- Here in my first body paragraph I moved some words around and rephrased some sentences to make my statements more clear. I also added “or” in one sentence to add an – his teacher didn’t help him OR give him academic freedom. I also added “but” to the statement “this evidence here…” because it is a foundation for critical thought.
First of all, when it comes to disliking reading sometimes situations occur like in The Mean Teacher written by Noah Luccini, that is the reasoning behind it. The narrative is about himself as a young boy in the fourth grade whose teacher was not as helpful as she could’ve been. He writes, “…she’d throw worksheets at us and just sit at her desk. Doing this didn’t help us learn it”. Not only that but he adds, “She forced me to find a new book and I was not happy about it and remember having a lot of trouble getting through the book she gave me because I was so uninterested in it”. From the examples given here, his teacher Mrs. Page didn’t seem like the type of literacy sponsor that a young student needs in order to succeed. Brandt writes; “Sponsors are delivery systems for the economies of literacy, the means by which these forces present themselves to – and through – individual learners” (556). So as a sponsor, Mrs. Page didn’t do much to help Noah as a student or give him the academic freedom to choose his own reading book which ultimately resulted in him being uninterested in the assignment. But this evidence here helps answer my question: when students aren’t allowed to choose their own reading material, it makes the assignment dreadful and painful to get through. Students crave academic freedom that not all teachers allow. However, even when some students get the freedom they want, they still aren’t comfortable with reading or they still dislike it.
- Here in my second body paragraph I also rephrased some sentences and added/took away some commas and combined some sentences to make things flow better. I also added “but” and “or” to certain areas of my explanations of quotes to add alternative thoughts or set a foundation for critical thinking. I even added “and” in some places as a foundation for thought and as an addition to my previous thoughts.
Secondly, if someone enjoys reading they might have moments of dislike if they feel uncomfortable in the classroom setting like in Comfort written by Alexandra White. This narrative goes into detail about how she would distract herself during reading time during class but would go home to her grandparents bookstore, and read! Why would she not read in class? Alexandra writes; “I was always a slow reader growing up and when I started to notice other kids around me weren’t as slow as me, I started to retreat from the idea of reading”. As a child in school she felt judged by her peers but with this example of not feeling like she fits in in the classroom setting, maybe Alexandra isn’t fluent in her secondary Discourse. A secondary Discourse, as defined by Gee is; “These may be local stores and churches, schools….Each of these social institutions commands and demands one or more Discourses and we acquire these fluently to the extent that we are given access to these institutions and are allowed apprenticeships within them” (8). If Alexandra is a slower reader than her fellow peers, it might be possible that she is not as fluent in her secondary Discourse compared to her other students which can lead to intimidation and the fear of reading in front of them. Along with intimidation, other outside forces can make a person (student) feel uncomfortable about reading or even writing in a classroom.
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