The Typical College Student, Eliza

In the article for today we were to read about a case study in college reading habits. I found myself reading and viewing myself in the study as Eliza. I too do not normally read to get information and to connect unless an assignment from the professor calls for it. It is mostly reading to interpret the author’s point or idea they are trying to get across. This does involve skimming and note taking because we as college students do read for more then one class and for more then one type of class. It is sometimes hard to differentiate the types of reading each class is calling for and you can find yourself mixing the techniques.
Another aspect of Eliza’s schoolwork that is talked about is her report research and writing. The author comments on how Eliza procrastinated in her sophomore year on a research project and only grabbed the materials that were easily accessible to her; she did not bother to dig deeper. Honestly I will admit as a college student I do this and I guarantee many of the other students if not all do this too. It makes our lives easier when we have three papers due and we just want to get them done and over with; why make it harder then it has to be. Eliza makes the comment about “prove it in writing from the book,”(pg.364) which is what all professors tell us to do. They tended to say at least freshman and sophomore year that by backing up what you are saying that your point should be proven and the focus was learning how to provide the essential background information to prove a point. As long as your point was fully backed by evidence then it was a good paper. I do not necessarily think it is a bad thing.
We talked in class about how Bartholomae was saying the students have to write to the professor and they have too “create a university” and Haas is saying the same thing in her essay about Eliza and her assignments. “The curriculum in her English class was built upon recognition of authors and their claims and positions.”(pg.363) This is how we as students shape our university we write as if we were the professor, for what the professor wants as pertaining to the topic. It is not uncommon to sound one way in one class and one way in another. As we see with Eliza as she goes through school she learns to better cope with the differences in classes and even improves herself and thus her writing. She has learned to work the system as I hope I will when it is all over. Although it was a case study it shines light on common college student practices and can maybe show us how to improve ours through the experiences of Eliza.

Autobio Week 5

Autobiography Week 5

Well the first time I felt my language skills were really looked good upon was when I was in high school learning Spanish. My family does not speak another language at all and we were going on a trip to Mexico for spring break. When we got to Mexico we stopped at a restaurant by our hotel for dinner and the waiters could not speak real good English so it was hard for us to communicate. I was frustrated that it was so hard to communicate for my family that I took charge and ordered dinner for everyone and my family was beyond shocked. They had never really heard me speak Spanish before but the knew I was taking the classes. The look on their faces was a feeling of pride and astonishment at the same time. I felt my heart skip a beat and was so proud of myself. I knew at that moment that my family knew I could accomplish things beyond what they dreamed for me. I was glowing with pride and the whole trip from then on was way better then I could have imagined because my family counted on me to get them through it and I could not have imagined hoe important I was to them all because I could speak another language. I never thought that what I was learning was ever really going to have such an impact I simply thought it was just a requirement to graduate that was all. When I got back from the trip I was so excited to be in my Spanish class because I felt this language I was learning was bettering my future and creating connections for me in the future. I will never forget how much my parents looked up to me and how proud they were to know I was truly building blocks for my future.

Bartholome and Writting

Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University” From Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook.
Ellen Cushman, Eugene R. Kintgen, Barry M. Kroll and Mike Rose eds. Boston, MA :
Bedford/St. Martin’s 2001.


David Bartholomae makes very good points about students and their writing practices in relation to the professor or teachers they have. In reading this article I found myself in total agreement because I did find that I do this practice myself. It is a practice in which we have to make ourselves sound smart in order to have credibility with our audience. I feel as though sometimes it is the hardest thing I do because I feel something in what I am trying to say is lost. In groups we talked about the fact that this is not true it is not lost at all because it is still the work of a student put together by the student in a certain way to get their point across. Students try to gain this credibility through profession related jargon because it is a “common place” between the professor and the student.
We talked about common places being the ground where people can come together and discuss something and with a certain understanding of common background knowledge. This is the problem for me as a writer in college because I find it hard to necessarily understand to the extent the professor does and it is then intimidating and this is what he article talks about. We as students have to create this place by mimicking professors’ speech and sentence structure in order to figure out what the teacher wants in a paper. All because we as college students or students in general are afraid that if we do not do so then we for not necessarily know what we are talking about and cannot get a good paper. If that is not enough we have to tailor to a certain audience.
Bartholomae focuses much of his essay on keeping the audience in mind. I agree it is important to keep the audience in mind because they are who you are writing for after all. The problem I have is that in order to do this you sometimes have to “dumb down” the content or go beyond your possible realm of knowing. Doing the first can help for a more general understanding of a greater audience serving a greater purpose and the second can have your writing going in circles. We talked about the newspapers and presidential speeches doing this exact thing and in a way it helps for a greater understanding but it is sad that the level of general understanding is so low in the first place. In order to get things more tailored to a certain audience you then have to go to scholarly articles. In the clay model student essay the student seems to go on and on and even winds up talking in circles and this is the problem to writing to a certain audience and to tailoring the jargon beyond you to fit a model put forth by a superior. This is a survival technique carried on throughout jobs past schooling and we may never be able to get past it.

