Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Twilight
I am reading the Twilight series. I won't give away the plot here. Just know that the series is based on fantasy. What earlier generations were fascinated by (supernatural stuff / beings) has been upgraded for a younger generation - teens. Yes, this series of books seems to be geared towards teens, although fantasy loving adults can find pleasure in the books, too. I am flip flopping between finding some of the situations believable, and really being able to envision the scenes as written, to feeling the plot has gone overboard and is too far-fetched, although still entertaining. I am interested in hearing from anyone else about this series. I am reading book two, New Moon.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The last holiday hoorah of 2008
Today my family - sisters, their husbands, adult children, and grandchildren, plus my mother - gathered at my house for our annual holiday get together. The tables were laden with food. This year we started a few hours after lunch so we went for light finger foods. There were ham finger rolls, shrimp and cocktail sauce, vegetables and dip, strawberries grapes cheese and crackers, creme horns sliced up, salsa and tortillas, mexican dip and tortillas, fudge, pecan squares, brownies, and so much more. We also had a Yankee Swap aka Chinese Auction. 25 people, two of the ages of 3 and 5. Nephew is visiting from SC where he attends the College of Music. Very talented. Teaches guitar and rhythm to youngsters! His videos and music can be found at www.gregoryguaymusic.com. He will be performing locally while he is visiting Maine in a scholarship fundraiser. The fundraiser is an annual event to raise money for a scholarship in memory of his brother. As I think back on who was here today, I realize what a talented group of nieces and nephews I have!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
I thought I'd take a moment to make a few notes about how I am using Twitter. I use Twitter to gain insight into communications, marketing, public relations. I want to know how to use techniques and technology that others have shown to be successful in their lives. I look for examples. I look for what hasn't worked for others, too. When someone tweets a question directed at another tweeter, and that tweeter does not respond, then I have to wonder how helpful that tweeter is, the one who can't answer a newbie's question. There have been several instances in which someone has asked a question that went unanswered and I wanted to know the answer, too. After this happens several times, I "unfollow" the non-answerer. And I end up searching for the answer elsewhere. I think Twitter is a great place to get the latest news. What better example than the victim of the Denver plane crash who tweeted immediately? These are just a few of my thoughts. What are yours?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Sunday, December 07, 2008
200+ Tools for Surviving the Economic Crisis
Came across this post with helpful links. Worthy of sharing?
Came across this post with helpful links. Worthy of sharing?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
What do you think about:
Ideas of Assimilation
It is important to know why assimilation is an important process because technology - television, phones, the Internet, planes - continues to bring people - from around the globe or around the corner - in closer contact with other cultures. Assimilation is the process of acquiring new values and customs. The process of assimilation involves struggle and requires motivation to overcome those obstacles. Successful assimilation depends on the use of one’s resources.
In “Communication in a Global Village,” Dean Barnlund writes that one’s thoughts and actions are based on one’s culture and one is often not aware of what assumptions these thoughts and actions are based on. He goes on to state that once a person analyzes his or her own thoughts and actions and the cultural assumptions they were based upon, that one can “become free to develop other ways of seeing and acting” which would then enable one to assimilate what is needed in order to reach his or her goals (59).
Assimilation can occur when one has a desire to acquire the value of a social group different from the group into which one was born. According to Richard Rodriguez in “Complexion,” he had a longing to become part of the rich upper-class, a class different from the poor lower-class into which he was born. His parents taught him the proper way to eat like the rich and the proper way to greet and say good-bye like the rich. About using his proper manners when visiting the homes of well-to-do friends, Rodriguez writes, “I made an impression. I intended to make an impression, to be invited back” (454).
Having access to the homes of the rich upper-class to which he aspired to become a member was an important resource in helping Rodriguez overcome the obstacles of being born poor and with dark skin due to his heritage. And, when he got older, Stanford was his college choice because attendance there would allow him to continue to interact with rich people and assimilate their lifestyle. “I went to college at Stanford, attracted partly by its academic reputation, partly because it was the school rich people went to” (459).
