Response to Rosie's Auto io #3

Rosie's perspective at what works and what doesn't for her in an English class is interesting in that an electronic environment worked better since she could get more personal feedack than the traditional classroom offers. I've had the opposite experiance in that type of environment, but I suppose that the experiance greatly depends upon the instuctor for the course. I think that this simply comes down to who is more effective at reaching out to his or her students than how a particular course is conducted, i.e. traditional, online, or telecourse. I think that for the future educators here, we can learn oth what to do and what not to do as teachers via our experiances as students.

Diagramming Confusion

Sean Tucker

Professor Mary Boland

English 329

3 February 2009

Auto Bio #3

When I was in the seventh grade, I had a thick hardcover grammar book that focused quite a bit on diagramming sentences. I remember my teacher going over these diagrams and they seemed quite simple in the beginning in that the sentences we quite simple, e.g. “He hit the ball,” “She kissed the baby,” “We ate lunch,” etc. I do not remember how we diagramed these sentences, but I have not done it this way since I was in the seventh grade. Not long after this introduction to diagramming sentences, the sentences became more complex with adjectives, adverbs, auxiliary verbs and various other grammatical functions. The simple diagrams that only had a few lines in the beginning began to look like some kind of advanced mathematical equation. I remember being completely lost and confused. There were lines and brackets that shot out of the sentence in various angles with lines and brackets coming sprouting out from the other brackets in a complete incomprehensible manner to me. I did not even know how to read the sentence after my teacher diagramed it. It just looked like a cacophony of geometric shapes and angles with words tossed about in a great salad of chaos. Of course, I was expected to repeat this exercise, but as much as I tried, I could not repeat what my teacher had just done. I was too embarrassed to ask and so I just sat there starring blankly at her while she diagramed more sentences throughout the school year while my grade suffered.

What’s funny about this is that I am now an English major on the Linguistics track. You think I would hate grammar after an experience like that and I did for quite some time. It wasn’t until I decided to get my degree, more than ten years after I graduated from high school, that I began to enjoy language, literature, and grammar. Much has changed since I was in the seventh grade. Although I am no longer confused with these diagrams (I still don’t like them), I do realize that grammar can be confusing to anyone, especially if they stare blankly at the teacher and don’t ask any questions. Although I now realize that I should have spoken up in class and told the teacher I was confused, I can understand why a student wouldn’t speak up and voice his or her confusion. For me, I was embarrassed and thought that I was the only one in class that didn’t know what to do. I remember looking around and seeing other students’ pencils writing busily and I took this as their understanding of the assignment. This experience has allowed me to empathize with others that are having difficulties with grammar or any other subject for that matter. When I see errors in someone’s writing or it appears that they are completely lost, I don’t look at as if he or she is simply not smart enough to do the assignment. Instead, I look at it as if the person does not understand and I ask him or her what they think and what they are trying to do. If there is confusion, then I will try approaching the material differently and ask each step of the way if he or she understands. This seems to work well and I will continue to remember how I felt in that seventh grade English class so I can continue to empathize with others that are confused.

Response to AJ Auto. #3

Rosie Caldwell
Professor M. Boland
English 329

Response to AJ Auto. #3

In response to AJ's comment on school and education....I feel like we are on the same bitter plane. I have no good memories from school and I don't feel like school contributed to my education. The readings, the essay assignments and the homework don't have any relevance in my life. It doesn't seem to broaden my mind or deepen my understanding of the world... but I just write the essay (pretend like I really saw an awe-inspiring element that I want to delve into and describe with an array of literary terms that sound intelligent).

But, what pushes me along and keeps me in school is something my parents told me....."cooperate and graduate." School is difficult, frustrating, political and sometimes seems pointless, but college graduates make up to a million dollars more in a lifetime than someone without a degree. Having a degree looks great on a resume and etc. There are perks that keep me going....there is the realization that it's the piece of paper (degree)that makes it worthwhile. Plus, I will be graduating soon! (That makes it so much easier to keep going!)

"Ethnography and Compostion"

Rosie Caldwell
Professor M. Boland
English 329
3 February 2009

Moss, J. Beverly. “Ethnography and Composition: Studying Language at Home.”
Composition in Tour Key; Inquiring into the Field. Wiley, Barbara Gleason & Louise Wetherbee Phelps, eds. Mountain view, CA: Mayfield, 1966.

