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Destiny Drees

Professor Pierson

September 27, 2017

Parental supervision

My Community

My mom, dad, and brother Christian make up the community I have been a part of the

longest and has made the most impact on me. My mom and dad both work five days a week at

their IT jobs. When they come home however, my mom loves to read romance books on her

iPad. She spends the whole night with her eyes on her screen in order to finish the book she

started. My dad on the other hand, comes home and watches tv all night he loves to watch sit-

coms from the 1980s-90. His favorites being Night Court and Seinfeld. He has a tiny red

notebook that keeps track of what shows he still needs to watch so that he does not lose track of

his favorite shows to watch. He also gets on Facebook throughout the day and shares posts with

the family to let us see the ideas he is interested in doing with us or around the house, like

painting the house or a new roller coaster ride at Kings Island Amusement Park. Christian works

as a security guard during the day and when he comes home he is on his PlayStation 4 with his

friend playing war games like Call of Duty. They connect online and communicate via

headset. I am originally from Cincinnati, OH and now live in Orlando, Florida for school. I text

my parents often to communicate how and what I am doing or I will just call for a more effective

conversation.

My dad and I share a common interest when it comes to reading to stay informed. He and

I can spend hours on Yahoo or MSN reading political reports, news information and all of the
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other articles that catch our eyes. My dad and I do disagree on political views so when we read

our political articles, it is important to us that we read articles that are positive for our side and

are full of information that we can use against each other. My mom reads to entertain herself, so

she reads romantic novels that relax her. She reads so often however, that it is hard to

communicate with her and know that I will have her full attention. I do not like to read in front of

other people now to make sure that I give people my full attention.

Literacy Sponsors

I was 6 months old when I said my first words. My parents guided me from the

beginning, teaching me colors, numbers, the alphabet, basic sentences in order to have a

foundation to grow from. As parents, it is more personal to teach a child and watch them grow. It

is hard being a parent knowing that people are watching and judging them for any imperfection

their child has, it is the parents exigence to prepare their child for success. I also have had

teachers influence my reading and writing by adding practice that my parents cannot provide and

extra knowledge that does not come up in regular conversation. Teachers teach for a paycheck. If

they cause negative literacy patterns in some students it does not particularly reflect poorly on

them. It is most likely going to come back to the parents or the school as a whole. Also, friends

that I have hung out with taught me slang and maybe taught me how to have an attitude. My

parents see my friends as negative literacy sponsors.

My mom and dad both graduated from high school and went on to college to get their

associates degrees in computer technology. They have always pushed Christian and I towards

continuing our education after high school. I am in my first year of college and Christian has

been out of high school for four years now. Though my parents eventually want Christian to
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continue school, they want him to be sure of what he wants before he commits. Our parents have

always let us make our own decisions while they give advice and make suggestions. This was the

best learning method for me because of how strong minded I can be. If they were to tell me what

to do rather then ask me what I want to do, I would most likely do the opposite of what they

want. My parents worked with our personalities and this helped us learn more effectively.

Discourse

My parents taught Christian and I to be polite; it is part of our Discourse. It is like second

nature to me to say please and thank you. My family has been known to over use thank you

when we go to dinner. Whenever we go out for dinner we say please and thank you after we say

anything to a worker; may that be a server, a busser, a hostess, anyone who we talk to. When

they hand out the food we thank them for every single dish they hand the table. Many servers

have told us that we are so polite. That is the goal of my parents. They want to pass down

kindness. That is one of the biggest impacts both of my parents have had on me in my life that

has transferred into my reading and writing and speech. My mom and dad grew up not having a

lot and they taught us to be thankful for what we are given each day. I will not write anything

negative about anyone; whether that be via social media, or text messaging, or a paper that I need

to write. I cannot read any unkind books, news articles, social media posts without becoming

upset. If someone were to post unkind remarks about me or my friends and family I would either

message them privately to ask what was going on or I would ignore it and know that I am better

than starting something over nothing.

Rhetorical Situation
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I was a stubborn child who did not like to be told what to do, especially by men. I was

diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) when I was just four years old. I was

always in trouble for starting fights with my dad. My parents took me to many psychologists,

who were men, which recommended punishments that did not include talking out what had

happened. They instead suggested I be put into the corner and not be allowed to talk until I had

done my time. The exigence of being in the corner was to think of what I had done wrong; the

problem was, no one was talking to me or allowing me to talk to them. The constraints for this

situation was the fact that I have ODD and I was so young, so this made it hard for me to

understand that I needed to behave and listen to what I needed to be doing instead of putting up a

fight.

Writing Process

When I write essays and other lengthy papers for school, I fill out an outline hoping to

give myself enough information to go off of. I do not add all of the little details because I know

that I will remember them as I write, I more so need main topics and points that I want to talk

about and elaborate on. Some examples of things I would include are relating stories, arguments

for and against topic, information of subject matter, etc. I find the writing process difficult to

actually get finished due to distractions. One way that I try to avoid this is by writing alone at

home while listening to soft instrumental music. It helps to be in an environment that I know

because I know the stuff that is surrounding me, therefore I am not looking at things around me

as much. I tend to write and take breaks often because of how easily I get distracted. It does take

a long amount of time to write papers. Due to classes, I have to work with the time I have. I do

not eat or drink while writing because once I take my eyes off what I am doing, it will take me
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what feels like forever to get back into my train of thought. I usually eat and drink before or after

I am done as a pick me up.

Making changes to my papers after I have finished is not my favorite thing to do. I revise

and edit my paper as I am writing in order to save time at the end. It is also as easy as switching

one word for one that fits better. When I am finished with my paper and am ready to revise, I re-

read my paper aloud in order to more accurately catch errors; it is harder to find mistakes when I

one reads their own paper versus reading someone elses paper (UCF Writes, 136). I look to see

that all of the main points are there and clear enough that the reader would know what I am

talking about. When I am ready to edit, I start with spell check. I re-read aloud to find sentence

fragments punctuational errors, grammar mistakes and other errors. I read over it once more to

make sure that my paper is up to standards.

When I think about what influences my parents have had on my reading, writing, and

speaking, I know that they have had some type of impact. I receive my kind words from both of

my parents. I have them to thank for teaching me to speak and continuing to push me to advocate

for my education. I always look for ways to improve my writing so that I am not afraid to share

my work with others. My dad is credited for keeping me curious. He has opened up subjects to

learn about and read about that dont particularly interest me. This is a great way to improve

reading skills. I enjoy reading articles with random facts in them just for the sake of knowing the

answer to a question I did not know I wanted to ask. This is a very good skill to have in college I

have come to find out. My mom has taught me reading can be fun but make sure I can listen to

the conversation that is going on still. Christian has shown me that education is important. Going

on his fourth year out of school and still living at home with mom and dad has made me realize
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that I need to strive in school and not give up. I am working harder than I ever have and it is

thanks to the family that has raised me.

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Wardle, E. (2017). Writing about writing: a college reader (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford Bks St

MartinS. James Paul Gee, pg. 278

UCF Writes. Southlake, TX: fountainhead press. Pg. 136