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The literacy narratives of child prodigies often connect how their excellence in literacy as a child has molded them into successful student that they are in the current day.In his literacy narrative Tyler discusses how strongly his aunt reading to him from a history book had impacted his academic career, “I was just 4 years old when something significant happened to me and what I learned in that moment I have taken with me to this day. The excitement and confidence I had in that moment was indescribable. To some people this might not seem too significant but to me this was a big foundation for my education. I have only but my aunt to thank. Debby made a big impact on me early in my education and still to this day has a big influence on me.” (3) Tyler believes that without this exposure to literacy as a child he would not be the successful student that he is today. Like many child prodigies discuss in their literacy narrative he believes that this literacy experience was crucial to his future academic success. Tyler is an example of one of those students who remains dedicated to their literacy excellence after being a child prodigy. Tyler used his literacy excellence to continue his academic success all the way through his high school career, and hopefully beyond school into his life experiences; for Tyler literacy does equal success in the future. This idea is discussed by Alexander in her paper on different types of literacy narratives. She explains how this idea of child prodigy literacy equalling academic success later in life is perpetuated by the authors of literacy narratives. “The child prodigy narrative, the fourth most common cultural narrative, promotes the idea that unless children are exposed to (middle class) school literacy and learn these values at an early age, they will not be academically successful.” (Alexander, 619) Tyler is one of the many students that displayed a child prodigy narrative in his literacy narrative, his ideas regarding his literacy as a child align directly with what Alexander discussed regarding child prodigy narratives. Those who write about child prodigy narratives believe that without these experiences and exposure to literacy at a young age they wouldn’t be as successful as they currently are. These types of child prodigies have the idea that literacy equals success instilled in them from a very young age, they use this as motivation to continue their literacy excellence and to maintain the same interest and love in reading and writing that they had as a child.

Children who are exposed to literacy and defined as child prodigies at a young age often experience an identity shift in relation to literacy. Many children who are child prodigies begin to lose interest in the subject very quickly as it begins to bore them or they don’t want to read or write about the topics they are assigned, they begin to adopt a victim identity at a certain point within their literacy experience.This is a theme that appears very often in child prodigy literacy narratives.“I continued to read when one of my parents had the time to sit down and help me with new books I’d bring back from the book fair at school. As I went onto second and third grade, I found other things to occupy my time like making friends and spending time playing outside with the neighborhood kids, rather than reading. Reading was only so exciting for me for a short time period. After a while it wasn’t as exciting because it was no longer a new skill, it became basic knowledge for everyone as I grew older. As my elementary years went on, I didn’t read much because I felt as though I could always find something more entertaining to do.” (Marykate) This quote shows how the students like MaryKate who were once defined as child prodigies quickly lose interest since once they master the topic. Once a child prodigy has mastered something it no longer interests them and they move on to find a new challenge. These are the child prodigies who follow the second path for child prodigies, they spend so much time focusing on becoming excellent in literacy that once they reach higher levels of education they are burnt out and uninterested in literacy, becoming much weaker students than they once had the potential to become. Child prodigies often experience an identity shift from child prodigy to victim. They only want to work and focus on topics that they find interesting and compelling, things they aren’t interested in they don’t want anything to do with. “Is a victim of negative literacy experiences, in or out of school; casts blame for negative literacy experiences; discusses how someone took the fun of reading and writing.” (Alexander, 615) Child prodigies quickly lose interest in literacy once it is no longer new or exciting for them. They adopt the victim identity and want to place blame on someone for making literacy not fun anymore.

Affirming: Majority of my paper is spent affirming ideas that Alexander addressed in her paper. In my paper I reaffirm the concept of child prodigies and how child prodigy narratives often end up being a success narrative.

Adding: I also add to Alexander’s idea of child prodigies by addressing the idea of there being two paths that child prodigies tend to follow, a positive path and a negative path.  I stated that when a prodigy narrative doesn’t end in a success narrative it usually becomes some sort of negative narrative, victim, rebel or other.  I want to add to the Alexander’s definitions of victim and rebel to have them apply more directly to my literacy narratives.

