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/
This is some pretty interesting stuff that isnt really touched on to much. How we as a people have been taught that we are the only ones responsible for the way are lives play out and if something is wrong in our lives then we are the ones to blame. Its sad to see that Joe's father had to deal with this in a time when there was no one around to help him understand that he had not been totally responsible for his problems. It was the fact that he had been born into the lowest class in a society he new nothing about.
ReplyDeleteI like that you talk about family as the root of our literacy beginings because it really is true. Before we go to school and are taught to learn about reading and writing and all that technical stuff we learn from our families the true meaning of language and we base the rest of our lives on these teachings. Best of all you wont find this stuff in books because everyones family learning experience is indiviual and that is what truly makes it special.
A good question that you ask is this idea of power and where it comes from. Who does the power really belong to? Is it the rich, the well educated or is it simply the ones who can see past all that and know that true power is understanding your indiviual potential and not letting others tell you that you are lower in status because of your worth or shcool level.I could go on all day poundering these question but the answers really lie inside each of us.Really interesting stuff that I never really thought about till reading this. Thanks for opening my eyes.
Hey Dan,
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point about the things that govern how are lives "play out". I think one way to look at is that we make choices and sometimes there are consequences or responsibilities surrounded by those choices BUT if something goes a certain way is it always because of the choics we make or perhaps the choices society has asked us to make? In other words, I (like many of my students and colleagues I'm sure)went to college to have a career and to do more than what my parents were able to do. To move up so to speak and in a way society made that choice for me because had I opted another direction I may or may not have been in the position I am now. Things could be vastly different. In what other ways, does society, culture, public policy influence or control our choices?