Draft #2
My first memories of reading and writing was when I was about five years old. I was in kindergarten and my mother would sit with my sister and I in the living room, she would help me with my ABC’s. She did not know any English at the time. She would sit with us and repeat the alphabet letters. I remember we would go over them every night before bed. My father would be watching the Television and my sister, mom and I would be in the table going over the alphabet letters.
My parents both came from Mexico at a very young age but neither of them attended school here in the United States. My father only finished High School in Mexico and my mother only finished the fifth grade. My mother always mentions to us that she practically learned English along with my sister and I. “I became increasingly frustrated, at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters that I wrote, especially those to Mr. Elijah Muhammad” (Malcolm X, pg 1). I feel that this was a type of frustration my mom felt but not speaking English. She would practice reading and writing with us. Growing up in a Spanish speaking home was a bit of a challenge. It was a challenge because when I went to kindergarten that was my first time learning English. It was a bit tough at first because I didn’t really have anyone to help me out in my homework I have one sister but she was only one year older than me, this is not much of a difference. I knew that through my school career my parents would always support me but there was not much they could do to help me when I needed help in school. They supported me by signing my up for afterschool tutoring but other than that there wasn’t much they could do.
When I really started to learn the importance of literacy would be my freshman year of high school. My High school was my sponsor in literacy. When I got to high school that is when I started to realize how important literature was. I remember picking up book, or reading the books that where assigned to us such as authors by Gary Soto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Soto) and actually enjoying the book. Enjoying a book to read was a feeling that I had forgotten since maybe kindergarten. I was a feeling that I had forgotten. Many of the books that where by Soto where about teens and I felt it was something I enjoyed the most, also the fact that he is Mexican- American like myself. Many of the details in his book where thing that I saw around me, such as gangs and students dropping out of school. I felt that it was something I could relate to for the fact that it was happening around me. This was when I realized that I did not want to be like many students that I saw around me. I didn’t want to be one more teen drop out. This is when I realized how important Literacy was and even started to enjoy it more. I enjoyed it so much that after that I would go to the library and pick up some books to read. I loved that feeling of picking up a book and not being able to stop reading it. I remember that sometime I would go to sleep till 2 am in the morning and I would anxious to read what would happen next. Many of my teachers always emphasize the importance or reading and writing. Even if it was not an English Class that I was taking. For example in Chemistry my teacher would make us write out our labs, of course none of us liked it, but she said it was very important to practice our literacy. Then the school made this policy to improve our literacy. Every day in our last class we had to read for the first 25 min of class, regardless of what class we where in. I feel that this really helped me out and motivated me even more to improve my literacy. “This analysis of sponsorship forces us to consider not merely how one social group’s literacy practices may differ from another’s, but how everybody’s literacy practices are operating in differential economies, which supply different access routes, different degrees of sponsoring power, and different scales of monetary worth to the practices in use”( pg.172, Brandt). My school was on the schools that received the least amount of money. Mainly it was due to the low scores that we tested as well as school performance. So I came from a High School with very few privileges.
I feel that my school opened many doors for me, not only in the literacy aspect but everything in general. I learned to work with others and the importance of achieving a higher education. There was a time in which I felt that my school was failing me as my sponsor. According to Brandt in the article Sponsors of Literacy” They lend their resources or credibility to the sponsored but also stand to gain benefits from their success, whether by direct repayment or, indirectly, by credit of association” (pg 167, Brandt). I feel that my school expected me to go to college. To be another statistic of a higher amount of students going attending college. When the test scores where low our principle became really strict. He was treating us as if we were in prison. My junior year he had a strict policy and enforced securities around campus, after there had been rumors that students from other High Schools where coming in to start fights.