--snip snip -
Rodriguez realized that his education would serve as a resource to overcome being born poor and working menial physical jobs.
In “From Outside, In,” Barbara Mellix writes about her decision to overcome the language barrier between the type of English used in her home and the proper academic language of college. Her motivation to overcome this language obstacle was to assimilate and become a member of the academic society. She writes about her struggle with how comforting it was at times to fall back into using the language of her youth. “Whenever I turned inward for salvation, the balm so available during my childhood, I found instead this new fragmentation which spoke to me in many voices. It was the voice of my desire to prosper, but at the same time it spoke of what I
had relinquished and could not regain...” (395).
Taking on something new - assimilation - can mean leaving something comfortable behind. The desire to assimilate and become part of a new culture meant Mellix would not only leave behind the comfort of using the language of her youth, but also a state of powerlessness, complacency, and the idea that it was too much work to reach her goal. Mellix writes, “I had to take on the language of the academy, the language of ‘other.’ ... I had to learn to imagine myself a part of the culture of that language...” (395).
In “Autobiographies and the History of Reading: The Meaning of Literacy in Individual Lives,” Katherine Tinsley and Carl F. Kaestle write about assimilation and how “people acquire culture, values, ambitions, and political leanings from a wide range of sources, both personal and literary” (693). One of the immigrant autobiographers included in their essay is Rose Cohen. Rose’s father was upset that she was reading books in English because he believed the ideas contained in those books would cause her to stray from the family’s Jewish faith. Barnlund’s essay suggests that Rose was one of those people who were able to cope with reality through assimilation, “The fortunate person who was able to master the art of living in foreign cultures often learned that his own mode of life was only one among many” (59).
It was Rose’s desire to acquire a new life through the assimilation of the books she read, as well as the observations she made of the actions of others. In describing the actions of her friend at the library, Rose writes, “Her every motion to me was new and interesting and charming. She represented the people I wanted to know, the new life I desired” (691).
--snip snip --
Barnlund writes that it is important to know how assimilation takes place in society because as the world becomes a global village, “there must be mutual respect and sufficient curiosity to overcome the frustrations” of trying to communicate with people from other cultures (61).
--snip snip --
Ideas of Assimilation
It is important to know why assimilation is an important process because technology - television, phones, the Internet, planes - continues to bring people - from around the globe or around the corner - in closer contact with other cultures. Assimilation is the process of acquiring new values and customs. The process of assimilation involves struggle and requires motivation to overcome those obstacles. Successful assimilation depends on the use of one’s resources.
In “Communication in a Global Village,” Dean Barnlund writes that one’s thoughts and actions are based on one’s culture and one is often not aware of what assumptions these thoughts and actions are based on. He goes on to state that once a person analyzes his or her own thoughts and actions and the cultural assumptions they were based upon, that one can “become free to develop other ways of seeing and acting” which would then enable one to assimilate what is needed in order to reach his or her goals (59).
Assimilation can occur when one has a desire to acquire the value of a social group different from the group into which one was born. According to Richard Rodriguez in “Complexion,” he had a longing to become part of the rich upper-class, a class different from the poor lower-class into which he was born. His parents taught him the proper way to eat like the rich and the proper way to greet and say good-bye like the rich. About using his proper manners when visiting the homes of well-to-do friends, Rodriguez writes, “I made an impression. I intended to make an impression, to be invited back” (454).
Having access to the homes of the rich upper-class to which he aspired to become a member was an important resource in helping Rodriguez overcome the obstacles of being born poor and with dark skin due to his heritage. And, when he got older, Stanford was his college choice because attendance there would allow him to continue to interact with rich people and assimilate their lifestyle. “I went to college at Stanford, attracted partly by its academic reputation, partly because it was the school rich people went to” (459).
--snip snip -
Rodriguez realized that his education would serve as a resource to overcome being born poor and working menial physical jobs.
