The unique concept of sponsorship as it pertains to literacy is something that I have found myself reflecting upon in the days after I completed the readings for this week. I am very fortunate to be in the position I am in where I can study the field of English in such a way as to be able to further develop critical thinking, and reading and writing skills, among other things. When I was younger and beginning my process of literacy learning, I recall one of my teachers in either the first or second grade scrutinizing my reading ability. It became apparent later that that scrutiny was to categorize me at a certain reading level and to structure the rest of my learning around that somewhat arbitrary sorting. I remember dwelling on this realization so much: did I read all of my words too fast? My teacher was very critical of me reading too quickly, and I worried that that critique would set me back from the rest of the class. At the time I had only wanted to get my reading over with and that was the reason behind me going over the material so quickly. I remember thinking that there were so many factors involved in why I was reading the way that I was, but that all the teachers were looking for was the reading level as an isolated variable without consideration for extenuating factors, such as my nerves. I remember the criticism that came from reading aloud as being something I struggled with for several years to overcome, and it in essence ended up holding me back from reaching my own potential.
When I hit grade 5 I had my teacher ask me to hang back after class one day to talk to me about an assignment submission. When I visited her at the end of class, she told me my writing was way more advanced than other students in my class, and that she believed I could focus on a career involving writing if I wanted to. That teacher’s comments were a form of literacy sponsorship that I find myself carrying with me and reflecting on constantly, even to this day. I feel as though that form of literacy sponsorship provided me with academic privileges that other students in my classes did not have. As I progressed in my schooling, I sought out individuals that could lend that level of support or sponsorship that I had received earlier. I found that locating those individuals aimed to strengthen the skills and the confidence to support the skills that I already knew I possessed. With literacy sponsorship, at least as it can be applied to my own life, I feel like after a period of time that is entirely dependent on the person, you can facilitate your own literacy sponsorship because you realize you possess the skills and habits to support yourself and further your own literacy goals.
When I think about literacy, I link it automatically with post-secondary education in my head, and I find that’s both a good and bad thing to do. In the text, “Literacy, Myths, and Legacies: Lessons from the Past~ Thoughts for the Future” by Harvey J. Graff the author addresses one of the main underlying beliefs pertaining to literacy:
“Literate persons, for example, are said to be more empathetic, innovative, achievement-oriented, cosmopolitan, politically and media-aware, identified with a nation, aspiring to schooling,
"modern," urban in residence, and accepting of technology. Literacy, it is claimed, correlates
with economic growth and industrialization, wealth and productivity, political stability and
participatory democracy, urbanization, consumption, and contraception” (Graff 273).
In my mind, I always thought that the only way to be literate was to keep pursuing additional educational learning opportunities. As I have grown older and become more critical of the world around me, I have begun to realize how wrong my perceptions of literacy are. There are so many kinds of literacy, and not all of them are rooted in post-secondary education at a university institution. I have such an incredible amount of respect for tradeworkers who travel through the regular schooling system to learn and develop an understanding of a particular type of literacy, and then to deviate from that in a large way to learn a brand new type of literacy pertaining to the trade they specialize in. Literacy may be correlated with economic growth, but literacy as many people understand it remains strictly in an academic setting, and I believe firmly that this is not necessarily the case.
I am at the stage of my life where I am extremely critical of my own decisions and my current placement in life right now. In my mind, I understood for a long time that if I wanted to be happy, successful and making a lot of money, I needed to pursue academics to strengthen my literacy. I regret the fact that my critical understanding of literacy didn’t extend as broadly as it could have in the past. If I had thought more critically about what literacy actually meant, I truly believe I may instead be working in a trade field, rather than in an academic one.
When I hit grade 5 I had my teacher ask me to hang back after class one day to talk to me about an assignment submission. When I visited her at the end of class, she told me my writing was way more advanced than other students in my class, and that she believed I could focus on a career involving writing if I wanted to. That teacher’s comments were a form of literacy sponsorship that I find myself carrying with me and reflecting on constantly, even to this day. I feel as though that form of literacy sponsorship provided me with academic privileges that other students in my classes did not have. As I progressed in my schooling, I sought out individuals that could lend that level of support or sponsorship that I had received earlier. I found that locating those individuals aimed to strengthen the skills and the confidence to support the skills that I already knew I possessed. With literacy sponsorship, at least as it can be applied to my own life, I feel like after a period of time that is entirely dependent on the person, you can facilitate your own literacy sponsorship because you realize you possess the skills and habits to support yourself and further your own literacy goals.
When I think about literacy, I link it automatically with post-secondary education in my head, and I find that’s both a good and bad thing to do. In the text, “Literacy, Myths, and Legacies: Lessons from the Past~ Thoughts for the Future” by Harvey J. Graff the author addresses one of the main underlying beliefs pertaining to literacy:
“Literate persons, for example, are said to be more empathetic, innovative, achievement-oriented, cosmopolitan, politically and media-aware, identified with a nation, aspiring to schooling,
"modern," urban in residence, and accepting of technology. Literacy, it is claimed, correlates
with economic growth and industrialization, wealth and productivity, political stability and
participatory democracy, urbanization, consumption, and contraception” (Graff 273).
In my mind, I always thought that the only way to be literate was to keep pursuing additional educational learning opportunities. As I have grown older and become more critical of the world around me, I have begun to realize how wrong my perceptions of literacy are. There are so many kinds of literacy, and not all of them are rooted in post-secondary education at a university institution. I have such an incredible amount of respect for tradeworkers who travel through the regular schooling system to learn and develop an understanding of a particular type of literacy, and then to deviate from that in a large way to learn a brand new type of literacy pertaining to the trade they specialize in. Literacy may be correlated with economic growth, but literacy as many people understand it remains strictly in an academic setting, and I believe firmly that this is not necessarily the case.
I am at the stage of my life where I am extremely critical of my own decisions and my current placement in life right now. In my mind, I understood for a long time that if I wanted to be happy, successful and making a lot of money, I needed to pursue academics to strengthen my literacy. I regret the fact that my critical understanding of literacy didn’t extend as broadly as it could have in the past. If I had thought more critically about what literacy actually meant, I truly believe I may instead be working in a trade field, rather than in an academic one.