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  At my old school in Wisconsin, I remember my social studies teacher yelling at me and my friend Keef for not paying attention in class, we would always play around in that class. Every day he would try to get either me or him to sit in the front of class, but it never worked. Every time he turned his head, we would make our way to the back of the classroom. It happened so much, he eventually gave up and just let us do what we wanted. He thought we would fail his class, and honestly, we probably would have failed. But he always made the same dumb move. Every test or quiz he put an answer sheet under his desk like we didn’t know he put it there. That’s how we passed the class, we would get the answer sheet before the tests or quizes started and  put them back before it was over. He knew we cheated too because he moved the answer sheet around sometimes we always found it though. After a certain amount of  good grades in his class, he eventually just put us in a different room for testing.  I believed he cared  for us because  he still gave us those good grades knowing what we were doing.

Having this past experience with my social studies teacher was helpful and harmful. It was helpful because I never failed his class that whole year I actually got straight A’s in that social studies class so it was a good short term experience. The bad long term experience is that, that whole year I honestly can’t remember anything I learned from that class. So I'm uneducated about  almost anything  that  has to pertain with social studies. From that class I learned something that helped me excel in school though. I learned that I can’t learn how I was being taught in that class and that may have something to do with the reason that I thought it was okay to cheat my whole sophomore year in social studies. Throughout my whole sophomore year in my social studies class he would do all of his work, lessons, test etc. out of a textbook and just hearing that makes me tired. I believe that made me lose a lot of focus because it's like the book is teaching me and not the teacher. Me, as a student really didn’t know why I didn't like school because how his class was, that was almost every  class,  I just thought that I would be a C student and that was good because that was what the school i went to made see okay. Until I moved back to Philadelphia. Now I go to a school called Science Leadership Academy  (SLA), and its like they so far showed me a whole different side to learning.

Attending SLA as a Junior they have showed me there is a different side to learning. A lot of their learning is based off of a computer it's usually just the classwork, and homework so the teachers are still very live in the classroom they go through lessons have classroom discussions about an assignment that you may have have not understood, your allowed to email them at a respectable time, anytime about question or concerns that you may have. My old school would just have had to call the school or tried to catch the teacher at sometime. They don't give  you so many test during the quarter it's maybe two but at the end of the quarter they give you a project which is not bad because they give you enough time to complete them. Lunch is extended an extra 30 min for any body who feel like they need extra help with their class work there is something called Math Lab where you can get extra help math by a teacher or a student how is in a higher math class. So it honestly seems like they care about your education and the teachers and the school wants to see you succeed.

Going through these experiences showed me that learning is not hard it’s all about how you get taught. Not everybody learns the same, also that not every school is the same prime example the situations i just explained. The school I'm at now which is SLA cares more about my education they just come up with ways for any student to learn were as my old school taught everybody the same way. It's important to know your students as a teacher because you could get through to some who feel like school is not for them and slowly make them realize that you care about their education and want to see all of their students succeed.

Matthew Willson

11/25/15

Water Stream

Advanced Essay #2

Intro

While creating this paper the skills I mainly focused on were connecting the experience I had reading The Hunger Games and what I took out of that experience to a larger idea. I am proud of how I focused on a recent topic and related it to a book I read many years ago.  I have always been a good writer when it comes to creativity and making up stories. But I have never been that good or enjoyed writing and researching about real world topics. As I grow as a writer I hope to get better at writing bigger issues around the world.

Essay

Literacy is a way to communicate and a way to share ideas. This communication allows us to understand people's perspective through time. This communication can help humans understand and ideally learn from their mistakes so they are not repeated. Without literacy, good ideas cannot be shared and people also can’t learn about bad ideas, which risks bad ideas being repeated. By looking at the present Syrian refugee crisis, we can see that crimes are being committed against humanity. We have an opportunity to help the refugees. However, there is political pressure in our country to keep the refugees out because some people are afraid they bring the risk of terrorism.  This is important because we never want to repeat the history of not helping people in crisis.

When I was 11 I read The Hunger Games, a series of three books written by Suzanne Collins.  These books take place in a world called “Panem” which is divided into a very wealthy capital and twelve very poor districts that exist solely to support the capital.  At the start of the first book, each district sends one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death.  The children are chosen by lottery, with the event staged for the capital’s entertainment and as a “reminder” to the districts of the time when they attempted to revolt against the capital and were defeated. When I first read the scene where the children, called tributes, are chosen, I was shocked.  I just couldn’t imagine being at the whim of a person picking my name out of a raffle to be killed. The characters had done nothing and it was just a sick game for the powerful people from the capital.  I thought of what my world would be like in the future.  Would it have districts and segregation?  Reading the book emphasized how cruel it is for some people to make life decisions regarding other people. Power becomes the force that decides the fate of peoples’ lives, whether they live or die. Humanity is not even considered in this type of power relationship. It’s not about what's right or wrong, it's about who has power and who doesn't.  As an 11 year old this was a lot of me to comprehend. As humans our duty should be to make sure everyone is fairly treated. Throughout history people have done many sick evil things to set people behind due to their race or beliefs like Hitler or Slavery. The human race needs to look back and make sure that those things don’t happen again. We have to make sure the world doesn’t end up in a scenario like The Hunger Games.