In “From Outside, In,” Barbara Mellix writes about her decision to overcome the language barrier between the type of English used in her home and the proper academic language of college. Her motivation to overcome this language obstacle was to assimilate and become a member of the academic society. She writes about her struggle with how comforting it was at times to fall back into using the language of her youth. “Whenever I turned inward for salvation, the balm so available during my childhood, I found instead this new fragmentation which spoke to me in many voices. It was the voice of my desire to prosper, but at the same time it spoke of what I
had relinquished and could not regain...” (395).
Taking on something new - assimilation - can mean leaving something comfortable behind. The desire to assimilate and become part of a new culture meant Mellix would not only leave behind the comfort of using the language of her youth, but also a state of powerlessness, complacency, and the idea that it was too much work to reach her goal. Mellix writes, “I had to take on the language of the academy, the language of ‘other.’ ... I had to learn to imagine myself a part of the culture of that language...” (395).
In “Autobiographies and the History of Reading: The Meaning of Literacy in Individual Lives,” Katherine Tinsley and Carl F. Kaestle write about assimilation and how “people acquire culture, values, ambitions, and political leanings from a wide range of sources, both personal and literary” (693). One of the immigrant autobiographers included in their essay is Rose Cohen. Rose’s father was upset that she was reading books in English because he believed the ideas contained in those books would cause her to stray from the family’s Jewish faith. Barnlund’s essay suggests that Rose was one of those people who were able to cope with reality through assimilation, “The fortunate person who was able to master the art of living in foreign cultures often learned that his own mode of life was only one among many” (59).
It was Rose’s desire to acquire a new life through the assimilation of the books she read, as well as the observations she made of the actions of others. In describing the actions of her friend at the library, Rose writes, “Her every motion to me was new and interesting and charming. She represented the people I wanted to know, the new life I desired” (691).
--snip snip --
Barnlund writes that it is important to know how assimilation takes place in society because as the world becomes a global village, “there must be mutual respect and sufficient curiosity to overcome the frustrations” of trying to communicate with people from other cultures (61).
--snip snip --
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Let me know your thoughts on:
Power and Knowledge in Everyday Life
Power is a social influence that comes from education. Power impacts self-esteem, economic and social status, influence, and access. It is important to know where power comes from and what it impacts because power - in its use, misuse, or absence (powerlessness) - affects what is feasible and attainable throughout the spectrum of human activity.
As Barbara Mellix wrote in “From Outside, In,” the power of literacy enables one to “bring new selves into being, each with new responsibilities and difficulties, but also with new possibilities” (395). The power Mellix developed from her education enabled her to move “from outside in” - from a society in which she spoke a black English dialect to a society in which academic standard English was used.
Going to college was something Mellix had thought about for almost two decades, but had never done anything about because she was “afraid and a little embarrassed” about her lack of literacy skills (390). By going to college and taking advanced writing courses, Mellix used the power of literacy to reeducate herself about her use of black English and the use of proper academic English.
Mellix was proud of the business letters she wrote at her job at a health insurance company. She had educated herself about how to write those letters and her success at writing the letters boosted her self-esteem. The boost in her self-esteem empowered Mellix to think about a career that would be “better, more challenging, more important” (390). With her college degree, Mellix was able to go from a job writing business letters at a health insurance company to a teaching career. Mellix used her college education to surpass the economic and social status she might have expected to reach without a degree.
Andrea Fishman wrote in “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish,” that Eli Fisher, Jr., using the power of literacy, affiliated himself with the Amish society and identified himself as Amish (242). Affiliation and identification with the Amish was accomplished because Eli, Jr. was surrounded by specific sources of literature - all meant to reinforce Amish culture.
By being surrounded with standard Amish literature, Eli, Jr. learned to read and write and would finish his education in the 8th grade as all other children did in his Amish community. There were no essays requiring critical thinking skills or literature that would cause Eli, Jr. to think independently or differently than other Amish in his community. In this manner, the power of Eli, Jr.’s education impacted his affiliation in the Amish society in which he lived. Fishman wrote “Eli began to recognize and acquire the power of literacy, using it to affiliate himself with the larger Amish world and to identify himself as Amish” (242).
