Hi, everyone! My name is
Ruksana Kabealo. I grew up in the middle of ten acres of woodlands on the outskirts of Marysville, Ohio. I've lived in the same place my entire life. I was homeschooled from kindergarden through junior year of highschool, and am currently in my senior year of highschool. Attending OSU at Marion is my first time in a social environment that doesn't consist primarily of
family, as well as my first time experiencing a classroom environment in any
form. Other things: I consider myself a lover of all things music, an artist, an idealist, and, above anything else, a work in progress.
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| My sister and I posing in front of a hut we built |
When I read Chapter One
of The Call to Write, the reading from "Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and
Life in Junior High" by Margaret J. Finders struck me as the most interesting. The main idea that caught my attention from this reading was the notion of
readers expanding on existing writing through their interactions with it. The
focus of Finder's reading wasn't just the yearbooks themselves, it was the
content the students created within the books. Every signature, piece of
graffiti, message, pop-culture reference, and quote added to a yearbook
is its own writing, each with its own intended audience, purpose, and
"call to write". The yearbooks, previously identical, become
differentiated by the added content within, and as a result each yearbook tells a
different story.
In this chapter I learned about literacy events. A literacy event occurs when a specific encounter with reading and writing shapes our experiences and interactions with the people around us. In Finder's reading, the students' interactions with their yearbooks demonstrates a literacy event because the students' social standings both affect and are affected by their yearbooks. For example, Finder describes how students refuse to sign the yearbooks of others with a perceived lower social standing. However, they can also be relegated to a lower social standing if they write a message others deem inappropriate.
In this chapter I learned about literacy events. A literacy event occurs when a specific encounter with reading and writing shapes our experiences and interactions with the people around us. In Finder's reading, the students' interactions with their yearbooks demonstrates a literacy event because the students' social standings both affect and are affected by their yearbooks. For example, Finder describes how students refuse to sign the yearbooks of others with a perceived lower social standing. However, they can also be relegated to a lower social standing if they write a message others deem inappropriate.
Like you I also found the excerpt from Just Girls fascinating. I found the excerpt fascinating because the year book and how peers interact with it defines who a person is. A quote from the reading states "Although the yearbook was viewed as a symbol of solidarity for all students, only a particular population of students was made to feel as if they belonged to this club. Other students remained outsiders" ( Finders,21). It is extremely upsetting to me that only certain students can feel as if they belonged when a yearbook is supposed to represent the whole student body.
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