Challenging: I don’t agree with the way Alexander defines a victim and rebel, in my paper the closest possible option to what happens in their literacy narrative  after the child prodigy phase would be either victim or rebel but they do not fit well into either of those categories. In my final draft I want to look to expand and change the way that Alexander defines these literacy narratives or to possibly add my own definition and term that best fits the types of literacy narratives that I read.

CLAIM (main idea) – What’s the paragraph going to be focused on?

The literacy narratives of child prodigies often connect how their excellence in literacy as a child has molded them into successful student that they are in the current day.

 

INTRODUCE QUOTE – Establish a little context for the quote, through a full sentence introduction, a signal phrase, or a clause that works to set up an embedded quote. (Resources: TLS E4; TSIS, CH3)

In his literacy narrative Tyler discusses how strongly his aunt reading to him from a history book had impacted his academic career,

 

QUOTE 1 – This is a quote from one of the scholarly sources we’re putting into conversation. If you use a signal phrase or seek an embedded quote, you’ll need to be sure the quote “flows” smoothly from the INTRODUCE QUOTE material above.

“I was just 4 years old when something significant happened to me and what I learned in that moment I have taken with me to this day. The excitement and confidence I had in that moment was indescribable. To some people this might not seem too significant but to me this was a big foundation for my education. I have only but my aunt to thank. Debby made a big impact on me early in my education and still to this day has a big influence on me.” (3)

 

EXPLAIN QUOTE 1 – Elaborate/explain/rephrase Quote 1 above in a way that helps move the reader along towards the next quote. By doing this well, you’re establishing HOW this existing conversation works. Additionally, you’re positioning yourself in it through your effort to NAME the issue as one that’s important in the field of study.

Tyler believes that without this exposure to literacy as a child he would not be the successful student that he is today. Like many child prodigies discuss in their literacy narrative he believes that this literacy experience was crucial to his future academic success.

 

TRANSITION TO QUOTE 2 – Establish a little context for the quote through a full sentence introduction, a signal phrase, or a clause that works to set up an embedded quote. (Resources: TLS E4; TSIS, CH3) Try to do this in a way that begins to signal HOW quote 1 and 2 relate. They may be saying very much the same thing; there may be some slight difference; there may be something else.

This idea is discussed by Alexander in her paper on different types of literacy narratives. She explains how this idea of child prodigy literacy equalling academic success later in life is perpetuated by the authors of literacy narratives.

 

QUOTE 2 – This is a quote from a DIFFERENT scholarly source than the one in quote 1, and it helps us build a paragraph that puts those texts into conversation. If you use a signal phrase or seek an embedded quote, you’ll need to be sure the quote “flows” smoothly from the TRANSITION TO QUOTE 2 material above.

“The child prodigy narrative, the fourth most common cultural narrative, promotes the idea that unless children are exposed to (middle class) school literacy and learn these values at an early age, they will not be academically successful.” (Alexander, 619)

 

EXPLAIN CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP – The entire paragraph is about advancing a point you’re making that relates ideas in two scholarly sources. You’re showing HOW a conversation exists between two texts. In this part of the paragraph, you explain what the source material shows us about the specific idea in play.

Tyler is one of the many students that displayed a child prodigy narrative in his literacy narrative, his ideas regarding his literacy as a child align directly with what Alexander discussed regarding child prodigy narratives. Those who write about child prodigy narratives believe that without these experiences and exposure to literacy at a young age they wouldn’t be as successful as they currently are. While I agree with the idea that exposure to literacy at a young age can help someone to be academically successful in the future this is not always guaranteed.