In “Complexion,” Richard Rodriguez described his life as a person whose dark skin affiliated him with a certain social rank and how an education raised his self-esteem and elevated his social status. About how education raised his self-esteem, Rodriguez wrote, “I often was proud of my way with words” (458). Rodriguez’s mother felt that an education would distinguish her dark-colored children from dark-colored laborers who were doing menial jobs due to lack of an education. His mother was glad he received an education and would not be affiliated with “the poor, the pitiful, the powerless” because of his heritage (448).
For these people, power came from their education and affected what they were able to accomplish: Mellix was able to boost her self-esteem and to better her economic and social status by going to college. Fisher’s power came from his Amish education that impacted his social status and his affiliation with the Amish society. Rodriguez used the power of his education to better his social status and increase his self-esteem. Power is a social influence that comes from education and that impacts self-esteem, economic and social status, and one’s affiliation with a group and the way in which society perceives one’s heritage.
Power and Knowledge in Everyday Life
Power is a social influence that comes from education. Power impacts self-esteem, economic and social status, influence, and access. It is important to know where power comes from and what it impacts because power - in its use, misuse, or absence (powerlessness) - affects what is feasible and attainable throughout the spectrum of human activity.
As Barbara Mellix wrote in “From Outside, In,” the power of literacy enables one to “bring new selves into being, each with new responsibilities and difficulties, but also with new possibilities” (395). The power Mellix developed from her education enabled her to move “from outside in” - from a society in which she spoke a black English dialect to a society in which academic standard English was used.
Going to college was something Mellix had thought about for almost two decades, but had never done anything about because she was “afraid and a little embarrassed” about her lack of literacy skills (390). By going to college and taking advanced writing courses, Mellix used the power of literacy to reeducate herself about her use of black English and the use of proper academic English.
Mellix was proud of the business letters she wrote at her job at a health insurance company. She had educated herself about how to write those letters and her success at writing the letters boosted her self-esteem. The boost in her self-esteem empowered Mellix to think about a career that would be “better, more challenging, more important” (390). With her college degree, Mellix was able to go from a job writing business letters at a health insurance company to a teaching career. Mellix used her college education to surpass the economic and social status she might have expected to reach without a degree.
Andrea Fishman wrote in “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish,” that Eli Fisher, Jr., using the power of literacy, affiliated himself with the Amish society and identified himself as Amish (242). Affiliation and identification with the Amish was accomplished because Eli, Jr. was surrounded by specific sources of literature - all meant to reinforce Amish culture.
By being surrounded with standard Amish literature, Eli, Jr. learned to read and write and would finish his education in the 8th grade as all other children did in his Amish community. There were no essays requiring critical thinking skills or literature that would cause Eli, Jr. to think independently or differently than other Amish in his community. In this manner, the power of Eli, Jr.’s education impacted his affiliation in the Amish society in which he lived. Fishman wrote “Eli began to recognize and acquire the power of literacy, using it to affiliate himself with the larger Amish world and to identify himself as Amish” (242).
In “Complexion,” Richard Rodriguez described his life as a person whose dark skin affiliated him with a certain social rank and how an education raised his self-esteem and elevated his social status. About how education raised his self-esteem, Rodriguez wrote, “I often was proud of my way with words” (458). Rodriguez’s mother felt that an education would distinguish her dark-colored children from dark-colored laborers who were doing menial jobs due to lack of an education. His mother was glad he received an education and would not be affiliated with “the poor, the pitiful, the powerless” because of his heritage (448).
For these people, power came from their education and affected what they were able to accomplish: Mellix was able to boost her self-esteem and to better her economic and social status by going to college. Fisher’s power came from his Amish education that impacted his social status and his affiliation with the Amish society. Rodriguez used the power of his education to better his social status and increase his self-esteem. Power is a social influence that comes from education and that impacts self-esteem, economic and social status, and one’s affiliation with a group and the way in which society perceives one’s heritage.
