McAnaul Scott McAnaul English 151 Professor Whicker March 18 2012 Motivation and Sponsors Literacy has dramatically

changed in the past hundred years, and so have the forces that shape out learning and literacy practices. (Brandt 331) Deborah Brandt claims that people don't just become literate on their own, they need what is called a literacy sponsor. Brandt, however, notes that literacy sponsors are not altruistic but sponsor literacy for their own ends, which are not always in the best interests of those sponsored. The idea of literacy sponsors has been around for a long time. The most common examples of these would be churches, governments, and schools. But now it can be something as simple as a comic book (Alexie, Jacobs). Are literacy sponsors always a good thing though? The answer is no. Sometimes these very literacy sponsors that are giving you access to all of these things also have other intentions. Brandt gives us the example of schools. They encourage you to read, but is it for their own good, or is it for money? Almost all sponsors have something to gain whether it be your money, your knowledge or a number of other things. In this paper I am going to talk about the people or organizations that sponsor literacy and also what motivations people have when it comes to literacy. I'm going to start this paper out with the story of a very famous civil rights leader, Malcolm X. His childhood consisted of many foster homes and a life of crime. When Malcolm was in eighth grade he was told by his teacher that his race would prevent him from being a lawyer. He ended up dropping out

McAnaul of school that very year. Before Malcolm went to prison in 1945 he had a very limited knowledge when it came to literacy. He could barely read and write. After getting frustrated enough of not being able to express what he wanted to say he decided it was time for a change. Malcolm asked for a dictionary at his prison, and his wish was granted. He began to copy every word in the dictionary, and in doing so his knowledge of literacy vastly increased. He was finally able to understand what words people around him were using and was able to interpret sentences that he could not have done before. He compared learning to read and understand things as being able to be released from prison. The Norfolk Prison Colony library was what he used to get all of his books. He was able to check out more than the maximum number of books because he showed such a strong interest in them. Eventually his readings took him into the topic of slavery. He never understood how bad it was until he was fully able to read and interpret what went on in the nations history. This is what led to his strong passion as a civil rights leader. He had such a vast knowledge of topics now, especially from one of his favorites, Mr Elijah Muhammed. The prison system, Mr Muhammed, and the books they had were his literacy sponsors, they provided him with everything he wanted. Malcolm was very self motivated and this was what led him to be so successful. He had a reason to learn how to read and write, he simply wanted to know what was going on around him. Brandt argues that there are sponsors all around us such as: older relatives, teachers, priests, supervisors, military officers, editors, and influential authors (Brandt 335). She says that sponsors are

McAnaul usually rich and knowledgeable. They will lend their resources or credibility to the people they sponsor and in turn get benefits from their success (335). An example she gives is a Little League baseball team that has a logo on their jerseys. To the kids, they don't care what company's name is on the back of their jersey, they are more interested in what snacks they will be getting after the game is over with. The kids have no idea that they are basically walking billboards for the companies that sponsor them, and in turn will be making them money. I can now vividly remember all of the sponsors that my teams had when I was a kid, and how I had no idea that we were being used as advertising. Another example I want to share is the story of Sherman Alexie. Sherman Alexie shares his story in his work The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. Born in 1966 on a Spokane Indian Reservation, Sherman didn't have access to near as many books or literacy devices as most kids do in the cities. But this didn't seem to slow him down. At the age of three years old Sherman was reading extremely well and this made his classmates jealous. His father loved to read books and would purchase books by what Sherman calls the pound. Sherman quickly became just as interested in books and can remember one book that helped him read; Superman. He was able to look at the pictures and the words next to it and put two and two together. Sherman had many sponsors that had a major impact on his desire to want to learn to read and write. One of these is the Superman comic books. Without these he may not have been able to teach himself to read at such an early age. The main literacy sponsor Sherman Alexie had though, was his