Right now, the Islamic group ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris that killed over 130 people. The group is forcing people in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries to either join them or abandon their Muslim religion.  At the same time, there is a civil war in Syria between the government led by Bashar al-Assad and the rebels.  As a result, there are hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, without homes because of the civil war, attempting to flee the country and avoid both the conflict and ISIS.  Many countries including the US are questioning whether they should allow the refugees to enter their country.  People are afraid that some ISIS terrorists will be hidden amongst the refugees, and so they feel it is just safer to say “No”.  This is not the time to abandon people we should be helping.  During the first Hunger Games, the main character, Katniss Everdeen, did not attack the other tributes.  She defended herself, and actually helped some of the other tributes to survive.  The lesson is that it is important to do the right thing, even if it may put you at some personal risk. These are the values that define who we are as a country.  We should not be afraid.  We should do the right thing and help the refugees who are in need.  Just after the attacks in Paris last week, the French President Francois Hollande said that France would allow 30,000 Syrian refugees into the country, honoring a commitment they had previously made.  Despite suffering the worst attack on French soil since World War 2, that is the right thing to do.  We need to do the same.

Introduction

I knew from the beginning that I wanted my essay to have really strong scenes of memory. It was important for me to have this because I felt like it would be what made my thesis the most convincing. While writing my scenes of memory I tried to make them have a lot of description so that someone reading it would be able to visualize it. I think that my favorite part of my essay is the paragraph about having writer's block in middle school. This is probably because I had a personal connection to this part, which is funny because that’s one of the main points of my essay, that people write their best work when they’re writing about something they have a connection to and are passionate about. I think that if I can analyze my quotes in a stronger way it will make my writing stronger in general as well as make it flow more and just make for a better essay.

Advanced Essay

Up until the fourth grade I wasn’t a good reader. I remember picking up one book, Tuck Everlasting, and finally understanding what the big deal was about reading. It was just a normal Thursday. Forgettable really. The sun could have been reaching its rays through my classrooms 3rd floor windows or thunderclouds could have been sitting heavily over the buildings. I can’t remember. I do remember that my teacher had told us to bring a book to class because we were going to be doing independent reading. The book I brought was of no interest to me. Just looking at the cover made me grit my teeth. My friend, Nina, looked at me. “I have an extra book if you want, it’s one of my favorites.” I looked at her as she rummaged through her backpack and finally produced her paperback copy. Hesitantly, I took it from her. I heard the teacher say to start reading and went to lie on the carpet. The book sat in front of me, I dreaded opening it to the first page. With a final sigh I began to read. My eyes scanned the lines of each page and before I knew it, the time was up. To my surprise, I was upset that I couldn’t finish the chapter. I walked up to Nina. “You don’t mind if I borrow this right?”

In a lot of schools, the books that students have the option to read are not something that they are interested in. This could cause someone to never get into reading because the only things that they have read have been chosen by their school system. This can even be seen in writing. Structured essays and stories make it hard for individuals to show and express their themselves, and therefore their identities. The best writing that someone can produce will always be when they’re writing about something they have a connection to, whether that connection is a strong opinion, or a prominent memory.

Writer’s block. I would always get it at the worst possible moments. It was 7 o’clock the night before my first english essay of 7th grade was due and the only thing on my document was my name, which was funny because the essay was about our name. My name. I thought back to all the times it was mispelled and pronounced, how when people would ask me what it meant I had to tell them that I had no clue. I couldn’t count how many times I had said “No not India, it’s just Indee,” and “Yes, that’s the whole thing, it’s not short for anything.” As if my name wasn’t good enough, because it needed to be longer. Without even realizing it my fingers started hitting the keys. I didn’t know how much anger and annoyance I had for this topic. All of the times I remember hating my name and then loving it were forming on the page in such speed that even I was surprised. I heard my mom call up the stairs. “Ind! It’s time for dinner!” Without taking my eyes from the screen and my fingers from the keyboard I yelled back, “I’m not hungry!” There was no way I would stop myself now that I was completely focused.

"Reading can offer richer, broader, and more complex models of experience, which enable people to view their own lives from a refreshed perspective and with renewed understanding," This quote from the article, How Changing Your Reading Habits Can Transform Your Health, talks about how reading can give someone “complex experiences.” Complex experiences can contribute greatly to a person’s identity. With each story, the number of the readers experiences grow. A book can be a different experience for two people. One person could view it this way and the other a completely different way. These different views give others insight into who the individual is. Depending on how someone interprets something can show what type of thought process they have.

The books that someone reads affects how they view the world as well as how the rest of the world views them. A piece of literature can make you notice things you never thought about, and make the readers opinions sway from their original thoughts. The reader can have so many diverse experiences from books and how these experiences imprint on them can vary. The books someone reads and the topics they write about are as important to someone’s identity as their own fingerprint. Unique, unlike anyone else's.