Worksheet II – Build a Barclay’s paragraph that relates a concept in the scholarship to the data (evidence in the archive)

 

TLS = The Little Seagull; TSIS = They Say, I Say

 

CLAIM (main idea) – What’s the paragraph going to be focused on? What does the data show us about the concept?

Children who are exposed to literacy and defined as child prodigies at a young age often experience an identity shift in relation to literacy.

 

INTRODUCE QUOTE – Establish a little context for the quote, through a full sentence introduction, a signal phrase, or a clause that works to set up an embedded quote. (Resources: TLS E4; TSIS, CH3)

 

Sometimes, it’s good to begin with the concept quote, especially if the application is straightforward: LN a shows us that Alexander’s view on how victim narratives work is a solid one. Other times, the data complicates or challenges the concept, and it might be good to reverse the order: Show the part of the LN that reveals something complicated about the victim idea in Alexander, then in Quote 2 show the part of Alexander that you’re complicating or challenging.

Many children who are child prodigies begin to lose interest in the subject very quickly as it begins to bore them or they don’t want to read or write about the topics they are assigned, they begin to adopt a victim identity at a certain point within their literacy experience.This is a theme that appears very often in child prodigy literacy narratives.

 

QUOTE 1 – This is a quote from either a scholarly source OR a literacy narrative. If you use a signal phrase or seek an embedded quote, you’ll need to be sure the quote “flows” smoothly from the INTRODUCE QUOTE material above.

I continued to read when one of my parents had the time to sit down and help me with new books I’d bring back from the book fair at school. As I went onto second and third grade, I found other things to occupy my time like making friends and spending time playing outside with the neighborhood kids, rather than reading. Reading was only so exciting for me for a short time period. After a while it wasn’t as exciting because it was no longer a new skill, it became basic knowledge for everyone as I grew older. As my elementary years went on, I didn’t read much because I felt as though I could always find something more entertaining to do.

 

EXPLAIN QUOTE 1 – Elaborate/explain/rephrase Quote 1 above in a way that helps move the reader along towards the next quote. By doing this well, you’re establishing a stronger sense of the ways the evidence shows what you’re claiming in the topic sentence. This helps the reader stay focused on YOUR idea.

This quote shows how the students who were once defined as child prodigies quickly lose interest since once they master the topic. Once a child prodigy has mastered something it no longer interests them and they move on to find a new challenge.

TRANSITION TO QUOTE 2 – Establish a little context for the quote through a full sentence introduction, a signal phrase, or a clause that works to set up an embedded quote. (Resources: TLS E4; TSIS, CH3) Try to do this in a way that begins to explain the relationship you’re establishing. Does the relationship involve Agree (AND), Disagree (BUT), Agree with a Difference? (Resources: TSIS CH4; HCM 100-104)

Child prodigies often experience an identity shift from child prodigy to victim. They only want to work and focus on topics that they find interesting and compelling, things they aren’t interested in they don’t want anything to do with.

 

QUOTE 2 – This quote is either the scholarly one OR the data one for you, and it helps you build a paragraph that shows how the ideas do/don’t play out in the data. If you use a signal phrase or seek an embedded quote, you’ll need to be sure the quote “flows” smoothly from the TRANSITION TO QUOTE 2 material above.

“Is a victim of negative literacy experiences, in or out of school; casts blame for negative literacy experiences; discusses how someone took the fun of reading and writing.” (Alexander, 615)

 

EXPLAIN CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP – The entire paragraph is about hammering home the point you’re making as you try out the relationship between an idea in the scholarship AND evidence in our archive. You’re showing WHAT the data reveals and HOW it contributes to what is already known about some aspect of literacy acquisition. Explain what the source material shows us about the specific idea in play.

Child prodigies quickly lose interest in literacy once it is no longer new or exciting for them. The adopt the victim identity and want to place blame on someone for making literacy not fun anymore.

 

An area of literacy acquisition that interests me is the literacy narratives regarding child prodigies. I think that these literacy narratives are the most intriguing because of how the child prodigies describe themselves both in the past and present as a reader or writer.