Let me know what your thoughts are on:
The Impact of the Social Environment on Literacy
An individual’s various uses for reading and writing are impacted by his/her social environment and his/her interaction with it. These various uses of literacy may be casual and include reading for entertainment or escape, reading for information, and reading for self-improvement. Other uses may be momentous and include reading for critical thinking and reading for cultural maintenance. It is an individual’s social environment that shapes his/her purposes for literacy.
In “Autobiographies and the History of Reading: The Meaning of Literacy in Individual Lives,” Katherine Tinsley and Carl F. Kaestle write about their research on female autobiographers and what their research uncovered about the women’s uses of literacy. Tinsley and Kaestle note that some of the women read for entertainment and as a means to escape their environment.
Tinsley and Kaestle explore the casual purpose of reading for entertainment and escape in the autobiography of Anne Ellis, a widow and working mother from the Progressive era of 1910. Anne wrote in her autobiography that she read “to escape exhaustion and loneliness” and that at night, she was “so tired that I never read for instruction - only for amusement and to relax” (677). Reading in such a manner, for entertainment and escape, was shaped by Anne’s social environment which left her little time for other reading purposes.
--snip snip --
Sometimes an individual’s social environment shapes an individual’s literacy with dramatic consequences. Contrary to reading for casual purposes are momentous reading purposes. While casual reading purposes typically do not have dramatic consequences, momentous reading is distinguished by the importance of its consequences. Which category self-improvement falls under - casual or momentous - depends on its use or whether “conversions occur; relationships are altered” (Tinsley and Kaestle, 683).
Momentous purposes include reading for cultural maintenance and reading
for critical perspective. Both types of reading are potentially transforming. Tinsley and Kaestle write about several women whose autobiographies show that the women gained a critical perspective in contrast to the values taught in their family
environment. Reading for critical thinking allowed these women to “gain critical perspective, often in contrast to received family tradition, but always involving a set of principles about justice and social relations that allow one to step back and evaluate custom and the status quo” (683-684).
Emma Goldman, a Russian immigrant, gained a perspective on socialism contrary to that within her family environment when she started to work in a factory. It was at the factory that she was introduced to the socialist newspaper Der Freiheit. Emma wrote in her autobiography that she “devoured every line on anarchism I could get, every word about the men, their lives, their work” (688). Her family’s view was that she should have married at the age of 15, that she didn’t need to learn a foreign language, and that she only needed to learn how to cook well and bear many children for her husband. The family could not prevent Emma from reading about socialism in her work environment. The family could not prevent Emma from being dramatically influenced by what she read.
--snip snip --
While reading for critical thinking skills can go against family/group traditions and values, the opposite can be said of reading for cultural maintenance. Critical reading and analysis are absent in the reading materials of the Old Order Amish. Instead, the Amish choose reading materials that help the group conform to generations of Amish standards. This is how the Amish maintain their way of life and their culture.
--snip snip --
Individuals read and write for a variety of purposes, some casual and others
momentous - entertainment, information, self-improvement, critical thinking and
cultural maintenance. Literacy is impacted by an individual’s social environment, whether the environment is a factory where a worker is organizing a union or an Amish family preserving its cultural identity. The social environment shapes the individual’s purposes for reading and writing.
The Impact of the Social Environment on Literacy
An individual’s various uses for reading and writing are impacted by his/her social environment and his/her interaction with it. These various uses of literacy may be casual and include reading for entertainment or escape, reading for information, and reading for self-improvement. Other uses may be momentous and include reading for critical thinking and reading for cultural maintenance. It is an individual’s social environment that shapes his/her purposes for literacy.
In “Autobiographies and the History of Reading: The Meaning of Literacy in Individual Lives,” Katherine Tinsley and Carl F. Kaestle write about their research on female autobiographers and what their research uncovered about the women’s uses of literacy. Tinsley and Kaestle note that some of the women read for entertainment and as a means to escape their environment.
Tinsley and Kaestle explore the casual purpose of reading for entertainment and escape in the autobiography of Anne Ellis, a widow and working mother from the Progressive era of 1910. Anne wrote in her autobiography that she read “to escape exhaustion and loneliness” and that at night, she was “so tired that I never read for instruction - only for amusement and to relax” (677). Reading in such a manner, for entertainment and escape, was shaped by Anne’s social environment which left her little time for other reading purposes.
