be completely lost. So I ended up going back to the begining and reading it all over again. Raymond Williams said, "Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind." I feel as though he's right because everyone in most cases are able to think what they want for themselves. People are born with their own minds and its up to them to use it. He basically said that culture has two aspects: "The known meanings and directions, which its memebers are trained to and the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested." I think he knows whats he's talking about. In the long run I believe that culture is ordinary because everyone is different and they have things to call their own, their own ordinary things.

Culture is Ordinary

Hi, i'm Marion and i'm a first year Art Education major. I feel that Raymond Williams is kind of stating the obvious in a long winded narritive with a subtext to his school years. I think it's a high school premise that he's basing his opinion on (not that I don't agree); we've all learned that we were born blank babies and our opinion is completely unique (with some generalized similarities to other's personalities) to us and based on our growing situation and what our surroundings carve on our tabula rasa. In my position, I see Raymond Williams as just clarifyinga fairly known topic.

Introduction and "Culture is Ordinary"

I'm Theo, a second year student in Kutztown, and I am a Studio Art major. When I first started to read "Culture is Ordinary" I felt confused as to how the first half of the paper would lead into anything having to do with such a large topic, which is defining the word culture. However, the rest of it was very specific about his definition and it tied in very nicely with the beginning, despite the contrast of writing styles. To include tradition and modernity into the meaning of culture is an intelligent insight, and I do agree with it.

"Culture is Ordinary"

"Culture is Ordinary" introduced different meaning of culture. Raymond Williams writes using facts and showing examples. Everyone has their own meaning when it comes to culture. I like how Williams started the article describing the simple things in life as a bus trip in Cambridge. Williams journey began in a university and went to the the Black Mountains in Wales. The mountain shows the example of how many different cultures he could turn to. The article then leads us to show the journey of culture in everyday life. He writes this article to make the reader think throughout the entire piece. It is almost as though he wants the reader to think of their own meaning and direction. Williams is trying to explain all the different views of "culture" and by the end I believe everyone thought of their own. This article was difficult to understand at first but after a few reading I began to understand!

Culture is ordinary

Hey everyone it's Lisa! I know it is kinda last minute but I am under steph's name because I am computer challenged and I had no clue on how to figure this whole blog thing out. Anyway, as I read this article, not just once but twice, I came to see that Williams wrote this article with clear ideas that he states throughout his writings; however, he allows the opportunity for one to come up with their own views on what he is referring to. I came to view cultureas being like human life. It goes through stages of changes such as a human goes through stages of life such as newborns, to children, to teens, to adults. Culture can not always be known throughout situations in every day life such as the next stage after childhood is teenage years. This puts me to believe that culture is not ordinary because it is unknown what the future has in store for the development of culture. Culture is affected by society, generations of family lifestyles, and by how culture is anything but ordinary.

Cultures Ordinary

When I was reading this excerpt from " Culture is Ordinary" I like others in my class found myself reading sentences or paragraphs twice, So I decided to read out loud. Assuming it would help, it didn't I found myself even more confused. I was discouraged with Williams writing style, but continued to read on. Through the reading I tried to look for things he was writing that I agreed with,to better help me understand. I guess I understand what he is trying to communicate in this story, that no culture is the same because every person makes up his or her own society/culture and that whatever a person thinks is ordinary will be ordinary for them but can be challenged and seem notordinary for another person.

Culture is Ordinary

Raymond Williams conveys a very important message in his writing, “Culture is Ordinary”. He explains that culture has shape and change; it moves and grows in art and society. Williams says that "Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meaning." What I believe he is trying to express to his reader is that every different aspect of life has a culture of it's own. Every town, family, relationship, and even friendship all have their own different Culture. In the way people interact in these aspects of life creates a different culture and because every part of life is different, that in turn makes difference ordinary. In my opinion Williams conveys this message in a very confusing manner. In the beginning of his vignette he uses his family as a model, showing how culture changes over time, ultimately expressing that change and culture are ordinary.

About That Reading ...(Culture is Ordinary)

Well, from the start i didn't appreciate this guys writing style. I found myself rereading sentences more than twice just to get the idea of what he was talking about, then only to be disappointed by what I found.
The thesis of this article, as I understood it was: every society has culture and it tends to change as time progresses... well duh, except for maybe the amish, but even they have to put their little orange triangles on their buggies in order to use our society's roads.
Besides the writers constipated and boring narratives the, only other thing this paper had to offer was a definition of culture: a society's way of life and also its progression through discovery and creativity.
As a disclaimer, I don't claim to be any better at writing than Mr. Williams... and you'll probably agree that I'm not after reading my little rant, but i enjoyed writing it.

Culture Is Ordinary...huh?

Hey everyone, I'm Elise but as you might notice, my "blogger" name just reads 'E' because most people call me that on account of them not remembering my name or not being able to spell it, so feel free to call me E. I was once in the Computer Science field as well as Business but now I'm in the Industrial/Organizational psychology major.

As with a few of my classmates, I also found Raymond Williams’ article confusing until he got to his point. Upon reading just the title, I disagreed with Mr. Williams and thought him to be culturally naive and slightly unsophisticated. I mean, how can one say that culture, which is the epitome of existence, is ordinary? The desks that we uncomfortably sit in for fifty minutes or an hour and twenty minutes are ordinary. The classrooms with pale white walls and temperatures that are either too hot or too cold are ordinary, but culture, how can it be?!