• Alexandra White
• The long quiet hallway
• The Progress for Getting a Better Teacher for English
• Gram Why Are You Crying?
• Don’t Knock It
• Men on horses

 

Kayla:

The concept that I am focusing on for this paragraph is the idea of being a victim in a literacy experience. “The essay took me hours to write and perfect, but a week after I handed it in, I got it back and was devastated. The 70% that was written on that paper hit me like a bus. The feeling that my best work wasn’t good enough was honestly was devastating. There were red pen marks all over the page, word changes, “helpful hints” (as he called them), and just x’s everywhere. I saw nothing positive on the paper when I got it back. All I would see was “bad use of language” or “explain more.” The most constructive thing he had ever said was “explain more,” but explain what! ” In this quote Kayla is displaying how she felt as though her teacher was cruel to her about her work and made her feel invalidated. I believe that this is a good example of the victim story narrative that Alexander discussed in her work, ” The popularity of the victim narrative in the student texts indicates that students associate school-based literacy practices with oppression and even cruelty. When asked to reflect on past experiences in the confines of the literacy narrative, they remember these experiences that haunted them and took away their freedoms.” (Alexander, 618)  The details in the narrative shows that students often feel as though no matter how hard they work on something teachers will continue to tear down their effort and work, making them feel victimized.

Hannah D:

Hannah’s literacy narrative has themes of being both victim and hero. She discusses the hardships that she faced when writing her college essay about the death of her brother and how the teacher didn’t appreciate or understand the amount of work she put into it and how good she and others who read it thought it was, “When asked to reflect on past experiences in the confines of the literacy narrative, they remember these experiences that haunted them and took away their freedoms.” (Alexander, 618) I felt as though the beginning had a mostly victim theme versus the end when it turned into a hero based theme. “When I finally got my paper back, all I felt was disappointment. I couldn’t believe what I saw, I looked at my paper and saw a B- minus circled in the top right corner. I did not understand. Everyone who previously read my paper thought it was amazing. I didn’t get how my teacher didn’t.”( Hannah) I think that in her literacy narrative Hannah took the victimized feeling that she had after receiving a grade for her paper and decided to persevere and work hard and turn it into a hero narrative, “When push comes to shove, I believe this assignment made me both a stronger person and writer. It made me look deeper. It made me realize how although everyone has a different point of view, each point of view is important. It doesn’t matter whether it’s writing or a real life situation, peoples thoughts will always be different. I realized it doesn’t matter what you are writing about, you should be creating a piece of work you can always be proud of. Something that makes you happy to re out loud, something you could read a million times and never want to stop reading. Write what makes you happy, that’s the paper to aim for.” (Hannah)

Blake:

The theme in this essay is also the victim/ hero theme. The beginning of the paper feels as though it is the victim theme and then it transitions into how they persevered through this tough event and overcame it.  “At the time I felt like my teacher was kind of singling me out for such a small mistake. I mean, she told all the other kids what they had to fix in order for their essay to be done; why couldn’t she tell me? Now I know that the smile she had on her face when she first read my essay was her teaching me a lesson. I see now it was because she was holding me to a higher standard because she knew I had the ability to succeed in my work, but I would rush through it and not worry about it. Looking back on it now, this is the first experience that really brought my attention to me rushing through my work.” (Blake) Hero literacy narratives equate literacu aquisition with success, liberation, development… perserverance, self-reliance, and determination; establishes self as hero of literacy story.” (Alexander 615)

Sam:

In this narrative it felt similar to a victim narrative but there wasn’t a specific event that made him begin to feel differently about writing. “It just didn’t seem fun for me, anymore. I missed getting to unravel my creativity in short stories, where now the topics were strictly chosen by my teachers.”(Sam) While in this he isn’t blaming any particular person or event but rather the way the school’s take on english and writing gradually became less interesting to him. Also it is one of the less severe examples to me this felt like a victim literacy narrative, “When asked to reflect on past experiences in the confines of the literacy narrative, they remember these experiences that haunted them and took away their freedoms.” (618 Alexander).

