First Paper Assignment: Literacies DUE 2/16

Hello, Hello...I know, I know. But better late than never. Here's your first paper assignment. Seeing that I did not post this until today, post your paper ideas, brainstorming, random thoughts about the paper assignment to the blog between now and next class.

Paper #1: Literacies

We’ve been discussing issues of literacy and some of the many issues around literacy. For example, Lu’s essay looked at the changing values associated with literacy before and after the Chinese revolution. Rose focused on what he called the “prose of America’s underclass” and how standardized tests influence what counts as literacy. Jordan and Delpit both examined different aspects of “skills” and “non-Standard English.” This paper asks you to explore more deeply two of the authors we have read or will read during the first unit.

We began discussing “sympathetic” readings during our last class in order to try to flesh out the complexities of the essays by June Jordan and Lisa Delpit. In this paper, you should also pay close attention to the specifics of two authors’ arguments. Your goal is to 1) provide a solid sympathetic reading of two texts; 2) discuss what you see these authors contributing to our discussions of literacy. What issues are important to consider when we are discussing literacy? Is literacy simply the ability to read and write? How are questions of literacy related to issues of power, status, and one’s culture? I am not so much interested in whether you agree or disagree with any particular author. I am interested in how well you engage the issues and provide support for your readings. It is important that you provide specific evidence to support both your sympathetic readings AND your discussion of literacy.

You do not have to focus on every detail of the texts you choose. Rather, you should focus your analysis on a specific issues concerning literacy that an author raises. We will be discussing your papers both in class and on the blogs for the next two weeks.

General Guidelines:

· 4-5 pages, double-spaced

· Cite all sources using MLA in-text citations

· Include a works-cited page

· See the general writing guidelines on the syllabus for additional information