Every individual is comprised of many different cultures as a result of race, creed, gender, region, dialect(s), status, and the list goes on. So, to devalue my background to something mundane, I find offensive. However, I am an open-minded person who believes that there are multiple meanings in pieces of work. At first, I approached this article with simplicity, taking everything word for word and not taking into consideration other connotations for the word ‘ordinary,’—other than the ones that first came to mind, ‘average’ and ‘uninteresting.’ Yet, after reading his article a second time (with dictionary and thesaurus on either side) I found myself in complete agreement. I looked up the word ‘ordinary’ and found these synonyms, common, everyday, customary, and this definition, “of common occurrence.”

With this new information, I had to rethink Williams’ stance about culture using the new definitions of ordinary. To say, “culture is ordinary” is to say that culture is a forever-changing universal consequence of nature. Culture is “the shaping of minds, the shifting of relationships, the emergence of different language and ideas” and none can escape it (Reading Culture 5).

After reading "Culture is Ordinary" by Raymond Williams, I found out that he was trying to explain different views of how culture changed over the years. From his own perspective, Raymond shows that growing up, he looked from a mountain top and could see that each way he looked there was different cultures that were either more developed or less developed than others. Parts of this culture he added included such things asmeaning of life and purpose, art, religion, and how society acts as a whole. By using his own perspective on things it was easier to see the point that he was trying to get across. That is that culture in every sense is not just defined as one thing but combines smaller things to make a well developed process.

Introduction and Culture is Ordinary Response

Well, hello there class and curious people of the internet. My name is Sam Coren and I loathe self-introductions. I am a seventeen year old graduate of Council Rock High School North in Newtown, PA. Currently, I am an undeclared freshman and Bonner Hall resident at KU. No, I do not have school spirit - I just thought it would be nice place to start. In my free time I enjoy playing guitar and keyboards. Occasionally I will compose actual songs and record them using my PC for my own amusement. In addition to making music, I also like to occupy myself with a good book from time to time. My favorite author is, without a doubt, Thomas Harris of Silence of the Lambs fame. Now that I’ve gotten the personal bit out of the way I believe it is time to present my thoughts on the assigned reading.

Stylistically speaking, Raymond Williams comes off as highly pretentious early on with his overuse of imagery in the first section of his writing. I understand it is his intention to “show” the audience rather than “tell”, but I find he does this in such great excess that he almost loses his focus. He then proceeds to explain his family’s plight of being stuck in Britain’s working class and how his father worked to form a trade-union. Creatively, Williams states, “I speak a different idiom, but I think of these same things” as a tie in to his “culture is ordinary” thesis. Personally, I can agree to an extent with some of his ideas on culture such as culture constantly evolving in the background while still being tied to the past. However, I think that there are so many ideas Williams is trying to convey at once that his writing becomes too difficult for the reader to fully comprehend.

Culture is Ordinary

The first time I tried to read this essay, I was a tad confused with its format. Call me old fashioned, I might just be used to the antiquated five paragraph format used in high school. The second time I read it though I began to understand the author more fully because of his writing style. His use of descriptive, right to the point detail kept me interested for the most part.

Essentially, Raymond Williams is making a narrative/descriptive observation on how cultures within communities change with time and society by using his own family as an example. Over several generations, the culture that surrounded him, molded him per se, had been changed numerous times based on social change and the motions of time itself. I believe that not only did this make his job easier, but it also allows the reader to see his point much more clearly than if he just wrote from a generalized perspective. In many ways this allowed me to relate to and percieve his objective point much better. Moreover, I'm very grateful to him for not simply stating, ''society changes culture, time changes culture, etc...'' because quite frankly it would've lost me entirely from the beginning.

Change is Ordinary

I was kind of lost with a lot of this, but here goes nothing...

Raymond Williams wrote "Culture is Ordinary" to show his point of view of what culture means and how it changes. He writes it in a way that isn't long, drawn out and boring but instead, he makes it to the point and fairly easy to read. In the article he explains that, with growing up in the country, he got to see culture in it's stages of change because he could stand on the mountain, look one way and see a more peaceful, small area and then look the other way and see a more developed area with factories and polution. He also talks about growing up in a family of a few generations and seeing how each one changed.He then gets into how every human society is very different from one another in art, religion and in its purposes and meanings. These societies change with every person who is born into them. He says we use the word "culture" to mean either "a whole way of life" or "the special process of discovery and creative effort," but he doesn't believe in just one of these defintitions as the definition of culture, but instead he believes culture means both of these defintions intertwining and correlating to eachother to equal the true meaning of culture.

HEY

My name is Ryan Kulp and I'm a Communication Design major, I enjoy a 40 min commute from my home town of Boyertown everyday, and thats all I have to say about that.

Hello Class

Hi everyone,

My name is Jackie. I'm currently majoring in Psychology. I've lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania for most of my life where I attended Parkland School district from first grade up until graduation.

In my freetime I'm usually hanging out with my friends, listening to music, playing video games or watching movies.... you know... typical teenager stuff.

It's nice to meet you all.

-Jackie