A la famiglia
In Family Values: Literacy, Technology and Uncle Sam Joe Amato narrates how our lives and experiences effect our approach to composing (writing) in the classroom. Not only is Amato concerned with students but instructors who have to negotiate their lives and the social situations that have created them into the teachers, writers and researchers they become. This is something we talked about a couple of weeks ago when we discussed who has the power in the classroom. Does anyone? How do we figure out these power structures and work within them to learn from each other? Through Amato’s own personal background the reader learns how technology has become a part of his teaching but how economic influences can strongly impact literacy practices as well. In other words, can or should I assume that you all have access to the internet? Should I encourage you all to explore technology and its impact on your writing? Amato’s narrative strongly encourages me to consider how our (you as students and me as an instructor) socio economic and ethnic backgrounds influence the way in which we grow as learners.
Amato says, “The point is that my father had never developed the tools-the critical tools- to think about his social circumstances in social terms” and “Despite my having observed this structural blindness in my father, I think I sometimes suffer myself from precisely this ailment: I often find myself attributing my successes and failures solely to my own choices, my own efforts, rather than to my social circumstances” (380). I related deeply to these passages. I think that I had become so sheltered by the disillusioned position society had thrust upon me, that it became difficult to see who I was through the standards that would make me more than a working class citizen.
Now I wanna break it down and be a little less formal in thinking about Joe Amato’s literacy narrative. It made me think about several themes that we’ve discussed in class and those are…..issues of class identity, gender and race discrimination as it pertains to language, literacy, power and oppression. As an Italian-American woman reading Amato’s narrative helped me understand my own past and the struggles I’ve had understanding my position in life and in the classroom. I thought his narrative was honest and told a story that some might find offensive and inappropriate BUT he is uncovering issues of racial and gender discrimination and considering how it has influenced his own thinking. Do we live in a culture that ignores these influences or are we encouraged by mass media to believe we function in a world that is equal? Should we forget who we are in order to gain a certain status? These are hard questions and not one that can be answered in a semester. Instead I wanna try and think about Amato’s piece in relation to the theme educational power ie. how we acquire literacy and who helps build knowledge making.
As I reread sections I find Amato challenging the power structures by discussing his commitment to technologies. He says, “We need these new communications technologies” (384). It’s so easy to text, IM, blog, twitter, use myspace or facebook to talk about things that happen in the classroom and our lives. In what ways have these technologies influenced the act of reading and our writing process? These tools help us understand different genres of writing that will influence some if not most of your professional careers. And as it works with the theme of power and oppression…….shouldn’t we consider the creation of ratemyprofessor.com? That’s technology challenging the status quo of power. Does Amato feel he has power? Is the classroom a place for power struggles or a place to explore together the idea of “power”? If these are issues that you find interesting and intrigue you, you’ll want to look at Michel Foucault, Cornel West and Keith Gilyard, bell hooks just to name a few. Go ahead just wiki or google them.
Ahhh and to end here “A la famiglia”. This is a saying that my family uses whenever we celebrate. It’s something I use here to celebrate how the idea of “the family” really is the root of where we should begin to consider our connections to literacy. It’s our parents, siblings, grandparents, Aunties, Uncles and friends who initially help us shape our reading, writing, thinking and speaking. Our academic lives add to this engagement too. Just as Amato explores those beginnings we should too.
Remember y’all have fun with this!!
Check out Amato's blog http://joeamato.net/
In Family Values: Literacy, Technology and Uncle Sam Joe Amato narrates how our lives and experiences effect our approach to composing (writing) in the classroom. Not only is Amato concerned with students but instructors who have to negotiate their lives and the social situations that have created them into the teachers, writers and researchers they become. This is something we talked about a couple of weeks ago when we discussed who has the power in the classroom. Does anyone? How do we figure out these power structures and work within them to learn from each other? Through Amato’s own personal background the reader learns how technology has become a part of his teaching but how economic influences can strongly impact literacy practices as well. In other words, can or should I assume that you all have access to the internet? Should I encourage you all to explore technology and its impact on your writing? Amato’s narrative strongly encourages me to consider how our (you as students and me as an instructor) socio economic and ethnic backgrounds influence the way in which we grow as learners.
Amato says, “The point is that my father had never developed the tools-the critical tools- to think about his social circumstances in social terms” and “Despite my having observed this structural blindness in my father, I think I sometimes suffer myself from precisely this ailment: I often find myself attributing my successes and failures solely to my own choices, my own efforts, rather than to my social circumstances” (380). I related deeply to these passages. I think that I had become so sheltered by the disillusioned position society had thrust upon me, that it became difficult to see who I was through the standards that would make me more than a working class citizen.
Now I wanna break it down and be a little less formal in thinking about Joe Amato’s literacy narrative. It made me think about several themes that we’ve discussed in class and those are…..issues of class identity, gender and race discrimination as it pertains to language, literacy, power and oppression. As an Italian-American woman reading Amato’s narrative helped me understand my own past and the struggles I’ve had understanding my position in life and in the classroom. I thought his narrative was honest and told a story that some might find offensive and inappropriate BUT he is uncovering issues of racial and gender discrimination and considering how it has influenced his own thinking. Do we live in a culture that ignores these influences or are we encouraged by mass media to believe we function in a world that is equal? Should we forget who we are in order to gain a certain status? These are hard questions and not one that can be answered in a semester. Instead I wanna try and think about Amato’s piece in relation to the theme educational power ie. how we acquire literacy and who helps build knowledge making.
As I reread sections I find Amato challenging the power structures by discussing his commitment to technologies. He says, “We need these new communications technologies” (384). It’s so easy to text, IM, blog, twitter, use myspace or facebook to talk about things that happen in the classroom and our lives. In what ways have these technologies influenced the act of reading and our writing process? These tools help us understand different genres of writing that will influence some if not most of your professional careers. And as it works with the theme of power and oppression…….shouldn’t we consider the creation of ratemyprofessor.com? That’s technology challenging the status quo of power. Does Amato feel he has power? Is the classroom a place for power struggles or a place to explore together the idea of “power”? If these are issues that you find interesting and intrigue you, you’ll want to look at Michel Foucault, Cornel West and Keith Gilyard, bell hooks just to name a few. Go ahead just wiki or google them.
Ahhh and to end here “A la famiglia”. This is a saying that my family uses whenever we celebrate. It’s something I use here to celebrate how the idea of “the family” really is the root of where we should begin to consider our connections to literacy. It’s our parents, siblings, grandparents, Aunties, Uncles and friends who initially help us shape our reading, writing, thinking and speaking. Our academic lives add to this engagement too. Just as Amato explores those beginnings we should too.
Remember y’all have fun with this!!
Check out Amato's blog http://joeamato.net/