--snip snip --
Sometimes an individual’s social environment shapes an individual’s literacy with dramatic consequences. Contrary to reading for casual purposes are momentous reading purposes. While casual reading purposes typically do not have dramatic consequences, momentous reading is distinguished by the importance of its consequences. Which category self-improvement falls under - casual or momentous - depends on its use or whether “conversions occur; relationships are altered” (Tinsley and Kaestle, 683).
Momentous purposes include reading for cultural maintenance and reading
for critical perspective. Both types of reading are potentially transforming. Tinsley and Kaestle write about several women whose autobiographies show that the women gained a critical perspective in contrast to the values taught in their family
environment. Reading for critical thinking allowed these women to “gain critical perspective, often in contrast to received family tradition, but always involving a set of principles about justice and social relations that allow one to step back and evaluate custom and the status quo” (683-684).
Emma Goldman, a Russian immigrant, gained a perspective on socialism contrary to that within her family environment when she started to work in a factory. It was at the factory that she was introduced to the socialist newspaper Der Freiheit. Emma wrote in her autobiography that she “devoured every line on anarchism I could get, every word about the men, their lives, their work” (688). Her family’s view was that she should have married at the age of 15, that she didn’t need to learn a foreign language, and that she only needed to learn how to cook well and bear many children for her husband. The family could not prevent Emma from reading about socialism in her work environment. The family could not prevent Emma from being dramatically influenced by what she read.
--snip snip --
While reading for critical thinking skills can go against family/group traditions and values, the opposite can be said of reading for cultural maintenance. Critical reading and analysis are absent in the reading materials of the Old Order Amish. Instead, the Amish choose reading materials that help the group conform to generations of Amish standards. This is how the Amish maintain their way of life and their culture.
--snip snip --
Individuals read and write for a variety of purposes, some casual and others
momentous - entertainment, information, self-improvement, critical thinking and
cultural maintenance. Literacy is impacted by an individual’s social environment, whether the environment is a factory where a worker is organizing a union or an Amish family preserving its cultural identity. The social environment shapes the individual’s purposes for reading and writing.
Monday, November 10, 2008
What are your feelings on Impacts on Literacy Development?
The interaction of personal and social influences on one’s literacy development impact one’s literary pursuits and practices. While one can approach literacy skills independently or as part of a group, both approaches have their own purposes, practices and rewards. Such is the case with Barbara Mellix, an independent learner, in “From Outside, In” and Eli Fisher, Jr., a group learner, in Andrea Fishman’s “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish.”
Literacy skills can be developed independently by an individual in a manner that matters to that person. Mellix wrote about learning to speak two languages. Both of the languages mattered in Mellix’s world, personally and socially. The black English she spoke at home and the standard English she spoke in public served the purpose of helping her fit in with the people in her immediate environment (386).
Literacy skills can also be developed by an individual in a manner that matters to a group. Fishman wrote about the Fisher family, and how the youngest one, Eli, was being taught literacy skills in the manner of Old Order Amish traditions (239). While the Fisher home has a diversified array of reading materials - from Walt Disney books to newspapers to magazines - the materials are carefully selected by the parents “in an attempt to control the reading material that enters their home” (239). This screening of reading materials serves the purpose of constraining the children to read only what the group - the Old Order Amish - wants them to read.
--snip snip --
People who undertake independent literacy development are rewarded by being able to effectively participate in society in general versus being only able to effectively participate in a specific society or culture. Not only was Mellix able to work with the public through her job at the insurance company, but when she was “drawn to the new developments in my life and the attending possibilities, opportunities for even greater change” she thought about going back to college to become a school teacher (390). Her independent thinking rewarded her with pursuing the literacy skills needed to fit in with society and work with the public.