Work cited

Grothaus, Michael. "How Changing Your Reading Habits Can Transform Your Health." Fast

Company. Mansueto Ventures, LLC, 27 July 2015. Web. Nov.14, 2015.

Digital Story

Verbal storytelling and public speaking are integral parts of our culture, a key part of being intelligent is the ability to communicate that intelligence. The ability to accurately communicate ideas to someone is something we all do on a daily basis. Classrooms should adopt new ways of teaching that involve discussions, how to properly have a discussion, and, have classes on public speaking.

Navigating the school system is an impossible task, from teachers who have given up, to the bureaucracy of administrators, to the sheer fact that The Lorax was banned at one point in time. Schools don’t teach all they could, leaving many students feeling cheated because they have no idea how taxes work. The classroom presentation is something that most students dread, but it doesn’t have to be. Ignoring the issue of students not caring for right now, public speaking that strikes fear into the hearts of the youth. One article from successfulstudent.org states, “Knowing how to connect with others, being empathetic, when to speak and when to listen, is of great value in the workplace and in interpersonal relationships. To learn the art of conversation is to actually do it, with peers and other varied and diverse people.” This quote mentions the art of conversation, and it really is an art. If you have ever talked to a child you realize how inept they are with speaking, they take huge pauses between words. The skill of having a conversation takes years to build. Just to be clear someone isn’t dumb for not being able to communicate ideas. There are very few jobs in modern society that do not involve some form of human interaction, and being able to do that can help you succeed in life. The world doesn’t revolve around silence; think about how many human interactions you have in a day, from the bus driver saying hi, to buying soda, to just saying something to someone you know. Imagine if almost everyone you meet knew how to have a conversation, the amount of awkward interactions would drastically decrease.

Storytelling is an integral part of my life and most people’s lives. I only recently turned into the storytelling powerhouse that I am today. The first story I put into circulation, by that I mean the first story I told most if not all of my friend groups. This story was originally gonna be a story I took to my grave, but now is just a fun and exciting story. It was an embarrassing moment of pure stupidity, and ended up being fantastic. When I was in the fifth grade I was not a smart child. My family took my brother to the chiropractor’s office when he messed up his back. At this point in time I had no idea what a Chiropractor was, so I went searching trying to find the true meaning or chiropractor. I found a man in one of the rooms not wearing pants, but luckily wearing underwear. I still have no idea why he wasn’t wearing pants to this day. So in my head my brain made the connection that chiropractic meant prostitute. At this point in my life I still thought sex was just two people naked under the sheets. I started getting all worried about my family taking my brother to the prostitute’s office. Eventually my mom starting going to the prostitute’s office. I was in distress at this because I didn’t want my mom going there because she had a husband. Then my sister started going to the prostitute, then my whole family was being taken by the prostitute. I was so afraid to go to the chiropractor, but not afraid like kicking and screaming, I was just wildly uncomfortable and on the edge of my seat. I am probably the only kid in the history of the world that was afraid of the chiropractor. Now what does that story have to do with verbal literacy and storytelling? This was a story that because of my confidence in storytelling and throwing caution to the wind allowed me to become a great storyteller. I began to tell more and more stories, to more and more people. If I had learned verbal storytelling in school, I may have been able to tell this story earlier, and be more confident about it. Adults seem to lose their ability to tell stories or stories that are interesting. Think about all the boring fishing or workplace stories you had to sit through at family dinners.

There isn’t a single class that has ever taught me nothing. Even if the lesson was an inadvertent lesson like dealing with a terrible teacher, or how to manage a class that you have no interest in. There have been many positive lessons in my life as well, like how to properly write a thesis, how discussions should be doing, or just getting invested in a topic that I thought was terrible. I would rather talk about what makes a good discussion and what should be taught. I’m not going to mention any teachers by name or any teachers from SLA. My music teacher was an eccentric guy, they told us stories about their life and man were they crazy. They once won a contest for saying “GOAL” the longest at their school, won concert tickets, but they didn’t like the band and they were too lazy so they didn’t pick them up. They taught me some valuable lessons like not saying ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’ before an idea, because ‘We all know you believe that because that’s why you are saying it.’ Needless to say this person was a huge influence in my life. We had laid back discussions that didn’t feel rushed, and we all respected them, which is almost impossible for an entire class to mutually respect a teacher. When someone in the class made a joke, they would laugh along with it, and have a back and forth. I think about that class, maybe 5 times a week, that's how impactful that class was. English classes have been an experience no matter what the circumstances. This English class was incredibly stressful, but also magical. I had projects that I was completely stressed over, even before I was assigned it. This doesn’t mean I hated the class, I felt challenged, like I was putting out work that mattered. My time was respected and I respected theirs in return by not turning in garbage.They told us that we can go over the word count if we wanted to lose points, but it would be a risk because the story could be better with more words. We could take risks and be rewarded.

Verbal storytelling, discussions, and public speaking, are invaluable parts of our daily lives. A person’s ability to verbally communicate thoughts to anyone is a skill we all do, all the time. Schools, teachers, and classrooms need to adopt new ways of teaching that involve discussions, how to properly have a discussion, and, have classes on public speaking.