Response to Delpit

When it comes to Gee’s articles Delpit agrees with his argument that literacy more that reading and writing and that it is “part of a larger political entity”. However, once she went over his articles again she found two aspects of his to be problematic. The first one she mentions is Gee’s belief that people who have not been born into dominant families or lifestyles will find it hard to succeed in life and eventually become dominant themselves. Delpit finds this to be a disturbing statement because it gives no hopes for the teachers teaching these students and leaves the students feeling like there is no point whatsoever. His second aspect that she disagrees with is that once a student is born into a certain discourse and values it will be hard for that student to obtain another discourse and values. This can leave teachers feeling that they can not teach the same discourse to all of their students and will have to separate them.
Delpit proves her argument by giving examples of people from other cultures that were pushed and urged on by teachers to overcome obstacles in an alien environment. She does so to show that teachers can make a difference if they really want to. Delpit believes teachers shouldn’t shut out the students’ home language because it is important to the way they view themselves and their community. Delpit then moves on to say that the teacher needs to come to terms with the fact that there is “discourse-stacking” in our society. She says the teachers should then make their classrooms aware of what is taking place in their society as well.
Delpit’s argument is well thought out and has many good points. It wouldn’t make sense for teachers to teach the same discourse to every student when there are many different cultures around; especially in the United States. Thoughts and comments like Gee’s seem to intimidate teachers to take further action with their students; leaving the students to fall behind and do no better that what the society thinks of them. A student from a poor family or colored family can be just as smart and willing to learn as a student from the dominant discourse. The teachers just have to be willing to teach them and motivate them to do their best and succeed.

Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics”

This essay has a lot of information for students who are looking into becoming a teacher. Being a teacher is important to be able to read students and understand where they are coming from to help them learn better. Gee’s introduction explains “language” is more of the grammar, so that leads to a misleading term. Language has to do with the environment as which we speak in and how the grammar could be perfect in a phrase but may not fit with the environment. “ It is not just what you say, but how you say it” shows that Gee is staying that no matter what you say it might be wrong for the setting of the place or people that you are speaking to. Further in the reading, Gee brings up her way of writing “Discourses” with the capital “D” which are “ways of being in the world” meaning that language is a social role that is present in our beliefs, values, and attitudes. Discourses are like your self- identity, how you approach things and the way you are in your environment. There are many different types of Discourses just as primary and secondary, dominant and non- dominant ones. Primary Discourses are is the one we grow up with and “ make sense of the world and interact with others” and Secondary Discourses are the social institutions that are in the public sphere like school, the store, and etc. Dominant and non-dominant Discourses are secondary ones but which you master in a common place or mastery in an environment alone. Gee explains that two of these can interfere with each other because you may use the one in the other or mix up the grammatical features to the other.
Gee continues by referring this essay to teachers who want to teach a certain language to students. English teachers are the ones who need to find this balance of how to teach the students and ways of not interfering with their native tongue. “Vygotsky says that learning a foreign language “allows the child to understand his native language as a single instantiation of a linguistic system” which helps the child learn both the new language and their native but leads to the understanding which Gee uses the term “meta- knowledge” as one learning a language plus putting that to the real life situations which you would deal with.
In Conclusion, I believe that the rest of the essay of “what is literacy?” states Gee’s argument of how the way we speak in our environments and people is also literacy as well as the writing and grammar.

Autobiography week 6

Well with everything I have been through in the last week i have definitely had to watch what i say around certain people. Normally I find myself being of free speech but because the situation called for more of a following and listening I had to do so. I had to watch what i said about my mom or to my mom because it would be upsetting and the same went for my dad this week too because the social situation was one of a somber one. In waiting rooms I found myself communicating with others as if I was in school carrying on a conversation with professors about what I was reading and it is because family encouraged me o do so to be on top of my game. i find myself when I talk in school and in that type of situation I try too hard to sound smart and sometimes it backfires but sometimes I impress. 

I find myself separating my school and home language as o fit the type of situation I am in even though sometimes they blend. I never really noticed I was doing it until this assignment was given and I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing but I do now find myself doing it and I just wonder how I sound to others or what they think as I am talking to them. My family never says anything to me but it might be out of politeness I am not sure. I do think though that all of us do maintain a certain language in certain situations as to not sound stupid or mean or even smart in some cases all to avoid possible teasing or even being looked down upon.

One Person, Many Voices

We all make changes to the way we speak to people based on the place, time, and situation. I have found that I speak in numerous ways depending on who I am speaking with and where I am at, at the time. When at school during class I have to be able to speak properly and be able to back up what I am saying. I cannot use words that not everyone might know. Just as when I am tutoring my students I have to make sure I am using vocabulary that they can comprehend. I often find myself using words that are beyond their comprehension and I have to go back and correct myself. When I am at work I have to be sure to have a professional manner and speak politely to customers; especially when I answer the phone. However, when there seems to be no one around my co-workers and I tend to go off on our own conversations; speaking the way we would if we were hanging out outside of work. And then when we see someone we go right back to being perfect little angels. At home is where I feel like I can be myself and speak however I choose. My brother and I are always messing around and saying random things; usually things that don’t even exist. I tend to not pay attention to grammar and structure when I am talking at home. The downside on that part is that my family is constantly making fun of me and saying, “Aren’t you the English major?” which tends to get very annoying.