“Ethnography and Composition: Studying Language at Home”

The article, “Ethnography and Composition: Studying Language at Home” by Beverly J. Moss, talks about her research and some of the important things that one must consider when doing research of their own. Firstly, it is important to know that there “are three modes of ethnographic inquiry: comprehensive-oriented ethnography, topic oriented ethnography and hypothesis-oriented ethnography” (389). “Comprehensive-oriented ethnography seeks to document or describe a total way of life [while] Topic-oriented ethnography narrows the focus to on or more aspects of life known to exist in a community” (389). Finally, both the topic-oriented and comprehensive-oriented work together to build hypothesis-oriented ethnography.
“While ethnography in general is concerned with describing and analyzing a culture, ethnography in composition studies is generally topic oriented and concerned more narrowly with communicative behavior or the interrelationship of language and culture” (389).

Fieldwork is also discussed in this article. Moss states that fieldwork can be characterized by a participant observation. This includes “formal and informal interviews of informants, photographs, audio and video recording of daily occurrences in a community, gathering of physical artifacts that are a part of the daily routine of a community” (391). It was important to read that ethnographers may lean too heavily on their own background and knowledge on the data; they must think that all patterns are relevant and noteworthy. More specific to Moss’ research, she comments on her expectation when observing African American inner-city churches. Moss states that “my perceptions and expectation of the community also posed potential problems. I expected to find a great deal of similarity in the churches because there were, after all, African American inner-city churches with well-educated African American male ministers and fairly well-educated congregations” (394).

I thought it was very interesting that Moss comments on how she developed a “sense of loyalty to the community” and “did not want anyone in the community to be dissatisfied with what I had written” (396). The ideas of becoming attached to the community, and having your feelings shade the research are things that we should all be very aware of when conducting out own research. It will be difficult to be purely unbiased, but it can be striven for within our reserach.

The information provided is extremely helpful to consider before endeavoring in our own research project for this class. The possible complications and problems, that we might encounter when conduction our own research, were provided in this article. Also, by reading about Moss’ experience and thoughts, I felt like I will be able to handle the research project better. Moss states that “getting through fieldwork and analysis are faced through introspection, reflection, and triangulation” (369). These are things that I will consider when I accumulate research and start structuring my research paper.

Autobiographical Assignment #3

A.J. Pallante
Prof. Boland
English 329
4 February 2009
Autobiographical Essay #3
For the most part, curriculum based activities focused upon literacy and recognition have always been rather easy to comprehend and acquire. They all consisted of similar routines and the same stale content. I am unable to remember a specific exercise that caused any form of extreme anxiety or concern. Though throughout grade school I found the weekly vocabulary packets and written comprehension packets to be quite tedious, I never really struggled to complete them. They were always very easy. Not much thought was required. Most of the time, I just filled out the packets the morning that they were due. The hardest part was disciplining myself enough to sit down and concentrate long enough to go through the motions of “learning.” This is where the selected homework assignments and endless pages of reading made literacy seem less like a companion and more like a form of cruel and unusual punishment, fit for a criminal.
Transitioning from high school to college, I thought the expectations would be a bit different. Until that point, I believed the college to be this grand institution where minds could flourish to expand and pursue developing theories. I will never forget the day I realized the exact opposite to be true. It was not too long ago, in fact. As I sat reading the same page over and over for an hour straight, I began thinking about the relevance of the text I was reading. I became very angry when I realized that the text I was reading held no relevance to anything. The text then became the endless ramblings of someone I would never meet. To calm down, I sat back and reflected on my entire college career. My attempt to calm down was futile, as I began to see how everything I had read was useless. This lead to me realizing how much money I had wasted on books, many of which I had never even used. No one ever enjoys throwing hard earned money away.
With this rough history of my developed distaste, I have been able to recognize the repercussions of misguided instruction. After all, I have very negative feelings toward reading and the institution of “learning.” However, I recognize the rarity behind an individual who is financially successful without the prefix of a degree by his or her name. In all honesty, this has made me quite bitter. I find this to be significant when I begin to let my feelings distract me from my objective. For, it is better to overcome than to be swallowed completely. This is what keeps me motivated.
Translating this into a classroom context, I believe relevant application to be the most important factor when it comes to instruction. Aside from higher education, most of the time, student are forced to suffer through a day of schooling. They are unable to recognize the privilege behind education. In order for students to truly appreciate and learn from any instruction, it must hold some relevance to their lives. For many students, letters printed on a piece of paper known as a report card are less important than wondering where their next meal is going to come from, or where they are going to sleep at night. As terrible as it sounds, many students have issues that transcend the importance of school. Many teachers seem to forget that. By recognizing this information and using it to strive towards a positive alternative, students will become aware of the teacher’s endeavor and see the deeper meaning behind education.