"20 Life Skills Not Taught In School - Successful Student." Successful Student. 16 June 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

I wake up to the sound of my phone, I grab my iPad and take it into the bathroom and play my music as I get ready for the morning. As I get dressed, I review my schedule on my iStudiez Pro app and look if there are any assignments I missed the night before.

Technology plays a major part in my life when it comes to personal advantages. However, technological literacy plays an even bigger role in my education. My school has a technology and project based learning curriculum. Everyday we are working on computers. People outside of the school is unaware of the effect technological literacy has on us.

People today can say that the way education was for them is different from how it was for them when they were my age. Technology wasn’t an easy go to thing in class for them. What's interesting about schools today is that we have different definitions of literacy, which you never expect to change. My English teacher’s definition of literacy is “To read the word and read the world.; literacy affects an individual and society”. However, my definition is the ability to comprehend and explain forms of writing. Literature is a conversation written down and it is an exchange from one person to another. When my teacher was in high school he didn’t have technology to give him advantages like I and my classmates have today. Now in this day in age we have a new branch of literacy, technological literacy. Due to this change, for the most part he learns as we do in the educational world; on some occasions he becomes the students and we become the teachers to show him the definition of technological literacy. Technological literacy from a dictionary, is the ability of an individual, working independently and with others, to responsibly, appropriately and effectively use technology tools to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information.

What many people get wrong about technological literacy is well described Albert Einstein who said that, “I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.”, technology is making each generation worse to the point that we have children that simpletons. Others would disagree claiming that technology is helping us reach the peak of society. There are upsides and downsides to technology making it a grey area of good and bad. I think technological literacy do not make us dependent, they help us prosper as learners. Technological literacy in schools do not effect anything in school except how the student learn, and in doing so it doesn't make the students learning habits better or worse. Technological literacy only allows another option to a method of learning.  It does not resolve in students being more intelligent people or resolve in students being idiots. That's not even how school works at all. From how the school system works, you can't determine either case. Technology in school just makes things more convenient and easier. In an article I read, a reporter at a technology based school quoted “When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress.”

My name is Ashlye Fitzmaurice and in the past few weeks, the eleventh grade English class began writing their second Advanced Essay. The focus of this paper is on literacy; reading the word and reading the world. In the process of writing the paper, I wanted to contribute a topic that I was able to relate to. Shockingly enough, I was able to do so by choosing a topic that my family had struggled with and connect it to my message. Having to go back and fourth from my general idea to relating it to my aunt and also myself, I felt was a little too much, although I some how made it to work. I just hope that in the future, I can come up with a stronger thesis and make it even more debatable! That way, I'll be able be back it up with more 'evidence' and make it a stronger essay! I hope you enjoy! 

__________________________________________

My father came to America when he was only four years old. A year later, he started Kindergarten, learning English, and later becoming fluent; the same applied to my mother. On the other hand, it was difficult for her older brothers and sisters. Specifically, her oldest sister; my oldest aunt.

For the first thirty years of her life, she had only spoken the Vietnamese and Cantonese language. Coming to America, she knew things were going to change. A new home, a new city, a new job, and most importantly a new language. They were aware that English was this main language that was used and spoken in America and it was much more difficult for her to learn it compared to my mother. Primarily affected her in ways that sought out to little opportunities, such as receiving a job.

She always told me to be thankful. “Be thankful for the life you live, people you have, and the opportunities that are given.” For her, all she wanted and desperately needed was a job. No one would hire her because she did not speak English. At times, my mother was her translator and evidently my mother was not going to be there twenty-four hours of the day, by her side. Carelessly, my aunt tried learning English, but the only words she understood was yes, no, please, and thank you.

Although, according to scientists and eldr.com, babies and young infants can easily pick up new words and sound effortlessly because of the brain’s development.  “After age one it gets more difficult, but it is still much easier for children to learn new words. Whether these words are all from one language or from two or more doesn’t matter. All of the words—English, French, Russian, etc.—are stored in the same brain map. After age 10, learning new words becomes progressively harder until, as adults, it is exceedingly difficult. The older you get, the more you use your native language and the more it comes to dominate your linguistic map.”

It perfectly sums up this idea that learning a new language at a younger age is easier than learning it at an older age. Not being able to speak the English language, it gives less of an opportunity. Therefore, the solution to this problem is to take prior classes and/or lessons to comprehend and/or improve their English skills, for their own benefit. In a way, it gives them an ability to adapt and be part of something new.

For Kyle Wiens, having correct grammar is an important commodity when applying for jobs. Not only spoken, but written. “I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don’t think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren’t important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren’t issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on résumés. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does.” He adds in his article.

At first, reading Wien’s article it sounded offensive. But actually coming to senses and realizing that nowadays, job applicants do search for how professional a person is. It can vary from a person’s attire, their use of language, and in this case, how properly formatted their writing is. I can now see why people with higher degrees have more of an opportunity than those who have a lower degree and/or none at all.

