We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together.
Forerunners
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”
-Socrates
I wish I could say that the genesis of my awareness of literacy began at an early age with constant reading that was encouraged by my parents, but it did not. Reading never really interested in me and writing was equally unenticing. I am easily distracted. It takes a bright light to keep me awake, so to speak. But it is because I am aware of this characteristic that I have formed a fervent search to remain captivated- in everything. I find that search in the words and wisdom of the people who are both willing and wanting to give them. Brandt calls these people “sponsors”, but that is a title that I feel is insufficient, for it degrades the gravity of the affect they have upon their “sponsored.” These people expand your mind, altering your thoughts- thoughts that go into the decisions that will inevitably define you. This process is not in comparison to the relation between a company and their logo upon a Little Leaguer’s baseball jersey but rather the spark that creates a conflagration.
For me, these have always been teachers and they have been both cognizant and innovative in the ideological burden they place upon me. I have not felt this burden through the impersonal level of a massive lecture hall or through an automated computer recording, but through a personal one.
The relation between the people that Brandt calls “sponsors” and those that they underwrite to is a symbiotic one. We must recognize that our wanting of it, our need to examine and be captivated with the unexamined, has formed our literacy.
Therefore, as future teachers we must realize that our most important asset must be our ability to be approachable and munificent with our wisdom and ideals so we can be the forerunners or “sponors” of literacy in others.
Brandt’s article on literacy is as comprehensive as the idea itself. There were many themes and concepts one could pull from it, and what I got is that everyone has their own interpretations and methods of what we read and write, and they are formed as most things in life are: by the people who took the time to do so. Thus our literacy is malleable and must remain as such as we go through life, encountering more and more aspiring sponsors.
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4 Replies to “Forerunners”
Cannot agree more with “Therefore, as future teachers we must realize that our most important asset must be our ability to be approachable and munificent with our wisdom and ideals so we can be the forerunners or “sponors” of literacy in others.”
That phrase alone shows that you understand the importance of relatability and the teacher-student relationship.
“Brandt calls these people “sponsors”, but that is a title that I feel is insufficient, for it degrades the gravity of the affect they have upon their “sponsored.””
I wrote about something similar, the idea that what I’m going to do and be as an English teacher who will absolutely want to recommend books and be a leader in conversations on books will be a sponsor one day. The implications and responsibility of that stuns me, and I hope I do well with it. The last thing I’d want to do is discourage someone from reading, or make them feel as if what they like isn’t okay, or what they think.
Thanks for this.
I liked your language usage and ideals of a good teacher
I like this post a lot because I grew in a similar way. My parents were not sponsors to my literacies, instead my interests were. I agree that sponsors are very important because they have the potential to heavily influence a young mind or even another adult in a positive or negative way.