Personal Essay: Sponsors Of Literacy

In “Sponsors of Literacy,” Deborah Brandt attempts to explain literacy, its history, and how there are influences that form the way we learn and practice literacy. The author talks about how literacy for individuals is in relation to the economics of literacy. Brandt argues that the forces that influence an individual’s literacy are sponsors of literacy. In the text the sponsors are defined as “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy—and gain an advantage by it in some way” (Brandt 166). Some of these forces Brandt mentions are influential people such as parents, siblings, teachers, and/or mentors. She specified culture, race, gender,

In Sponsors of Literacy, Brandt argues that individual and group literacy stem directly from sponsors in the form of role models, educators, media, and many more sources of language and communication acquisition. Brandt claims that sponsors, through intentional or unintentional actions, influence an individual’s ideologies and relationship with literacy. Through the interviews which Brandt conducted in the 1990s with people of varying literary and sponsorship experiences, Brandt discovered that an individual’s access to literacy opportunities: libraries, computers, or traditional education, had a monumental impact on their career, ability weather political or economic upheavals, and capacity to function profitably in society. Sponsors distribute

In “Sponsors of Literacy,” author Deborah Brandt attempts to explain literacy, its history, and how there are influences that form the way we learn and practice literacy. Brandt argues that the forces that influence an individual’s literacy are sponsors of literacy. Some “forces” that Brandt discusses are influential people, such as parents, siblings, teachers, and mentors. Other forces can include culture, race, gender, language and location, access to technology, and politics. Brandt described several events in our history to help define what exactly a sponsor of literacy is. She spent several years interviewing people from all walks of life to find their unique literacy history and used them as examples in her writing. Varying ages, backgrounds, and sponsors indicate that literacy changes with each generation and is viewed as a valued commodity.

Literacy has different meanings other than reading and writing, which also includes the understanding of knowledge. I learned what literacy was when I first understood the sport of Basketball. However, before basketball was my favorite sport, it was soccer. But that ended earlier on when I became injured during a soccer game. After that, I was not really hoping for another sport to come my way. It all began when my big brother started playing basketball, he was quite good during his prime. When I was in jr. High and High School I never expected to be as talented as him. He taught me the proper skills to succeed in basketball when I was younger. When I was a teen it was my teammates and coaches who made me a better player. During my development I was able to encounter success with a good amount of practice and an equal amount of worst moments. At one point of my High School years, I was going to back down because I was not as talented as the others. Therefore, basketball has defined literacy by practice, lack of confidence, and learning style.

The story of my history as a writer is a very long one. My writing has come full circle. I have changed very much throughout the years, both as I grew older and as I discovered more aspects of my own personality. The growth that I see when I look back is incredible, and it all seems to revolve around my emotions. I have always been a very emotional girl who feels things keenly. All of my truly memorable writing, looking back, has come from experiences that struck a chord with my developing self. This assignment has opened my eyes, despite my initial difficulty in writing it. When I was asked to write down my earliest memory of writing, at first I drew a blank. All of a sudden, it became very clear to me, probably because it had some

Literacy plays a huge role in many people’s lives everyday, whether it is learning how to read and write for the first time or writing a five-page essay for the hundredth time. We experience literacy differently and have our very own unique stories on how it has impacted our lives and had made us who we are today. It is an essential aspect that I use in my everyday life, such as in relationships, daily interactions with others, and learning. It has become such a powerful aspect and human right in which it allows one to speak his/her mind and in some cases express their opinion to the world. My personal literacy history has shaped me into who I am today because without my experiences I would not have been able to gain the confidence and

The idea of Sponsors of Literacy was originally proposed by Deborah Brandt in her 1998 article, “Sponsors of Literacy.” In her article, she argued that Sponsors of Literacy include people, institutions, and circumstances; they vary based on the person’s experiences and surroundings. Sponsors of literacy are essential in everyone’s life due to the powerful role they demonstrate on the long run. In my own reading and writing experience, my sponsors of literacy were my childhood memories, my school, and the various resources I’ve used to accomplish an outstanding Multi-Genre Research Paper.

Literacy embraces reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Integrating all of these into a literacy program is key. Teachers must provide endless and ongoing opportunities for their student to read, write, listen, and speak.

People are exposed to literacy all throughout their lives through learning and experiences. The way one is exposed to literacy varies from person to person. In Deborah Brandt’s Sponsors of Literacy she states that literacy is not only the ability to read and write but also one’s ability to apply those skills to daily life. One gains much of their literacy through the different sponsors they experience. A sponsor is “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy and gain advantage by it in some way” (46). Throughout Brandt’s essay she gives examples of different types of people who experienced different upbringings with a variety of sponsors.

Second year as an Under-10 Squirt level hockey player for the New Jersey Colonials ice hockey team proved to be a challenging and harrowing experience that shaped the course of my future hockey career. I was a determined, naïve child with fantasies of playing in the NHL when I grew older. The source of my troubles began with Coach Ruben, a relentless, unforgiving hockey coach. Coach Ruben was in charge of determining the AAA hockey team that I desperately wanted to make. Unfortunately, I would not have that opportunity. My mom, compassionate and sympathetic, guided me through the confusing maze of anger and depression. My dad, a coach and former hockey player, gave me valuable, supportive advice that would change my hockey expectations and

Professor Deborah Brandt’s research article “Sponsors of Literacy” is about the importance of the sponsors. According to her, sponsors are the ones that provide the sponsored the access to literacy. Brandt interviews about 100 people and through those interviews, Brandt makes three main points regarding sponsors. The first one is about how different kinds of sponsors can produce different kinds of performances. The example that Brandt shows to the readers is the difference in the background of Raymond Branch and Dora Lopez. Branch is able to be exposed to the more powerful sponsors, while Lopez cannot. The second main point in this article is that economic and political can cause a rise in literacy

I define literacy as being able to express my thoughts and emotions. I know everyone has different opinions and emotions. Therefore, everyone will write differently and read in a different pace. Also, everyone likes different types of books, for example fiction or nonfiction. As a result, everyone’s literacy journey is unique. Everyone has a different definition when it comes to literacy which is what makes it special. Some prefer to read and others prefer to write. It all depends on personal preference.

Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning from an early age, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. Being literate increases opportunities for pupils in all aspects of life and lays the foundations for lifelong learning and work.

Growing up in a small farm town in Wisconsin, few people would thing that a future NCAA lacrosse player would be on the come up. This athlete would have some of the best coaches and the worst coaches in that the game had to offer and would drip all of the knowledge they had. This athlete even fewer would know that he had an idea of being a great lacrosse coach and inspire other athletes to reach for things that they never thought they could aspire to. This athlete is me and I come from Waunakee, Wisconsin which is a small football farm town that dose not have many NCAA athletes come from it and even fewer lacrosse players that play the sport in the area. Like as was stated before I have had amazing coaches who pushed me to better and other

Literacy is defined as being literate, that is, being able to read and write in a language. My personal experience with literacy began at an early age, at the age of 4 when I began to sit and read words and letters in the back of my mother’s car. Soon enough, she would bring me a magazine called “Majed” which, in the 90’s, was a popular magazine. With this, I began even more interested in reading and writing and reviewed every word in the magazine associated with each of the short pictured stories. It was the first memory I deeply recall of literacy and it was what laid the foundation for my personal love of reading and writing. The methodology used for this is an interview. There are three interviews which are analyzed and brought together in the form of a narrative. This narrative serves to better explain the emotions and thoughts that the interviewees had about the idea of literacy.