Blog Post 15

I. Rhetorical Overview of the Article

1. What is the author's exigence? Why does the author feel the article/argument needs to be made?

A: Brandt wants to argue that literacy doesn’t just happen. Literacy is acquired through learning it from someone teaching you to be literate.

2a. What discourse community is the author speaking toward for the article? WHY do you think that? Provide textual evidence (e.g., specific language, tone, publication venue, etc.,).

A: The author speaking to a group of educators and her peers. She uses words such as "we" and "we prepare students" which tells me that she is speaking to people like herself such as teachers. 

3. What is the author's thesis/argument/niche for the piece? If possible, quote specifically from the text

A: "What I have tried to suggest is that as we assist and study individuals is pursuit of literacy, we also recognize how literacy is in pursuit of them."

II Summary

1. Write a few sentences that summarizes this article in your own words; make sure to cover the main arguments AND conclusions.

A: In Brandt's article, "Sponsors of Literacy", she explains that people do not just become literate on their own. They have to be taught by people, institutions, and circumstances that make it possible for a person to become literate.

2. Take the summary you just wrote and condense it into something “tweetable,” by which I mean a summary that is NO longer than 140 characters. Consider using the same conventions you would if tweeting, meaning abbreviations and informality in language.

Tweet: Everyone learns to talk, being literate is a skill gained

3. What hashtags (#) would you use for this article? Stated otherwise, what key terms would you provide to describe the content of this article?

#learning #reading #writing #skill #sponsors

III. Burkean Parlor/Intertextuality

1. In what ways does this author and/or the ideas in this article connect with, (dis)agree with, speak to or against –I think you get the gist– previous authors and their ideas that we have encountered in this class?

A: I think Brandt's and Dawkins' articles relate to each other well because in Dawkins he states that there is no good or bad literacy. Everyday we are surrounded by literature commercial, newspapers and advertisements. We can learn from these ads about how to use literature effectively. Having the knowledge of being literate is a huge key to be successful in the world, it really doesn’t matter how you use it though.

IV. Assigned Exercises

1a. How does Brandt describe a literacy sponsor? And what are the characteristics of a literacy sponsor?

A: A Sponsor is a person, institution, or circumstance that both make it possible for a person to become literate and shape the way a person becomes literate. Some characteristics of a sponsor are more knowledgeable then the people they are teaching, and they usually have goals in literacy.

1b. Have you ever had literacy sponsors who withheld certain kinds of literacy from you? Where you able to find alternative sponsors for different kinds of literacy?

A: I went to an all boys private Catholic High school and our teachers wouldn’t let us read things that had to do with witchcraft or magic because that goes against the teaching of the Catholic Church. I was able to go to the public library and read these books on my own time.

Personal Reflection

1. How can you apply the information in this article to your own writing process? First, consider the main ideas that the author addresses, then consider other elements, such as organization, style, etc.

A: I can apply the information in this article to my own writing process because the way I have leaned to write has been influenced by many different sponsors throughout my time of schooling. This article directly applies to every things I’ve have learned from grade school to high school and now in higher education in college.

2. What is confusing about the article? What questions do you have after reading the article?

A; I didn’t find the article very confusing, some of the vocabulary was a bit challenging but other than that I completely understand the main points of the passage.