Rustin 1 Emily Rustin Mr.

Borrero ENGL 1101 1 October 2012 Narrative Defense Essay Each individual has different views and understandings of literacy that are produced by influences that the individual has encountered at some point in their life. These influences have either impacted them in a positive way that has helped sculpt their view of literacy or has become a victim with results of negative influences. Whether the impacts were positive or negative, influences are what shape our knowing of literacy and impact us in ways that stay with us to form our own literacy accounts. Influences throughout our lives can have stronger influences than others which result in leaning more to a certain view of learning and comprehending something. Personally I believe that I have encountered more positive influences than negative. This result comes from sponsors that have become a part of my life and have shaped my view of literacy. Certain sponsors have been teachers, family members, locations, books, and authors. To portray what I have learned and how I have become the writer I am today, I choreographed a lyrical dance piece and have created my own dance program. Dance has always been a broad part of my life and has influenced me in such a way that has helped me view literacy the way I do today. My dance history started when I was five years old, when my mom decided to put my sister Carla and I in our very first dance class. Although I do not remember much about this, I do remember watching the video of our dance performance years later. I quit dance for a while and started this sport back up again in middle school during my sixth and seventh grade year at Leesville Road Middle School. Here I learned the basics of

Rustin 2 dance from my dance teacher Mrs. Casterline. My dance class performed a dance concert at the end of the year for anyone to come and watch. Proceeding to high school at Leesville Road High School was where my dance career started back up again and higher techniques of dance were learned. Ms. Hoban was my dance teacher through my high school years and became my main influence to continue dance and not only did I learn dance techniques and history from her but also how to interpret different ways of literacy. I decided to choreograph a dance and also create a dance program because dance influenced me in a way where I could analyze other types of literacy besides reading and writing. An interpretation that I learned was analyzing emotions of a piece of literacy such as a play, musical, song, picture, statue, or sculpture. Activities in dance that included emotions, body movements, improv, making sharp or slow movements helped me because this explained that each factor can tell a story and what the emotion is supposed to be. For example if a dance is making slow movements this could interpret to them performing a more heartfelt piece. During my dance class we would have times where we would create an emotion and also perform movements to show this emotion. This was helpful because I was able to perform and feel what the emotion felt like but I also was able to watch others perform an emotion too. The aspects of my dance such as my costume, song, and location are symbols of what my literacy history was about. My costume is black bikers and a white t-shirt. I chose this costume because first off this is the type of costume I also performed in while doing projects in dance where we had to perform in front of the class whether it would be solos or group performances. The black and white colors symbolize being simple and common. Throughout my literacy history I believe that the way I was taught was common, through reading books at school and learning how to write essays or how my family members influenced me at home by encouraging

Rustin 3 reading and writing and also helping me accomplish this. The black and white colors show simplicity because the colors are simple and so is what I have learned. Most of what I have learned through literacy so far has been because it is the same process over and over again while moving up in school. My song is The Writer by Ellie Goulding. I feel like this song was a great choice for my dance because at the beginning the rhythm is very calm and slow which symbolizes my early life and childhood. This shows how literacy was simple at this age such as learning the ABCs and singing songs to help me learn. The books that I read or others read to me were simple and short like books from Dr. Seuss, I preferably liked The Cat in the Hat. I remember reading these books at home by my parents or grandparents and also during school. The chorus lyrics that I believe are very important for my dance are why dont you be the artist and make me out of clay, why dont you be the writer decide the words I say. These lyrics show how during my years of learning literacy there has always been someone there to walk me through literacy. When I read and listen to these lyrics I think of my teachers that I have had in previous years of English and other classes that have set the standards of literacy such as how to write a good paper or how to analyze a piece of work. When I think of an essay I think of a five paragraph essay which is what my teachers in the past have taught me before. I believe these lyrics stand out because my parents and other family members were always a big influence and people who pushed me to read and continue writing even outside of school. This showed me how important literacy is and how it is used in everyday life such as reading signs or looking at a picture that symbolizes something else. My grandmothers refer to these lyrics because when it mentions artist I think of my grandmother who is an artist and who throughout my life would teacher me how to draw and paint and would show me her art work. We would sit down together and we