• 200 words, roughly. Table 1 identifies eight distinct cultural narratives of literacy (Alexander 615), and the bulk of our reading selection is dedicated to discussion of these types. Pick any two “little narratives” that interest you, explain each of the little narratives and Alexander’s view on the type, and discuss your reasons for being interested in each type. (Note: “Success” is not a little narrative, so it is off limits for this question!) Remember: Quote & Explain. (15 minutes)
• In Alexander’s writing she discussed a pattern of six “little” cultural narratives that appear in student’s literacy narratives. The two “little” narratives that I found the most interesting were the “hero” and “victim” themes.  I thought that the “hero” literacy narrative was interesting because its ideas related very closely with the ideas of “master” narrative of success. The distinct difference between the “master” narrative and “hero” narrative is that a “hero” narrative is written with a specific event in mind, “The hero narrative is very similar to the success master narrative in that both cultural narratives view literacy as leading to success, but they differ in the specificity defining hero narratives, which are always tied to a specific time, place and instance.” (618) They are similar because both narratives focus on the idea that literacy acquisition leads to so success and progression. A “master/success” narrative is written from a more abstract or vague point of view, typically there isn’t a specified event or time given when writing a “success” literacy narrative. Another “little” cultural narrative that I found peculiarly interesting was the “victim” literacy narrative theme. Alexander stated that “Perhaps Kristy’s willingness to adopt the victim role may be the product of entitlement where, from her privileged socioeconomic place, she sees it as a natural right to critique schooling and pedagogical approaches, whereas others without such privilege may not.” (618) I believe that Alexander’s assumption that a more privileged student is more willing to describe themselves as a victim was overarching and inaccurate. I don’t believe that somebody’s socioeconomic level affects their beliefs regarding education and framing themselves as a “victim”.
• 200 words, roughly. Every literacy narrative has both the student/writer and a person (or persons) that Brandt might call a literacy sponsor. Williams notes that it is “intriguing to consider the identities students construct for teachers” (344). Choose any two of Alexander’s categories and consider how students represent the identities of the relevant sponsor(s). Be sure to quote and explain. (10 minutes)
• When a student writes a literacy narrative they aren’t just telling a story they are creating the story, they can choose to frame the story and characters however they want to. When applying this idea to the “victim” literacy narrative that Alexander discussed in her paper it is an interesting perspective to look from. After reading the example of a “victim” literacy narrative I didn’t feel as though I would describe the author as a victim.”The popularity of the victim narrative in student texts indicates that students associate school-based literacy practices with oppression and even cruelty.”(618) In my opinion it felt more like they had overcome an obstacle and felt accomplished for doing so, rather than trying to make the readers feel as if they were mistreated. Alexander’s description of the students use of a “victim” narrative was both unnecessary and dramatic, students were not attempting to adopt the identity of a “victim” of school-based oppression and cruelty but rather trying to express some difficulties and obstacles that they had faced with literacy. Another literacy narrative theme that is interesting when considering that students have the ability to adopt any identity when writing literacy narratives is the “child prodigy” identity. The student chooses to adopt the identity of a child prodigy for their literacy narrative because they believe that at a certain point they were so far advanced when compared to classmates that they were often recognized or praised for being so advanced; “When students portrayed themselves as child prodigies, they conceived of themselves and their literacy abilities as exceptional, highlighting moments when their literacy skills were put on display to amaze and astonish their audience.” (619) People who choose to identify themselves as child prodigies are often not actually prodigies but rather kids that had early exposure to reading and literacy, if they choose to identify as this for a literacy narrative they are probably trying to express to the reader how intelligent and literate they believe they still are.
• 200 words, roughly. Alexander contrasts “master” and “little” narratives. What is this contrast, and why is it important as she tries to analyze student literacy narratives? Use at least one kind of little narrative discussed by Alexander (614-22) to illustrate how little narratives differ from the “master narrative” one so often finds. Be sure to quote Alexander and explain the difference between master and little narratives. (15 minutes)
• When Alexander discusses the contrasts between “master” and “little” narratives she talks about the themes behind them and what makes a”master” narrative and what makes a “little” narrative.  The “master” narrative that she is referring to is the idea that literacy automatically leads to success and prosperity and the “little” narratives are any other literacy experience that doesn’t ultimately lead to success and prosperity through literacy.