McAnaul father. He watched the way his father had such a passion to read when he was younger and followed his lead. His dad did everything he could possibly have done to get books for the family even though they were poor by general standards. Similar to what Tyler Cecchini and Hugo Perez did with their study, I decided to talk to a couple people to try and find out what their motivations were growing up to develop literacy and also who their main literacy sponsors were. The first person I talked to was Cameron Deeds, a Sophomore at Wilmington College in Ohio studying athletic training. Cameron grew up with a middle class family in a small town in central Ohio. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father worked for an insurance company. Both of his parents share a strong passion for reading, as does his older sister. Growing up he didn't know any better except to read. He learned how by his parents at a real young age. Learning to read wasn't an option for him, he was expected to do so. Cam's only source of motivation came from his parents and his desire to make them happy when he was able to finally read. The sponsors he had came from many different places. His mother, father, sister, school teachers, libraries, books, soccer coaches, and many others helped him reach this success. The second person I talked to was Nick Strahan, a Junior at Ohio University studying history. Nick's story about motivation was completely different then Cameron's was. Nick was completely self motivated and his parents played a limited role in his want to read. His desire to be better than all of his classmates started at a very young age, dating all the way back to his kindergarten class. Nick's family

McAnaul was also middle class and his mom was a middle school teacher. Although he said his mom did help him read she didn't really push him to do so like Cameron's did. Nick always wanted to read the same books that his brother, who was five years older than him was able to. He gave me the example of being able to read the near 200 page book The Hatchet in third grade. Nick had such a strong competitive drive, this is what he attributes most of his literacy success to. He was sponsored by many of the same things as Cameron was but his biggest sponsor was the library. The library was Nick's favorite place to be because it allowed him to choose from any book he could possibly imagine reading. All of those examples lead me to one question: What do all of these literacy sponsors have to gain by helping the sponsored? When a parent helps their child learn to read and write they are simply just trying to help them live a successful life? If Sherman Alexie's father didn't spend what little money he had on those books that he purchased from the salvation army and used book stores, would Sherman have been a successful author like he is today? My first reaction is to say probably not. Had he not had access to those books he could have ended up like most of his peers did and never would have made it out of his Indian Grounds. If Malcolm X had never committed a crime that put him in jail would he have ever been able to make a name for himself like he wanted to? The prison system allowed him to get the education he never was able to receive. He had access to an amazing library filled with thousands of books that helped him get his life on track. He was able to teach himself how to read and write, something he had struggled with his whole life. The only thing I think parents have to gain when it comes to sponsoring their child is giving

McAnaul them a better life. Growing up you always hear parents saying I just want to give my kid a better life than I was able to have. This is because they really do. They want you to be able to read and write. They want you to be successful and make lots of money. They, as your parents, want you to be able to do whatever it is you want to do in life. Parents always want what's best for their kids and that is why they are the biggest literacy sponsors. When it comes to motivations to learning literacies, there is more of a range of responses. For some it is self-motivation like it was with Nick and Malcolm X, while for others it is the need to make your parents happy. If Malcolm X hadn't been motivated to learn how to read and write, all of that jail time he served could have gone to something way less productive and he never would have been able to make a name for himself. But he had the desire to change his life and prove his eighth grade teacher wrong, that he was going to be successful. The point I want to make here is that everyone has their own ways of learning and having the desire to learn, but they may all be completely different. One person may think that most people are self motivated, while others may believe it is because they want to impress their parents. I think that there are hundreds of different ways that people can gain this motivation and it is due to what literacy sponsors they have. If one child only had one sponsor, that may not necessarily mean they can't be successful such as Sherman Alexie, but I do feel that they don't have near as much of a chance as someone who has teachers, parents, and other adults supporting him who also has access to a full library. I think that while these sponsors do have something to gain from helping, in the end they really do mean well.

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Work Cited

Alexie, Sherman. "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me." The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1997. 3-6. Print

Brandt, Deborah. Teachers College Record. Mar2003, Vol. 105 Issue 2, p245-260, 16p

Brandt, Deborah. Sponsors of Literacy. College Composition and Communication 49.2 (1998): 165-185. Print.

Cecchini, Tyler, and Hugo Perez. Writing About Writing. Boston: n.p., 2011. Print.

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Deeds, Cameron. Sophomore at Wilmington College in Ohio. Athletic Training Major

Jacobs, Dale "Marvelling at 'The Man Called Nova': Comics as sponsors of multimodal literacy" 2007 College Composition and Communication 59.2 pages 180-205

Strahan, Nick. Junior at Ohio University. History Major