Rustin 4 would talk about the picture that was in front of us. My grandmother would take me to the art museum and walking throughout here we would discuss and share what each of us believed the art to be about. My other grandmother was a huge influence because she would take her time to play school with me and read me stories whenever she could. She sculpts my knowledge by making me believe that you have to know how to read and write which is what I still believe today. She has met a majority of kids who are not successful in accomplishing certain skill levels in reading and writing since she was a substitute teacher for elementary school and I believe this also pushed me to what I think of today because I did not want to disappoint her. Another set of lyrics that I believe show my literacy history is Ill still be there in the end. This means that what I have learned throughout my life is what I know today and is something that will stick with me through the end. Another genre I decided to use to help show my literacy history was a dance program. I decided to use a dance program to help thoroughly explain what my dance is about and to highlight the main points of my dance. The dance program is a black and pink theme because the black symbolizes the location where I am most use to dancing. At my high school the place I danced was called the black box. This entire room was black, including the walls, floor and doors. This room made me comfortable to dance in and also learn valuable lessons from Ms. Hoban such as analyzing certain pieces from one another and considering the differences. I also chose the color pink because this symbolizes brightness and how I believe that I had more positive literacy influences rather than negative influences. I believe this because when I think about my literacy history I think about more moments that are positive rather than negative. Some positive influences came from the teachers that I could always go to for help when looking at literacy and also from the types of books I read. One teacher that I feel has influenced me in a

Rustin 5 positive way was my senior year English teacher Ms. Wedge at Leesville Road High School. Ms. Wedge was someone who was always helpful when I needed feedback on my papers that I had to write. I remember always letting her edit my papers and allowed her to give me comments of what I could do better. This was great because I feel it made me grow as a writer because I was able to learn from mistakes and fix them myself. I believe that I can only think of one situation where I considered myself a victim of literacy. In the tenth grade my English teachers name was Mrs. Stephenson. This was an honors English class so I was expecting it to be tougher. When receiving papers back I always made a much lower grade than I thought I deserved and usually had negative comments written on my paper. These comments did not inspire me to continue writing, I felt as if I was doing everything wrong and I was not a good writer. Continuing with my dance program, my title Dancing Through History refers to my literacy history throughout my life. When opening the dance program, on the left the reader will see who this dance is choreographed by, the song title that was chosen, and the most important influences that inspired this dance. On the right side is a list of three titles, each followed by a picture that symbolizes the title that will help the reader understand the dance better and have something to look for while watching the piece. I chose to write three titles to symbolize the timeline of the dance itself. Each title individually represents important pieces of the dance without having the dance being noticeably broken up. The dance will flow and give the reader an idea what to expect in my dance. The pictures symbolize important life changes that I feel have influenced my history in literacy. The picture of the ABCs represents the most basic style of literacy there is. This picture goes with the title Early Life because this was the first part of literacy that I remember learning. The second picture is the sun that represents the

Rustin 6 title Moments Within. This picture and title refer to bright moments in my literacy history such as receiving an A on a paper or successfully reading a book. The third title The Transition and the picture of the sign that says change on it shows that where I am right now is a huge transition from high school. The style of writing is more intense and also represents change in my skills of literacy. The two arrows going opposite directions symbolize that the change does not stop here. I believe that in time my literacy history will grow even further and my view may change. The location for my dance consisted of a room with hardwood floor at my house. I chose this spot because it was spacious enough to complete my solo. I also chose this because this was where I completed most of my school and outside of school literacy assignments. I would read books in this space and also complete papers and projects. One project I remember doing in this room was a large map of the state of North Carolina in the third grade. This area has been with me throughout my life and was a main location where I was able to further strengths of literacy. The hardwood floor was comfortable to dance on because in my dance class the floor was also hardwood only it was black. My dance itself is performed as a solo and is one minute and forty-one seconds long. During this dance, the reader will view movements and technique that I have learned that show my literacy history. I decided to start on the floor because this shows my early life and how I was too young to know and learn but so much. At ten seconds in the dance, my movement implies that I am being read to and a childrens book is in front of me and at this time I am still in my early stages of life. Continuing to 14 seconds, my legs show support which represents support from my parents who helped me with school, reading me books, and motivating me to continue learning. At 23 seconds I lift my head up and throw my arms back to symbolize

Rustin 7 success in completing a book. A major move in this dance that is a huge influence is on 49 seconds where I am kneeling but my finger movement symbolizes finger painting. Finger painting was considered a moment within because I remember finger painting and painting whatever I wanted to and this was fun to do. Also this gesture refers to my grandmother who is an artist who was also a big influence when it came to art. At the end of my finger painting gesture, I am pointing in a different direction to show I am moving on to a different stage in life. At 1:05 I decided to put steps in to show that I am moving up to high school at this point as a big stage in my life. During the time of 1:10-1:26, this part gets faster and I perform larger movements to show success and how the literacy that I learned during this time was more advanced and how I learned many types of literacy. This symbolizes types of literacy from dance, projects, papers, watching videos in class or reading documentaries. I purposely made this part chaotic to show that during this time I worked with literacy a lot more than any other time in my life. At 1:34 to the end of my dance I take steps away and I am backing up because I wanted to show that I am ready to move on from what I have learned in my previous years about literacy to something new and more exciting. The last turn at the end of the dance shows hope to learn something new with me walking out the door anxious to see what is in store during college and anxious to learn new literacy.