Annotations - Literacy: A Lineage

The author opens by describing the hardships she would face, if it hadn't been for her "literacy guardian", her father. The author begins by sharing with us a personal tradition shared by her and her father. She tells of the Sunday morning bike rides they went on, and how the bell tower. She also tells of the poem etched at the bottom of the bell tower, and how her father would "inevitably" read it aloud to her. She recalls how she had memorized the poem, so often read to her by her father. After the author recalls how her father has inspired and encouraged her love for reading and writing, she tells the story in chronological order. She uses vivid details such as "I would recite the poem to myself, even when the weather was cold and my breath made the air foggy." ( Page 133, paragraph #1) This, and many other details as well, help paint a vivid picture in the readers' mind. The author focuses on her own personal experiences from her childhood, and how they affected her later in life. The author writes from a first person point of view, letting us know she experienced these events first hand. On page 135, the author expresses the main points of the story. She tells how the event has affected her writing, and how she will continue to receive joy as long as she lives, from the love for language and literature, that her father has passed onto her. At the very end of the narrative, the author quotes the poem, that her father had recited to her, as a child, which connects the beginning of the story to the end.

First Essay Prewriting

Isabela Burns

1.       “When she opened the front door, the whole street looked like a river, and water poured in. She described it as “rushing like the Colorado River”. Page 129 paragraph 3.

2.       “What do you want me to do?” I say. “You’ve got to come to me. I can’t come to you. Who knows what mental state you’re in?” The skunk looks at me. Page 157 paragraph 3.

3.       Soaking- Page 129 paragraph 2

Bulky- Page 129 paragraph 4

Heavy- Page 129 paragraph 4

Rocking- Page 130 paragraph 1

Heat- Page 130 paragraph 3

Essence- Page 131 Paragraph 3

Cramped- Page 130 paragraph 4

Swollen- Page 130 paragraph 4

4.       When I wrote a story about my first time I lost a tooth, and the teacher “published” my book, and shared it with the class.

Learning to make a web page.

When I finally read “David Goes to School” aloud all by myself.

5.       I want to share this story because it shows how I have progressed since this event, and how this event impacted me and my writing today.

6.       I can assume the readers will have similar past experiences that they can relate to while reading this story.

7.       I want to project an accomplished, and slightly humorous attitude. I want the readers to understand my experience and see how it helped me with my writing later in life.

8.       My narrative will be typed on the computer and turned in both digitally, and printed as well.

9.       I see my pink walls in my princess themed bedroom, and the castle mural my mom had painted on the far wall.  I see my mom beside me, and the book “David Goes to School” on my lap.

10.   I can hear our fire place crackling downstairs, and the screams of my delighted little brother playing with my dad in the other room. I hear my dog chewing on a toy, and the fan of my fish tank in my room gently blowing out air.

11.   I smell the smoke and fire from downstairs and the pot roast in the crock pot, that will be served for dinner that night.

12.   I feel a little irritated with my mom, who continues to prompt me to read this book, when I know that I cannot. Still at the same time I feel cozy in my bed and excited for dinner. Also very eager for my mom to finally tell me something along the lines of “We can try some more tomorrow, you can be done for tonight.”

13.   I taste the stale gumballs from our gumball machine, that I still continue to eat when my mom isn’t looking, even though she says they’re too old to be eaten, and that they are just for decoration now.

14.   Mom- She is persistent, always trying to get me to read this book. Though she is still tender and caring. She offers me treats, and tells me if I finish the book I could read to my baby brother, which he would enjoy. She is in a plain tee shirt and cozy pajama pants, as well as thick wool socks, because our hard wood floors are cold in the winter. She smells like seasonings, and various ingredients from making dinner, which is now stewing in the crock pot downstairs. She is tired from today’s work, but still has the energy to try and help me with my homework, and to help me learn to read. She is eager for me to learn how to read. She says reading is like a “movie in your head”. She has slightly darker circles under her eyes, and yawns often, even though it is only 5:00 in the afternoon.

15.   “Mom. I can’t read that book, it is for big kids.”

“You can do it, come on try the first page. You got all the way to the third page last night, I know you can at least read the first page.”

“Mom, I don’t want to.”

“Bela, don’t you want to learn to read? You can read to your brother and he will love it!”

“Mom, I never ever want to learn to read. I will never read my whole life.”

“You have to learn how to read someday. Reading is like a movie in your head. And you can take it anywhere, in the car, to school, to the treehouse.”

“I would rather watch a movie.”

16.   My mom is attempting to teach me to read. I had picked out a book, which at first, I was overjoyed to learn how to read. I had loved when my mom would read me that book before bed, and it always made me giggle. She had told me I could read it myself, and I could even read it to my brother. It sounded like a good idea at the time, considering I had not done much school work involving reading and writing. As I began, I realized it wasn’t as easy as my mom made it look. I told her I would prefer her to read it to me instead. She would tell me that I would have to learn to read someday. She explained how nice it would be to go into first grade the next year and already know how to read. All week, she had brought me the book and asked me to read her a few pages. At first I would always refuse, after learning how hard it was to read. I would tell her I didn’t understand why I had to read it to her, considering she already knew how to read. Night after night of refusing to read, I finally gave in. I sat with her in my bed, as we sounded out the words together. Eventually, I had the whole story memorized. I could tell you the story without even opening the book. I was so proud of myself, reading the story to my family, teachers, even my stuffed animals.

17.    

