Reading Response 11

Brandt – Sponsors of Literacy

Summary

In her article, “Sponsors of Literacy,” Brandt attempts to show us her new definition of literacy and show how her concept of sponsors that she has developed through all of her research into literacy. She states that these sponsors teach us how to be literate, in turn showing us to be who we are, almost molding us with key characteristics of themselves.

Synthesis

 This article is much along the same lines as those whom dealt with studies that they had done, such as Kantz and Klein. However, Brandt is analyzing something she noticed while studying so1mething related, but different.

Pre-reading

List of ways reading is promoted: learning to read is an achievement early on, reading contests in elementary school, most popular forms of media are text (i.e. newspapers and magazines), writing contests with various organizations, college applications, ect. Reasons for being a better reader and writer are that you will do much better when you are older and are trying to get a job and have a family to support. This advice is usually given by adults, especially close relatives or older friends, and the occasional teacher.

A&E

1. I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI till the age of 9, then moved to Defiance, OH. Moved from suburbia to the middle of nowhere. Had several dozen times as much yard, as well as chores. When I got to Defiance, I didn’t know anyone, so I read a lot because I was by myself. This stayed this way till high school, and I still keep my love of reading to this day. I’ve always liked to read, but it was honestly the bullying of my fourth and fifth grade classes that led me to love reading. It’s almost like a default activity for me. Because of my voracious appetite for books, I became very literate, vocabulary wise. However I did a lot of pleasure reading, so come high school, I did not like many of the novels we read for class. I had friends who were into my kind of books by then though, so I didn’t entirely die of boredom.

Thoughts

The piece was interesting enough, and presented a lot of neat points that I had never thought about. However, my chief complain of it needing shortened still stands, and after going over my paper on stereotypes, I think some authors write long passages just because they can. While this one isn’t the case, I think, it could’ve been shortened or consolidated without any loss of meaning.