He started a champagne in which he didn’t want boys to wear baggy jeans so he starts making posters and posting them all over the school. Those who did wear baggy pants would be punished whether going back home to change, or being thrown in OCS for the day. Then he made a policy where we had to have our ID card on display, from the waist up. It could be pined in our shirt or in a lanyard. The ID card had to have your picture showing and it had to be from that year. As we enter campus in the morning they would check to see if we had our Id card on display. I remember once forgetting my id and I had an important final that day. It was my first time forgetting my id card but they did not care they send me to OCS and I missed my test. I felt bad because I had never forget my id card and I missed an impotent Econ test. I feel that my education was no longer priority in my school. That we just had to follow directions. Some of my teachers agreed with the Principle they would tell us is we miss class because we don’t have our ID card it was our fault and we would not be able to make up any work or exams that where given that day. There were other teaches such as my chemistry teacher Mrs. Devine who was upset with the rules. She told us our education was more important than a stupid ID card. She said if we ever end up in OCS because of that to call her cell phone and she would personally leave class to go get us. I remember she once went to pick up a student and the security guard was very upset. They had a huge argument because the policy said that the student was to remain in OCS for forgetting his ID card, and a day later she had to meet up with the principle because she had broken a rule. One thing that I recall that really upset me was when we were finishing up our last period, chemistry teacher was trying to go over the weekend homework when we were interrupted by one of the principles announcement in the speakers. In his announcement he talked about the enforced polices and how we needed to obey them or we could end up suspended if we had certain number of warnings previously. When he was done my techer said, ‘Did you noticed he said nothing about our education, about trying hard on the finals that are coming up or anything to motivate us, and he interrupted important class time for that.” This really upset me and that is when I realized education was not a priority. My education was no longer important to them, what mattered where sports and to look good as a school. This is when I started to feel that my school was in a way failing me. My education was not there priority. Even though I felt that my education was not a priority to them I still felt the need to pay my school back by attending college. I attended Santa Maria High School. A school that was known for having very low literature Reading and writing scores in the Chasse Exams. We were the school with the highest dropout rates in the area as well as with the most teen pregnancy. I knew that I didn’t want to be like that, I wanted to make a difference. I felt that even though at the time I felt my education was not a priority, they had given me all the told to succeed if I really wanted to. I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open” ( pg.13, Sherman). I can feel Sherman’s frustration of wanting to succeed. I feel that coming from a school like that I attended, many of else felt this way.
So I challenged myself and took AP English classes. This is when I felt that my reading and writing started to change. I learned different styles of writing, and this is when started to enjoy writing. In this quote Murray explains the different types of writing. “We are autobiographical in the way we write; my autobiography exists in the examples of writing I use in this piece and in the text I weave around them. I have my own peculiar way of looking at the world and my own way of using language to communicate what I see” (pg 67. Murray”). I started to learn more and be engaged more in school. Being in AP class was different, besides the challenges of reading and writing at a higher level the atmosphere is different. You know that when you take an AP class all the students are there for the same reason. They all want to someday attend a college. This is when I saw student’s desperation to attend the best colleges. I remember my senior year in my AP English class all the students wanted the teacher to peer review there college essay for schools like Berkley and Harvard. My Senior I doubted myself, I was not sure if I wanted to attend a four year university or stay at a community college. I ended up coming to CSU Channel Islands because I felt the need to give back to my school by attending college.
In the summer they have booths for current students to ask questions to Alumni students in college. I have been part of this ever since I started college. I feel that this way I am giving back to my school, and helping other students who might not think college is for them.
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading. Eds. Michael Dorris and Emilie Buchwald. Minneapolis: Milkweed, 1997. Web. 29 May 2015. http://www.pasadena.edu/files/syllabi/stvillanueva_39386.pdf
Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” College Composition and Communication. 49.2 (1998): 165-185. Jstor. Web. 29 May 2015. (Available for download through Broome library database)
Murray, Donald M. “All Writing Is Autobiography.” College Composition and Communication. 42.1 (1991): 66-74. Jstor. Web. 29 May 2015. (Available for download through Broome library database)
Malcolm X. “Learning to Read.” The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Random House, 1964. Web. 29 May 2015. http://www.redwoods.edu/instruct/pblakemore/MalcolmX.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Soto)