Referring back to my aunt, shockingly enough just about a year ago, she decided to go back to school. She had this idea that since her children were all grown up, have a stainable job, and nothing else can make her happier, than going back to school. Education is something she loved, it made her feel apart of something much bigger than just learning. When she started school, it was difficult. She had to start from the very beginning and until this day, she is working her way up; slowly but surely she began to get the hang of it. Here and there she would show up on my door and ask for help on a few lessons. It was so shocking to see how much she had learned and where it was going to take her.  I know it is not easy, but she continues to push herself, knowing that it will only lead to better things. It allows my aunt to adapt to a new community and be part of a something she has always wanted. She can go back to the jobs she had applied for many years ago and prove to them what she was capable of!

There comes a time where you will have to do things in your favor, as your own benefit. For one, mine is stepping foot into my current high school, Science Leadership Academy (SLA). I remember the first week of school like it was yesterday. Teachers gave work after work. It did not stop. I constantly complained and I had sleepless nights.

“Mom, I can’t do it.” I whinned.

I had not slept the night before and I can feel the bags beneath my eyes screaming for rest. It was the start of benchmark season and I was not aware of what I had gotten myself into. Sheets of paper and eraser marks were all along my bed. I couldn’t find anything and I wasn’t sure where to start. It was so overwhelming.

So I decided to scramble everything together and put it all away. It was not the thought of being unorganized, more so of having so much work, yet so little time. I knew it was my time management. Yet, I told myself that tomorrow is a new day and is going to be a productive day. Surprisingly, I woke up feeling refreshed. As I gotten ready, I planned out what was going to be done. A little English here, a little math there, break, back to English and then math. It was all about being able to balance school and social life. I had to adapt to this new way of getting my work done, because from what I can remember, middle school is nothing compared to high school.
This all brings it back to the thought of being able to comprehend a skill at an earlier time rather than waiting, before it is too late. It also implies to the idea that learning a new language at a younger age is easier than learning it at an older age. Just as to I, waiting to manage my time will only set me up for more work and less freedom. And not being able to speak the English language, it gives less of an opportunity; such as a search for a job. The only way to improve their struggle is to take classes to adapt to the American culture and later allow them to be part of something new.  

It ties to the generalization of literacy. Literacy is not only a way of being able to read and write. It’s about being to comprehend with the world in ways that you think best fits your lifestyle.  

Citations:

Dave Bunnell. "Why Is It Easier for Young Children to Learn a New Language?" Why Is It Easier for Young Children to Learn a New Language? N.p., 21 Aug. 2007. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

Wiens, Kyle. "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why."Harvard Business

Review. Harvard Business Publishing, 20 July 2012. Web. date accessed*.

                            Soy Artistica.

                       Soy moRena

No me gusta nada canTar

    Me gusta bastante dIbular

                                   Soy ambiciousa

                                   Tengo catorce anos

                     Soy de FIladefia

               Me gusta esCribir

                             Me llAmo Liliana Kristina Roman

When I was younger, my father would always read to me, every night, before I would go to bed. He would sit on my bed, and I would lay next to him, with my head on his shoulder, which you might think would be for comfort, but in reality, it was so I could just read along. It wasn’t just the story my dad would read me that made me look forward to this nightly event, it was the way he read. He made me imagine and create a world just like the places in the book. It was never just one book though, and that’s what made this so wonderful. Everything he read was my ticket to escape reality. I soon began to imagine my own worlds. I stopped listening to my dad read, because I would just think about my perfect world. My head would no longer rest on his shoulder, and my eyes no longer rested on the pages of the book. It was those nights of reading that helped me fantasize of a world where everything and anything was like a dream. 

I can’t say I don’t fantasize today, because that would just be a complete utter lie, and an ugly one at most. It’s because of literacy that I allow myself to daydream from time to time. It’s because of literacy that I fear less of reality.  It is something so delicate and specific, that if you don’t practice it, you won’t understand anything. Literacy, words, are used as a way to show physical emotion that you are too scared to show on your own. It took me a while to understand that. I would always hide something, or fear to express how I felt. For that reason, I became a shy child, one who refused to go out into the world and explore. Instead, I’d explore in my books. I came to the realization that in most of the books I read, the characters were just like me. They were able to express their emotion, their feeling, in writing, or more to say, the author was able to express their feeling and emotion in writing. I envied them for being able to do that. Personally, I am unable to write the way I intend to. It’s hard to write down who I am, and easier to write about someone else.

Rumer Godden once said “When you learn to read you will be born again...and you will never be quite so alone again.” Literacy is nothing but a way to represent who you are, and who you want to be. You not only gain knowledge about the world, but you also gain knowledge about who you are. There are some people who read and write because they have to, and there are other people who read and write because they have a strong desire, a craving, that can only be fixed with literacy. Once one learns who they are and who they want to be, there’s no stopping them. Those people are the ones that inspire the next generation writers, the next generation of book worms. Literacy inspires people to do the things they once thought to be unimaginable. Literacy is merely just a way to escape. That is why you are never alone. You read a book to imagine yourself completing those desires, you feel as though you’re invincible.

