I choose to include this literacy experience, because it is an example of how important it is to be a critical reader of the world. I had a difficult time using these coupons, and if I had brought in my critical literacy skills, the event might have been more successful, and definitely less embarrassing for me. Using coupons also shows how identity and power issues can be used and played out in the real world for real purposes. The purpose of the analysis is to step back and notice how the reading of coupons is a discourse that is directly related to an identity in which I am trying to achieve because I feel it is the right thing to do socially and culturally. A closer analysis shows how this particular coupon event can be seen through different perspectives in regard to its status in the society. The full purpose of this analysis is to clearly see that there are multiple literacies in our world that count, and concepts such as power and privilege in the culture can help us view how successful or unsuccessful people may tend to be at certain literacies.
Where I'm From Poem
It was important for me to include my 'Where I'm From' poem because it encompasses a great deal of my identity. When I wrote the poem at the beginning of the semester, I was not quite as grounded in critical literacy discourses as I am today. To go back, now, and look at it through the lenses of power, perspective, and positioning is a unique experience, and one that gives me the insight to see how important it is to do this for each and everyone of my students. The poem clearly shows my positionality within the family model. My family seems to ground me in all that I do; from my father's carvings, to my mother's insistence with manners, to our family summer vacations etc... Through further analysis of the poem it is apparent why I have had a difficult time relating to certain students, as my perspective is one from a class that had ample time to spend with their family doing various activities, while some of my students lack these familial experiences. I definitely need to learn more about my students who do not have these types of experiences. Being more aware of my 'funds of knowledge' helps me to see how important it is to value those of others. "The teacher who is ultimately the bridge between the students' world, theirs and their family's funds of knowledge, and the classroom experience." (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992)
Nasonex Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUF3JzD9P4 (Link to similar commercial, not exact one analyzed)
My analysis of the Nasonex commercial is a valuable addition to the "Reading the World" section of my portfolio. It shows how even simple things in this world, such as a 30 second commercial, can be read for perspective, positioning, and power. It also shows the role culture plays in the analysis, and perhaps even the creation of the commercial. If a small snippet, like this, from our world can be analyzed for these three discourses, what an injustice we would be doing to ourselves and our students to not include them in our analysis of all literacy practices. Just as Stephanie Jones says in girls, social class & literacy, "...the layers of critical literacy are never in isolation,...Positioning could not happen without someone exercising power..." (Jones, 2006) My awareness and position of culture in this commercial may be completely different from someone else's cultural awareness, but they are always equal in merit, especially when doing an analysis such as this.
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