Rewards in group literacy development include the continuance of a group’s particular culture and lifestyle. The Old Order Amish have been able to maintain their own style of writing for generations with tight control over reading material and writing lessons. “While grammar, spelling, and punctuation do count for the Old Order, they do so only to the extent that word order, words, and punctuation must allow readers to read - that is, to recognize and make sense of their reading” (246). By following the examples set forth by his group, Eli is rewarded by fitting in with his group.
The interaction of personal and social influences on one’s literacy development impact one’s literary pursuits and practices. While one can approach literacy skills independently or as part of a group, both approaches have their own purposes, practices and rewards. Such is the case with Barbara Mellix, an independent learner, in “From Outside, In” and Eli Fisher, Jr., a group learner, in Andrea Fishman’s “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish.”
Literacy skills can be developed independently by an individual in a manner that matters to that person. Mellix wrote about learning to speak two languages. Both of the languages mattered in Mellix’s world, personally and socially. The black English she spoke at home and the standard English she spoke in public served the purpose of helping her fit in with the people in her immediate environment (386).
Literacy skills can also be developed by an individual in a manner that matters to a group. Fishman wrote about the Fisher family, and how the youngest one, Eli, was being taught literacy skills in the manner of Old Order Amish traditions (239). While the Fisher home has a diversified array of reading materials - from Walt Disney books to newspapers to magazines - the materials are carefully selected by the parents “in an attempt to control the reading material that enters their home” (239). This screening of reading materials serves the purpose of constraining the children to read only what the group - the Old Order Amish - wants them to read.
--snip snip --
People who undertake independent literacy development are rewarded by being able to effectively participate in society in general versus being only able to effectively participate in a specific society or culture. Not only was Mellix able to work with the public through her job at the insurance company, but when she was “drawn to the new developments in my life and the attending possibilities, opportunities for even greater change” she thought about going back to college to become a school teacher (390). Her independent thinking rewarded her with pursuing the literacy skills needed to fit in with society and work with the public.
Rewards in group literacy development include the continuance of a group’s particular culture and lifestyle. The Old Order Amish have been able to maintain their own style of writing for generations with tight control over reading material and writing lessons. “While grammar, spelling, and punctuation do count for the Old Order, they do so only to the extent that word order, words, and punctuation must allow readers to read - that is, to recognize and make sense of their reading” (246). By following the examples set forth by his group, Eli is rewarded by fitting in with his group.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Journal entry from "Portraits, Profiles, Proficiencies" course at USM, Fall2007.Please leave your comments and let me know how you feel about theseobservationsor ones you have made on this topic.
Work Ethic: Observations
I grew up believing that everyone needed to work in order to make a positive contribution to society.
I was never told how people figured out what type of career fit their skills.
Havinga good paying job doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be happy on the job. Ilearned that I need interaction with other people during my work day,yetI don’t like mindless prattle or interruptions. I can’t spend five daysaweek, eight hours a day at work and not talk to anyone.
I don’t bringpersonalwork to the office or make personal calls while at work. I don’tlike sittingnext to people who do ALL of their personal calls at work andtalk for 15or 20 minutes at a time, sometimes yelling, sometimes talkingabout reallypersonal matters that should be kept private.
I believe that it is very important to put in the time that the company is paing you for.
I’ve learned that dealing with the public sometimes takes a lot of energy, such as when dealing with rude and obnoxious people.
I have learned that I am open to being more creative at work.
Work Ethic: Observations
I grew up believing that everyone needed to work in order to make a positive contribution to society.
I was never told how people figured out what type of career fit their skills.
Havinga good paying job doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be happy on the job. Ilearned that I need interaction with other people during my work day,yetI don’t like mindless prattle or interruptions. I can’t spend five daysaweek, eight hours a day at work and not talk to anyone.
I don’t bringpersonalwork to the office or make personal calls while at work. I don’tlike sittingnext to people who do ALL of their personal calls at work andtalk for 15or 20 minutes at a time, sometimes yelling, sometimes talkingabout reallypersonal matters that should be kept private.
I believe that it is very important to put in the time that the company is paing you for.
I’ve learned that dealing with the public sometimes takes a lot of energy, such as when dealing with rude and obnoxious people.
I have learned that I am open to being more creative at work.
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