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Caroline Ladd

Professor Jan Rieman

English 1102

February 3, 2011

I struggled a bit when writing this paper, there were several areas where I came to a halt

and did not know how to finish my sentence of paragraph. I know my paragraph on my

school district and how they are one of my sponsors of literacy needs some work; hopefully I

can get some help from my small group in class on what to add to the paragraph.

My Sponsors of Literacy

What is a sponsor of literacy? In Deborah Brandt’s “Sponsors of Literacy”

essay she defines a sponsor of literacy as “any agents, local or distant, concrete or

abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or

withhold literacy- and gain advantage by it in some way.” When I think of what I

would consider a definition of a sponsor of literacy, I agree with Brandt’s definition

completely.

When I look back and reflect on when I was learning to read and write and

who my sponsors of literacy were, the first people that come to mind are my parents.

I can remember from a very early age my parents buying me every possible tool

necessary to aiding in my learning. Education has always been very important to my

parents, and they have always been by my side in helping me succeed and pushing

me to do so. When I was little my parents would buy me the books where I could

outline letters, just to get a feel for what they were suppose to look like. Also,
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bedtime stories were a very big part of my childhood. I believe that listening to my

parents read me bedtime stories helped me learn to read. Every year for my birthday I

would receive a new book from my parents, I grew up loving to read and write and I

did not see it as a challenge.

As I began to get older and I started middle school, we were required to read

books that I had little or no interest in. My love for reading and writing began to

change, and it was soon a struggle to just finish a book or write a paper. Then in 7 th

grade I met Mrs. Wilkinson. I would consider Mrs. Wilkinson one of my sponsors of

literacy. She pushed me to find the something good about every piece of literature I

encountered, and when I came to her struggling to write a paper she was always there

to give advice. I didn’t mind going to Mrs. Wilkinson for help because you could

always see the joy that helping others brought her. She truly helped me through this

tough time in my education.

My third sponsor of literacy would be Lowes Hardware and the Mac books

that they provided to every student in my school district. When our school decided to

take on the technology conversion I was a little hesitant. I had never used a Mac book

before and to hear that my education was going to be centered on using this

computer, the whole idea made me a little nervous. We no longer had textbook and

we transformed to a paperless school. Everything, test, quizzes, paper, and even

homework were all done on the computer or online through a program called

ANGEL. During the beginning of the change it was hard to get use to the Mac books,

but overtime it became a lot easier. If Lowes Hardware wouldn’t had funded the
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technology conversion then we would never have gotten the privilege of being a step

ahead of our generation. This sponsor of literacy really helped prepare me for college

because college is really far ahead in the sense of technology than most high schools

are.

Mooresville Graded School District is the only city school district left in North

Carolina. We do not belong to any county, therefore we receive a lot of privileges

that the county schools do not. For example, my school system always had an

adequate amount of money so we never had to worry whether or not we had books to

read. Mooresville Graded schools also was fortunate enough to have a tutoring center

in the library that was always available to any student; while I was in high school I

was a frequent visitor. Also, since my school system was so lucky enough to receive

the laptops I believe my literacy was greatly improved.

I believe myself to be a very blessed person and cannot think of any

disadvantage I have had in my life that has held me back from gaining access to a

different sponsors of literacy. Between my parents, various teacher such as Mrs.

Wilkinson, and the technology conversion at my high school I see myself as a very

literate and well-rounded writer and reader. I also believe that you can keep acquiring

sponsors of literacy all throughout your life because you never stop learning.

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader.

Eds. Wardle and Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011. 406-26. Print.