This event is significant to me and my writing now. It has given me the confidence in myself to work hard to accomplish my goals, knowing that I can do whatever I set my mind to. This experience has also encouraged me to try to learn new things, and to keep an open mind while doing so.  If this event had never happened, I might not have the skills and confidence in my writing that I do today. After reading that first book, I was encouraged to begin reading new books.  After, I began reading longer, more complicated books. I enjoyed reading, and it helped me as well. I feel that all the reading I did when I was younger has really helped me excel in school throughout my life. If I had not read that first book, I wouldn’t have had the confidence and enthusiasm to continue reading.  This narrative is also significant because it helps me share a vivid memory that I have of my early childhood. Throughout my life I have enjoyed reading and it has given me something to do to pass time. It has also helped me by improving vocabulary. I feel that beginning reading at such an early age has helped me. When assigned to read for class work or other assignments, I have been able to do so with ease, and occasionally even enjoyed it.

Rhetoric Definition Part 2

After reading others classmates' definition of rhetoric, I still define rhetoric as a language that is used to effectively influence or persuade whoever you are communicating with. I believe my classmates and I, have similar definitions of rhetoric. There were no conflicting ideas in our definitions, as they were all somewhat alike. Some classmates focused on the way rhetoric comes across through different languages, and some focused on how some people are grounded to their beliefs if they use rhetoric methods. I mainly focused on the fact that rhetoric is a language used to persuade or influence people.

Rhetoric Definiton

In my opinion, rhetoric is a language that is used to effectively influence or persuade whoever you are communicating with. There are various steps you need to take in order to think and act rhetorically, and after practicing these steps they will become habits. Once they become habits and you begin thinking and acting rhetorically you will be able to help yourself negotiate throughout life, helping yourself get your point across to people respectfully, and with ease. It will help you persuade others and convince them. While thinking or acting rhetorically, you will need to listen to others, and be willing to accept their opinions with an open mind. You will need to consider why the person ( or people ) believe what they do and understand where they are coming from. You will also need to do the same with yourself, considering what you think and why you believe that. You will need to research your topic, looking at every argument that has been made about that topic, and considering them as well. You will  also need to give credit to others, and acknowledge the work of others and how it influenced you. Giving credit can be done formally or informally, depending on your purpose and context. Using your imagination is a key step in thinking or acting rhetorically, which can lead to new ideas and great insights. The Merriam Webster dictionary describes rhetoric as "the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people". This means that while thinking or acting rhetorically, you will possess the ability to effectively convince someone , or persuade them.

Rhetorical Situations--Narratives

Holly Snider, Bela Burns, Leah Nieman

Rhetorical Situations- Narratives

Differences in our blogs- some of us talked about the hurricanes and actual storms where as some of us talked more about the story itself. Leah focused a lot on the audience and tone, Bela focused more on the storm and Holly focused more about the author. Also, some of us claimed the story was through the eyes of Lydia, and others used the author’s point of view.

Similarities- We all agreed that one of the biggest parts of the story was what the people in the hurricane endured. We picked a lot of the same words that made the story “come alive”. For the most part, we all included that Lydia had a lot to with the point of view. All of us discussed different parts of the hurricane and experiences.

Summary of discussion on Lydia’s Story:

First, we all read our answers to the questions aloud to each other. Then we discussed all the differences, such as what we thought about the hurricane, what we thought about the author and our examples of words. We all enjoyed the story and thought it was interesting. Then we discussed the similarities in our answers.

Summary of discussion on Chapter 2 and Lydia’s Story:

Chapter 2 discusses; genres, audience, purpose, stance, context, medium, and design. Jan Brideau chose a narrative genre to present Lydia’s story. It is obvious the author of Lydia’s story took into deep consideration whom she was addressing. Her purpose was informing the public and health professionals of the experiences the Louisiana people endured. Her stance was supportive of the people’s bravery and hope through this tragic event. We also have to consider all the things chapter two explains when writing.

Discussion Summary of Everyday Narratives:

We all included music and music is a big part of everyone’s lives. Music can express a variety of feelings towards events. Also, all of us listed conversations between friends and family, this is an important part of everyday communication. Through this exercise we realized that narratives are a big part of our lives and that they hold much importance.

Discussion of Think Beyond Words:

Not all of chose the same video, but we all agreed that videos were extremely powerful and passionate. This is a very valuable website and has a positive, encouraging mood. Some of us thought the videos about expressing sexuality were the most powerful where others thought that a video on autism was the most powerful. Not all of the videos used music but we agree that music helped explain the mood and added something special to the video. All the videos had something sad but left with a positive message.

Compare Narratives Discussion:

For two narratives we chose, the song Love Story from Taylor Swift and the story of To Kill a Mockingbird. They both explain a lesson they had to learn the hard way, over time. A difference between the two is the era of time. Another similarity is the perspective or point of view, they both involve a child’s maturing point of view towards life events

THINK BEYOND WORDS

The video I found the most powerful was the Lady Gaga #HAIRMUSICVIDEO. I felt this video was the most powerful because it began with a real life situation and it displayed events and scenes that could, and do happen daily. It presented a boy being harassed for being gay. Later in the video it showed the boy finally going to a school dance with another boy and kissing him in the middle of the dance. This video helped the viewer become more aware of how they should treat people and how others feel. The music and visuals in this video were very meaningful, making the video very powerful as well.

THINK ABOUT...

List of stories I hear in a day:

• Music- Love stories
• Social media posts- events in someones life that they feel is important to share
• Conversations with friends or family- funny stories 
• Radio or TV- News reports