The Way Literacy Lives:
5 November 2009
in the life of TAMU-Commerce’s 102 Honor’s English Students
Sometimes a disconnect exists between theory and application; however, Carter’s
The Way Literacy Lives is realized in her 102 English students’ compositions...
The Way Literacy
Tests, Chapter 1:
In this first chapter of
her book, The Way
Literacy Lives:
Rhetoric Dexterity
and Basic Writing
Instruction Carter
argues for the ineffectual and dysfunctional relation-
ship between standardized testing and improvement
of student writing. By disqualifying the unique and
diverse cultural literacies that students bring to class-
room, the institution affirms certain voices while
negating the already disadvantaged ones. Therefore,
“standardized tests of literacy must be understood as
not only inappropriate but largely unethical in that
they privilege particular contexts, identities, and
knowledge while marginalizing all others” (Carter
2). In her classes Carter empowers her students’
voices by encouraging them to record, observe and
analyze literacy practices in their own communities.
http://411i3.wordpress.com I think the WWII col-
lection would be really fascinating to learn more
about! I have always had an interests in wars and
those involved in them. Their stories fascinate me. To
1
relate this to Commerce maybe we could look at the
effect that the war had on Commerce and the com-
munity members (if anyone was drafted or anyone
had family involved in the war in any form or fash-
ion). In the earlier maps of our campus there aren’t
any residence halls from what I can tell, which goes
back to the idea that we were a commuter school.
Also back on the old campus’ there were a lot less
buildings, from this I infer two different things. One
is that there were much fewer students so there didn’t
need to be as many classrooms, and second is that
our educational fields were not as broad as they are
now.
“I argue that fostering in our stu-
dents an awareness of the ways in
which an autonomous model de-
constructs itself when applied to
real-life literacy contexts can em-
power them to work against this
system in ways critical theorists ad-
vocate” (Carter 2).
It is in the research and representation of multiple
literacies that Carter’s students are beginning to reify
their once constrained and muted voices.
Punting the “problematic representa-
tions of literacy” (12)
http://adavis22.wordpress.com
To this point our project is go-
ing as planned. Samantha and I
have visited our fieldsite sev-
eral times for participant obser-
vation and fieldnotes, and have gathered some great
information. This is a process that we will continue to
engage in until we are able to successfully answer our
research question with the best information possible.
In many of these visits we have been able to note sev-
eral different types of reoccurring themes. The one
theme that we have both noticed over and over again
is the way the players seem to interact together. They
have a certain sense about them, to be able to auto-
matically understand this idea of reading in the game.
It seems to us that no one on the team struggles with
the concept of reading what is going on. I am pointing
this out as a major reoccurring theme because it
seems to be this way every time that we have attended
our fieldsite. Another reoccurring theme that we no-
ticed had to do with Coach Walker. We noted that he
would read his players, and based off his analysis of
them he would make play calls and instructions. This
was a big thing for us to notice early because we have
been so caught up in the idea of players reading each
other that we never thought of coaches reading in the
game also. Both of these themes fit together in the
way of reading the game. No matter what is happen-
ing on the floor, the players are able to read it and
know what to do and now we see that the coach does
the same thing. The idea of coaches and players read-
ing in the game of basketball will give us two views
of this concept. Now that we understand these two
things and see their importance in this study, we will
be able to correctly interview both players and
coaches to fully understand each side of the spectrum.
That is how these themes are going to contribute to
the larger structure of our study. We are now going to
have two different sides to analyze and observe. With
two different views, we can ultimately understand the
reading concept better and present a much more edu-
cated and researched project.

In their words...
http://sunski17.wordpress.com
It is important to be a good lis-
tener to understand a situation
from another’s perspective and/or
world view. We mustn’t form hy-
potheses or ‘hunches’ about peo-
ple, lest our research becomes
skewed. Our attentions must al-
ways be focused on gathering data
on the people and locations of our
culture of study. Questions should
be asked not only of a person’s
background, but also of their
thoughts and reactions to certain
events. We should note the ways in
which they represent themselves,
and the artifacts and adornments
of their surroundings...Also, within
a given culture, there are different
forms of literacy associated with
different domains of life such as
home, school, and workplace.
When placed into their respective
domains, these literacies are much
simpler to analyze. Similarities
and patterns between specific
practices are easier to locate when
they are placed within a structured
domain. It was fascinating to dis-
cover that the acts of reading and
writing are not the only ways in
which texts are assigned meaning,
and that people use literacy to
make changes in their lives. That
causes me to broaden my perspec-
tive of literacy, and will hopefully
serve to benefit my studies in the
future.
“I am interested in the
way literacy education
functions...but I under-
stand the limits of my
own power to effect
change” (Carter 5).
As demonstrated in these student
examples, Carter is exacting the
change that she advocates in the
way her students are writing The
Way Literacy Lives.