But you don’t understand! It's not always me! I didn't mean to do it jeez! You Don't know what i’m going through. I don’t feel well and I really don’t need to be bothered with you right now! Don’t focus on me! Just teach your fricken class I’m not even distracting anyone! That's it! I’m leaving now!

I’ve had it with you. Every day I wake up normal but by the time I get to school so much happens. Every morning I have to take this crappy medication for my adhd which only makes me unhappy and never hungry. So when I get home I am starving and depressed. I can’t go through life like this. My parents blame the not eating on me when in reality they're the ones giving me this fricken medicine every damn morning. They say it will help me but it never does. So now I have to go through life in the worst way possible. I always feel upset in class because I feel like a part of me is missing everyday. Then when I’m upset in class and my teachers write petty emails home, my parents never even think about the damn medicine. They always think it’s my fault for everything. They think i’d do worse without the medication. They don’t know anything about me. All they seem to talk about with me is my “blame shifting” and my attitude in school, but those meds ruin me everyday and they don’t get it yet.

I don’t know how long it will take them to get or something dumb happens. I already ran away freshmen year from the same thing and now they're pushing me further and further to do it again. It was never genetically proven that i had adhd either! All because I was a very loud and happy boisterous person. So they thought that after hearing about me being loud in school that I had to have adhd. And they just HAD to have a fricken perfect damn child and they gave me all this crap to take in the morning. And then I get in trouble for not eating. They always change the subject or cut me off when i’m talking to them about it. They think I blame everything on it and that I must take it.

My parents are catholic education at heart and I can’t do this on the daily. They could at least give me my scoot back. I used to be able to de stress and relax before school, but now they took it because of school and now i’m having twice as many problems. I tried to have this conversation with them many times, but they're not budging at all. They think whatever my teachers say is always true and that i’m always lying. I already ran away once and it’s like they never learned from it. They are so tangled up in my adhd (that I probably don’t even have) that they are losing their own son and don’t even notice it.

“David you can go ahead and walk up to the office then!”

No, I am NOT going to the office. You know what, forget you. (Walks away.)

I need to talk to someone. (pulls out phone)

(texting on phone) Why cant my friends give me any advice! I'm gonna get another progress note when I get home and I’ll have to deal with my parents again for the 100th time!

(sarcastically) Now that's just GREAT! Now I have to get the train home and deal with this!

Then I come home to a progress note about my behavior in class and I notice the teacher has disregarded all that I said about my condition, “Here we go again”, I say to myself. Now I am where i’ve been 100 times before. The future seems dark for me.  

Hey, bro I need some help. I’m 26 now, and this is a very important age. This is the first step to adulthood, and every decision I make counts. My jobs determine my career. However, I want to make sure that whatever jobs I get are for me. Something I both love and want to do. Same thing for college, I want to go to a college that is the right fit for me and that I will learn a lot from. I’ve  been struggling with this decision for months now. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about this for a long time.

Yea bro, you know  I love Djing but college will also open up many doors for me. I don’t know if I should i keep djing or if I should i go to school and get a degree. Right now there is only one college that seems fit for me. It has so many programs. At least if I could do Djing as at least a major, I would be good.

What school? Oh NC State. They have many programs and classes that could expand my knowledge.

Yea I would be far away but I would still visit. You're my best friend man, you blood.

What do you mean what you have to do with Djing. It has A LOT to do with Djing. Djing takes learning and focus. Two of the things I can learn in college bro.

I mean college could be fun, you just have to have the right people around.. thats kind of my fear. Going into the Djing business exposes me to a lot of influence both of which are good and bad. College exposes me to better influence and a better atmosphere.

You right, you right, I should do whatever my heart tells me, but right now my heart is confusing me. I feel like I want to go to college. But… I love Djing so much. Ever since I was a boy. You and I used to act like we were rappers and even come up with beats and mix them around.  You’re right here it is, here is my opportunity to share my dream with the world.

But… is it also my opportunity to learn new things and make a great impression on my future career.

So you know what bro? I’m going to college, getting my education and achieving a great career.

Djing would be a great career and I could still do it part time.

But my heart is telling me that I should go to college. That’s what I’m going to do and that’s what is going to make my life more successful.

I’m 26 now and wise enough to see that going to college is the best thing for me.

Should I keep having fun because I love to DJ

Or should I go thousands of dollars into debt

Should I just keep enjoying my job

Or should I get a degree for thousands in return

Should I get use to the fun I'm having DJing parties

Or should I be miserable studying for 6 exams for the next day

Should I just accept the job i have now

Or should I go job hunting and hope to even I get an interview

Should I like meeting new people every night

Or should I get use to seeing the same people everyday

Should I enjoy going all over to perform

Or should I like going to the same building day after day

Should I like coming home at 6 am feeling like I just made so many people's night

