Kristen Williams ENG 1101 8/29/12

Project #1: Multi-Modal Literacy Narrative Part 2: Cultural Domain Analysis

Instructions (Part 1 Domain Analysis Chart): When introducing the Multi-Modal Literacy Narrative project, we established that your mind is influenced by different cultural/social systems that work both separately and together to shape your ideas, beliefs, and practices as a reader and writer. To analyze these systems, your first task is to complete the domain analysis chart in which you must reflect on each of the four domains listed below and identify as many practices, ideas/values/beliefs, objects, or significant details from each cultural/social system that you think has influenced your literacy and composition skills.

Home Family: Mom Dad 3 Siblings Middle Class Family: Dad is a Superintendent for Construction, Mom is stay-at-home mom We are all from New York Mom and dad never graduated from college Although it was never pushed I always excelled in school Mom bought me books all the time when I was a child- I always was read Dr. Seuss I watched educational videos all of the time such as barney Dad encouraged me to always do better I was expected to always make good grades My mom would check to see that I did my homework every night and that I had read something Family used very casual vocabulary When I got older my family could not really help me write my papers or anything because thats what they struggled with also My aunts and uncles who live in NY say I talk funny when I go up but when I come back down people can tell Im from NY because of certain words I pronounce differently but like the girl in the article my papers cant lead anyone to judgment

Work Job: Cashier at Zaxbys, Waiter at local restaurant Used different terms to communicate with cooks Used proper English and presented myself well while waitressing Worked with a lot of uneducated people at Zaxbys- they were from poor families who talked using slang Ive did a numerous amount of little handy jobs for my grandparents and with my father in construction so I know a little about that so I can talk freely about it

School School in NY encouraged reading in kindergarten so when I moved I was ahead Read Dr. Suess Interacted with other children who helped me Learned basics from barney As I got into middle school I was in GE classes so we wrote a lot same for high school We got a dictionary and had a vocabulary test every week to expand our knowledge but I never used it so it all was forgotten Read many books with different genres and styles We did creative writing, journal entries, as well as essays on topics Computers auto correct my errors The web gave me valuable information when researching Learned MLA format in middle school Learned how to analyze stories to get the full meaning Read different genres and styles of poems in 6th grade- we had to do a major project with a certain topic including 6 poems by an author and an analysis as well as write 6 different kinds of poems Most of my work was average as long as it followed guidelines I got a decent grade but it was never great- I always thought that was just opinion I wrote a 7 page paper senior year, it made me feel accomplished. I never knew I could write that much and do pretty good. We read a book freshman year with a substitute who liked to explain the meaning of the book and I enjoyed it.her name was Ms. Powell When I was in elementary school wed get silly awards so I tried to do my best to win them. (it encouraged me to be

Neighborhood / Community / Peers Childhood: Ithaca, NY Surrounded by many cousins- we were around the same age so we all talked to each other and felt comfortablethere wasnt any new words to learn because it was all the same vocabulary My boyfriends father spoke different than what I was used too so I tried to learn more Played sports softball mainly which influenced my life as a whole I played for 8 years so I picked up the slang Facebook-messaging friends- autocorrected myself which helped make me not look so foolish but also wasnt good because I never learned Church speeches- I would annunciate words correctly and learned to talk in a certain tone I babysat during church so I used baby talk when parents would come pick up their children I would have to act mature Peers were also in AG,GE classes- this encouraged me to stick with what I was doing and work with my friends on school work- the people I was around made it a good atmosphere I lived in the country so I picked up on a lot of slang- aint yall yonder cause yella I am attending college now- maturity Talk to text or siri couldnt understand me so I had to change my voice made me question if I really sound funny

better) We had computer lab all through K-12they would have learning games for us thatd we play when we would finish with our work Reading Shakespeare senior year was different because I wasnt used to it so it opened up my eyes In 4th grade we learned how to plan out a story to make it easier to put together We did bubble charts to compare topics so we wouldnt be biased we would first see the other side Currently taking a writing intensive course

Instructions (Part 2 Domain Analysis Narrative): Now that you have completed the chart and generated some ideas about the cultural/social systems you engage with, it is time to flesh out those ideas, and analyze/explain how you think each domain has influenced your literacy and composition. For each of the systems listed below, write between 75 and 100 words to explain the major details of each cultural/social system and how the qualities of each system have influenced your literacy and composition (this means you will compose four short analyses total). You may complete your essays below. Simply type your essay next to each of the headers.

1. Home: As I was a child my mother would read to me and encourage me to speak. When I was a little older I started to watch Barney which taught me my ABCs. My mother stayed at home while dad worked so she had more time to help with my education. My parents enrolled me in Pre-school so that I could interact with other children and learn better. Since I am from New York my parents taught me to speak my mind. My parents grew up very poor so the vocabulary usually associated with that group is not very sophisticated and my parents never studied hard in English so there was not so much emphasis put on correct speech or more proper words to use. 2. Work: Work was the least influential in my development mainly because I only had 2 jobs in my life in the span of 2 years. Having a job at a fast food restaurant you work with a lot of uneducated people who never went to college, dropped out, or in high school. This affected my ability because I picked up on some slang. When orders needed to be changed I had to communicate with the cooks so I learned how to speak differently to people. This was also true for when I was a waitress, if you want to be successful and get tips you have to know what youre talking about and present yourself well through your speech. 3. School: School has had the biggest impact on my literacy and composition. As a child I was read to every day, we would do group activities to learn to interact with others learn how to follow the rules, and other basic techniques. Ever since I was in the third grade I was in higher level classes that pushed me to enhance my writing skills and encouraged to read every night. In middle school we had to

complete reading logs which gave us consistency. When I got to high school it went from writing papers all the time to projects over the summer, lengthy page essays, and senior project. My senior year we had to write poetry packets which combined researching, writing, and reading. I am now in college and am still learning new things to further my education. 4. Neighborhood / Community / Peers: I grew up in New York where there were Amish people all around. I was surrounded by only family until I went to school. We all learned the same thing and occasionally read to each other. When I began to play sports we came up with all types of new words and talk about books we would read. This encouraged me to keep reading and do well in school so you can keep that social status of good student/nice girl/ good friend. Also Moving to a little southern rural area opened up opportunities to pick up on some southern slang and in softball you hear a lot of it. When MySpace and Facebook were created I would constantly be on it messaging my friends and when I would misspell a word it would show a red line under it to help me correct myself which is great. Also during church we would read from the bible and sing songs.