Introduction: I changed my introduction by adding to the information I had already included in the introduction. I elaborated on the thoughts of Nair and Nair and James Gee and briefly tied those ideas back to my own. I attempted to make my thesis more clear and my claim more concise.

Evidence and Explanations: I added more evidence and quotes than I had originally in my first draft. I added more in the areas regarding my claims for the building tasks of practices and politics. I added more evidence to strengthen my claims for these building tasks.

Reorganization: I didn’t do much reorganization between my first and second draft but I did add a few paragraphs in different spots.

New Paragraphs:  I added new paragraphs to my paper pertaining to politics as a building tasks and practices.

The next practice that Gee discusses in “Building Tasks” is the idea of a practice. A practice is defined as “ the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such application or use.”(Google) The practices and actions of a member in a Discourse are easily recognized by other members of the Discourse. The way you conduct yourself or go about certain things can affect how easily you will be able to enter the Discourse you are trying to join. We see examples of this in Haas’ experiment where she observed a student that was attempting to join the biology Discourse.  Haas observed her practices and activities and noticed that as she moved further into the Discourse her preferred practices began to change as she became more knowledgeable about the subject. An example of this would be that as she got further into the Discourse she preferred to read scientific articles rather than textbooks, because the information in the articles was more current and relevant than that in the textbooks. Another practice that is used in Discourse is IMRad Format when it comes to writing a formal scientific paper. The IMRaD format is a very specific guideline that scientists follow in order to give their information in the most concise and effective way. Every scientist follows this format when writing a paper and anyone attempting to join a science Discourse has to practice writing in this format. In order to become a member of the scientific Discourse a student must master this practice of the IMRaD format.

The next practice that Gee discusses in “Building Tasks” is the idea of a practice. A practice is defined as “ the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such application or use.”(Google) The practices and actions of a member in a Discourse are easily recognized by other members of the Discourse; The way you conduct yourself or go about certain things can affect how easily you will be able to enter the Discourse you are trying to join. We see examples of this in Haas’ experiment where she observed a student that was attempting to join the biology Discourse.  Haas observed her practices and activities and noticed that as she moved further into the Discourse her preferred practices began to change as she became more knowledgeable about the subject. An example of this would be that as she got further into the Discourse she preferred to read scientific articles rather than textbooks, because the information in the articles was more current and relevant than that in the textbooks. Another practice that is used in Discourse is IMRad Format when it comes to writing a formal scientific paper, the IMRaD format is a very specific guideline that scientists follow in order to give their information in the most concise and effective way. Every scientist follows this format when writing a paper and anyone attempting to join a science Discourse has to practice writing in this format.(This is a complex sentence because it has two slightly differing topics that are combined into a single sentence.) In order to become a member of the scientific Discourse a student must master this practice of the IMRaD format.

I think that some areas that I am developing Gee and Haas’ ideas well is when discussing the ideas of sign systems and knowledge and practices. I believe that I have good ideas and some good evidence pertaining to these ideas but there are certain areas that I need to develop my thoughts and evidence more. My thoughts on Gee’s politics “Building Tasks” needs to be further developed and needs better evidence to support my claims.

My analysis will tell us how the three most important Building Tasks affect the scientific Discourse. Practices, sign systems and knowledge and politics mold the Science Discourse and the members of that Discourse.