Or should I wake up at 6 am tired wishing I got more sleep

Should I

Kid sits on a chair

Ugh! Not again! Every day these smelly, big, ugly teenagers sit on me. Why? I have seen it all, children have farted, peed, and thrown up on me. I just wish I was unused, thrown away, like so many others before me. (Child drags chair across the room.) Please God make it stop! I cannot take more of this, I am disrespected in every way. I bet these kids would not like it if I dragged them across the floor. I swear if one of these kids steps on me, with their shoe I am gonna break myself. I look now at my legs - the way they have been dirtied, and scratched, I wish I was new again, back to the where people were fighting over having me to sit on. Now people try and avoid me, but they cannot. I am here, I will always be here in this damned place. Sitting in this one room for kids to use and abuse me. (School bell rings.) Finally! These kids are leaving, I think it’s lunch and no kids come into the classroom at lunch. I have this whole hour to be by myself. (Door opens and a heavy kid walks in.) Please don’t pick me please don’t. (Child sits on chair and breaks it.) Why me? I’m old and weak! I cannot hold this child for much longer. My legs are breaking, oh please get up! Please, please, please, please, please! Now this beast of a human is sweating, he knows he broke me. (Child picks up chair and starts carrying it outside) At least I am going to my final resting place. Now no more kids are going to be sitting on me, making me smell bad. (Kid sits chair down outside and starts to cry.) He’s crying? I am the one who’s in pain though. Well, he did break me, I guess, he is embarrassed. He didn’t break me that bad (a couple second pause)  I guess. I wish this kid could hear me, maybe I can try to fix myself, he can still sit on me. Damn, I feel bad now. Hey Kid if you can hear me stop crying! It is okay you will grow up and change. Just believe you can be healthy and you will be. Don’t let these kids get you down, most of  them smell bad anyway. Things will get better (pause) I have seen it happen. You are young with no worries please kid (sigh), please believe me!

       Soy Imani,

      Los fines de semana, soy

   boba y divertida  

                  Cuando tengo tiempo libre, me encanta practicar deportes,

  ir de compras y escuchar música

           No soy ni antipatica

               ni aburrida

                   Yo soy….

                      YO!

 For this essay, my goal was to try to fully utilize the quotes into making my essay better. In other words, I want to use my quotes in a way to make my essay more understanding to my readers. One part in my essay that I am really proud of is the first paragraph because I tried something that I never done before. I contradicted my own argument, so that my thesis can be more clearly understood. I want to continue thinking of ways to make my writing more powerful and understanding to the writer. I think this time, I've been more proactive in asking my friends to check/edit my essay, and that helped me a lot.

“So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity; I am my language.” This quote was pulled out of, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, by Gloria Anzaldua. This is great story that revolves around culture because she passionately explain her culture and her people very specifically. With that, we can most definitely say that she is proud of her nationality and ethnicity. “There are more subtle ways that we internalize identification, especially in the forms of images and emotions. For me food and certain smells are tied to my identity, to my homeland. Woodsmoke curling up to an immense blue; woodsmoke perfuming my grandmother’s clothes, her skin.” When she is not at home, there is a lot of things that remind her of home like some of the examples provided above. This same type of home sickness goes for a lot of immigrants in the United States today. they are out here working hard to be able to provide for themselves and their family. Maybe once in every couple of years, they travel back to visit, but for the most part, it is the same hard working life for them. As interesting as her story may be, it is sad to say that not all of the immigrant’s experiences are like that. As a matter of fact, majority of the immigrants that came here to make a life, end up having the complete opposite experience. They often are too busy to celebrate their culture and perform their rituals and traditions. With that, it puts a negative impact towards the kids and their future of remembering their culture.

America has become a really diverse country consisting of many different cultures. One of the main reasons why is because of its capitalist society. Owning property and making business has become a easy way to make money to gain wealth for a lot of immigrants in America compared to the work force they were involved in back at their native location. As for many great systems and ideas created in this world, there is always a cause and effect.

I came here when I was 4 years old because of my parents looking for a better life. My father worked as a delivery man, delivering different packages of food and beverages to different companies that purchased them, so he is hardly ever home in the daytime, and he comes home late at night. My mother work with my grandpa in the restaurant, so I am just left with my sister. My parents are working extremely hard for money and sometimes forget about taking time off to celebrate some of the most important holidays in the Chinese culture. For example, Chinese New Year, Ching Ming Day, etc. For a lot of my childhood, I was very independent, and the only way I would learn is through school. As of today, I have been asked why I do not have an accent because it is common for Chinese or Asian natives to have an accent. A lot of times, I really do not know how to answer that question. For the most part, I think that it is because most of my time is spent on critically learning English. I do not really have religion or rituals or traditions to distract me from it, although I wish that was the case. In other words, if my family was more involved in our Chinese traditions instead making wealth, it would have made a big impact in my understanding of my culture as well as the “accent” I was suppose to have.

Being able to create something that is yours and make gains and wealth out of it, is an amazing achievement to a lot of the foreigners coming here. But people are often too caught up in making money and forget to celebrate their rituals or traditions. Even if they do, a lot of people do it to get it over with because it is like a yearly chore to them. It is important for kids to know who they really are and where they came from. With them not taking their culture rituals/traditions seriously, it puts a negative impact on the kids growing up. Money needs to be made to provide for their family, but culture also needs to be taught and primarily defined to the new generation of kids, so they have somewhere to start off on.