Auto. #3

Rosie Caldwell
Professor M. Boland
English 329
3 February 2009

Autobiographical Essay #3

School never seemed to have much of an impact on my life. I accumulated bad memories from elementary school, was homeschooled through junior high, went half time to my freshman and sophomore year in high school, then tested out and went to my community college when I was 16.

In English 385 (Criticism and Theory) my professor would have a discussion in class about some of the different ways to interpret the information and etc. When I received the prompt I wrote diligently until I had what I thought was a good paper. I emailed him a rough draft and he emailed me back some corrections and he also engaged in a discussion about the information I offered in my essay. He was able to make me think of different angles and ways of approaching the situation….this was extremely helpful. Everything was through email, so I did not have to go into his office, or talk after class. This made me feel much more comfortable; and having his comments in writing helped me to make the necessary alterations.
This was not an extremely meaningful and inspiring experience, but it was extremely helpful for my writing and my understanding of the information that was being discussed in class. Also, this situation made me realize that the idea of coming to class and engaging in discussions is not the most effective setting necessarily. If the schools were to be based of a situation similar to this situation I described, I think it would be great!

Also, this situation made me realize that an essay is a process, and there should be ongoing communication between students and teachers regarding their written work. I’ve had a teacher who did not explain what she was looking for in a particular essay and I received a poor grade. Later, I found out that most people received a C or lower on that essay. I sent a redo several times and received virtually no help. After me sending in different versions over and over again and getting vague comments like “no, that’s still not what I am looking for,” I gave up and turned it in as it was. I felt that I did not receive the grade I deserved in that class and I thought that the teacher was very much to blame for this. There was no assistance, no communication and the failure was widespread in the class. I seriously doubt that a whole classroom of English majors is incapable of writing a literary analysis effectively and yet many people (40% or more) received poor grades. This is a perfect example of how teachers fail students.

Now, because of this, I know not to take that teacher again and I know that there will always be teachers with agendas, and it is best to stay as invisible as possible so that you cannot be singled out. Also, I realized that school is political, so just cooperate and graduate!

"The Ethnography of Literacy"

Rosie Caldwell
Professor M. Boland
English 329


Schwed, John. “The Ethnography of Literacy.” Cushman, Ellen et al, eds. Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2001.


In John Szwed's piece "The Ethnography of Literacy," the framework of literacy was described in all of its complexities. Literacy cannot be simply defined, but rather viewed and considered from the standpoint of "text, context, function, participants, and motivation" (423). Szwed considers all of the different venues in which people can exercise their reading and writing skills and apply their knowledge to their own social or personal context. The author divides his argument into two headings that really help create a theoretical framework for the meaning of literacy. These headings are; "Texts: What is it that people read and write?" and "Function and context: Why and under what circumstances is reading and writing done?" Both of these questions are extremely helpful when considering how we should go about defining literacy and the relevance within the real world.

Indeed, being literate is not just reading classical literature assigned by teachers and professors; it is reading "handbills, signs graffiti, sheet music, junk mail, cereal boxes, captions on television, gambling slips and racing tip sheets, juke-box labels, and pornography" (424). Literacy and all that it entails, should be viewed in terms of social context and relevance: "that is, the role these abilities play in social life; the varieties of reading and writing available for choice; the contexts for their performance; and the manner in which they are interpreted and tested, not by experts, but by ordinary people in ordinary activities" (422). The implementation of basic reading and writing skills gives more shape to an individual's level of literacy. Szwed's argument can be neatly summed up with the idea that "assumptions are made in educational institutions about the literacy needs of individual students which seem not to be borne out by the students' day-to-day lives. And it is this relationship between school and the outside world that I think must be observed, studied and highlighted" (427).

This chapter really lends some insight on how complex literacy and all of the different ways we can define it and better understand what is involved and etc. The level of literacy varies from one person to another, but it is important to understand that literacy is relevant to an individual's situation and how they apply it and use it to their benefit. It is important to realize that literacy is as simple as being able to read and write, even though those are both key elements. We should instead see that," we must come to terms with the lives of people without patronizing them or falling in to what can become sociology of pathos" (427). We should realize that "reading and writing as activities having consequences in (and being affected by) family life, work patters, economic conditions, patters of leisure, and a complex of other factors" (428). Considering these different elements helps all of us define literacy.