Using the theme of literacy as our focal point of this essay I wrote about an issue that directly affects me as a student. In my advanced essay I am most proud of the way I was able to express my opinion. The essay revolved around the question about the narratives that schools teach about minorities. In my experience I have seen a myriad of approaches to the teaching of minorities in history. However, in my essay I tried to target the idea of empowering minorities instead of continuously degrading them. As a growing writer I plan to continue to analyze different perspectives in order to gain a proper understanding of the core issue that will help me better formulate my ideas and clearly articulate them to others through my writing.

1. Malcolm X. Dir. Spike Lee. Prod. Spike Lee. By Spike Lee and Arnold Perl. Perf. Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, and Al Freeman. Warner Bros., 1992. Online.

2. Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1997. N. pag. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/books/bk-42979>.

Yo soy Chase el perro.

Gordo, adorable, fiel

Perro, amigo, miembro de la familia.

Me encanta comer, dormir, y correr.

Tengo negro pelo y marròn ojos.

Soy contento y amoroso.

Yo Soy Chase el perro.

In this paper I focused on the definition of literacy and why we cannot assess how literate someone is. I am very proud of my thesis and think that I was able to clearly articulate the point I was trying to make. I focused on trying to connect my scene to my thesis. This is something that I would like to work on. There is always something to improve on as a writer. For the next piece my focus will be on transitions and connections.

We all have moments in our lives that shape our definitions of literacy. For me a big factor was living in a home where three languages were spoken. Farsi with my father, Italian with my mother, and English with my siblings. I learned early on that being literate did not only refer to how well one wrote, but if you understood what a person was saying, not only in your mother tongue but any other languages you have picked up on your way to adulthood.

One of my favorite memories that has shaped my definition of literacy is of when I was little and my sister and I would curl up beside our mom and read italian fables together.This is one of my earliest memories of reading. She’d ask us which story we should start with that night. The answer was always the same.

“Fiabe italiane”

There came a point when we knew the story so well we’d say the next line before our mom read it out loud. My favorite part of the fables was the cover of the book. It was an elephant holding the same book we were reading. Within his cover there was a smaller elephant holding the book. It went on until I could no longer see the elephant holding another book with another elephant on it.

This got me to thinking, what if each elephant was reading the same story but seeing it differently. I thought there was a universal definition for literacy but found that each site I visited had a different definition for literacy.

“a person's knowledge of a particular subject or field” -Dictionary.com

“the quality or state of being literate” -Merriam-Webster

“ The condition or quality of being literate, especially the ability to read and write.”-The Free Dictionary

“Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.” -National Center for Education Statistics.

All of these definitions have one thing in common. They assess someone's knowledge and their ability to write. But through all I have experienced I have learned that because there are so many different dialects and accents, we cannot and do not tell someone that the way they speak is incorrect. We acknowledge that there are accents and dialects within one language. Why is it different when we write or read? Isn’t writing and reading a type of language that is spoken? It is an expression, an art, that must be interpreted by each individual person. The artist's feelings might be different than the observer's feelings. That is the beautiful thing about art, it allows us to express what we are feeling and allow another to see our work and let it become something to them, even if it is different from our interpretation. Just as each elephant on the cover of the italian fables may have interpreted the story they were reading differently. Just like how my sister and I had different reasons for loving the stories in “Fiabe Italiane”

Literacy is unique because it has to be molded to the person it is describing. In some schools English class is labeled as Literacy class, but are the teachers teaching them what it means to be literate? They are teaching them grammar, rules of the English language, how to read, how to analyze a text. They are not teaching them to express themselves through the things they read and the stories they write, or the drawings they draw. As I write, I realize that I am writing with bias, but rightfully so. My definition of literacy has shaped the way I have written this essay. But in a way to you, the reader, I am allowing you to see my views and allowing you to form your own opinions about the questions and opinions I am raising.

I’ve often wondered if we can assess how literate someone is. We each obviously have a different definition of what it means. I understand not writing with correct grammar. But grammar is something that has a set of rules that must be followed for each language. In class we wrote down our definitions for literacy, but in the end we were given a definition(“Reading the word and reading the world”) to follow for our project. The thing that makes literacy so unique is the vast amount of different definitions people have. These definitions show how the person grew up and how they see the world around them. I read books to see the world through the main character's eyes. I love to see and understand the way others read the world. My definition is different than yours. Isn’t that the great part of literacy? It has so many interpretations, meanings, and impacts. It sets us apart and lets us appreciate how one act or image can be described in so many unique and diverse ways.

Work Cited:

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literacy>.

Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literacy>.

"National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) - Definition of Literacy." National Assessment

of Adult Literacy (NAAL) - Definition of Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015. <https://nces.ed.gov/naal/fr_definition.asp>.

"Literacy." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/literacy>.

Soy Lilianna

Casi siempre, soy

tranquila y fiel

Cuando tengo tiempre libre, me encanta jugar videojueogs,

hablar por teléfono  con mis amigos y escuchar musica por muchas horas.

No soy ni codiciosa,

ni deshonesta.

Yo soy...

YO!