Wardle Reading

Summary
Elizabeth Wardle writes this article because she is interested in how adults (moving from one discourse community, to another) learn how to read and write. She argues that learning to write ub fba dir bew situations and workplaces is complex in ways that go far beyond texts and cognitive abilities. She does so in two ways. First, she starts by outlining theories of identity and authority. In this illustration, she focuses on two different types of people. Compositionists: who focus on cultural-historical acitivy theory, and sociologists: who study apprenticeship. Second, she illustrates some of the difficulties inherent in writing and identity formation by telling the story of one new worker who struggles with written conventions and codes largesly because of issues of identity and authority. In this paggage, Wardle uses a very relaxed writing tone, she said that using an academic voice could impair her message and derive from the focus of the points.

Questions for Discussion 3-7
3. I believe that there was not a positive result, because in this example the costs outweighed the benefits, atleast in the eyes of those involved- and thus it was not worth the effort. His conflicts could have been handled better if he could have focused on the end result, and put in the work and the effort necessary to reach said goals.
4. I do agree that it is possible. That is the hard thing with written communication, the perception is not always the intended perception. I'm sure there are writers out there who use language with intention, infact- I'm sure all writers somehow use all language with intention- because that is it's purpose. However, how it is translated by the reader, is not always how it was meant to be translated. Thus, writers sometimes need to be extra clear in their writing, while trying to take risks with their word choices.
5. I agree more with Gee, because I believe this is how innovation occurs, and epiphanies happen. People enter into a situation with a fresh outlook and say "this could be better" or "something is wrong here" and they educate people on their opinions and their views, and they rally to make a change. If people entered every situation close minded, there would be no progress made in the world. For example, if I walked into my dorm hall when I first moved in in August and said "this looks nothing like my room at home, I cant live here." I would never get anywhere in life. It is okay to take your past discourse communities and what you have learned about through them, to new discourse communities, however, it is vital to keep an open mind and a clear conscience.
6. I would agree in the sense that this is a positive title as a "tool". Everyone is a tool. As long as they are contributing something to their discourse communities and helping fellow DC members along- they are helpful, and resourceful, and productive- then yes, they are tools.
7. Yes. I can think of a very specific instance. And I feel bad because Mr. Whicker will probably read this and possibly be offended. I apologize in advance. During like week 3 or so, we were getting ready to turn in our first paper, and Mr. Whicker was writing on the board ways that we could edit our own papers for fluency and he wrote on the board "read your own papers allowed" I almost fell out of my chair. I am an Engligh/Math middle childhood major and I had just made my 5th grade lesson plans for homophones. Which are words that sound alike, but are spelled different. In my lesson plans, I had made a worksheet and one of the questions was asking the student to write a sentence with the correct usage of aloud/allowed. He would have gotten that quesiton wrong. I'm sorry Mr. Whicker. But on the bright side, atleast you know I'm paying attention and reading everything you write on the board! Please don't fail me.

Applying & Exploring Ideas
To have authority over texts, to me, is defined by reading a text and not learning anything new. For example, if you were at OU on a soccer scholarship, being assigned a text about basic soccer regulations- and not learning anything from it because you already know all of the reguations. However, I do not believe it is completely possible to have authority over a discourse community. It is impossible to be certain that there is absolutely nothing you can learn, or no new views you can take from the people you are in the discourse community with. You never quite know when a fresh idea or outlook is going to come to the surface and make you change your opinions/gain a new viewpoint. I would say that I have authority of knowledge over the kids I teach swimming lessons to. Not only did I pass all of the levels when I was little, but when I turned 16 I went on to training on how to teach what I had already learned. However, every once and a while a little kid will come along that has a freshout look on how a stroke works, or a really unique way of thinking about a swimming concept, and it completely blows me away. It's not that they are a better swimmer than I am, they are simply thinking about how I explain something, and putting it into terms that they would better understand. For example, when I teach butterfly kick, I tell the girls to pretend that they are mermaids, and the boys to pretend that they are sharks. And one day a few summers ago a little boy said "do you mean we have to do the worm in the water?" and I was really confused, so he got out of the poool and he did the worm dance on the pool deck. It was exactly what I wanted them to envision, and then some. Even though I was the instructor, he was able to teach me new insight on something I had been doing for years. Proving to me, that I cannot have complete knowledge authority over that discourse because I had been taught something new.

My Own Thoughts
I really liked how this author kind of went off of Gee's article, yet made it more modern and understandable. Plus, I think it is a really relevant and important question to ask. Because when I think about discourse communities, I think about professionals. And really really smart old men in lab coats. But at one point, several hundred years ago, those really old men were first year undergrad students just like me. And I think it is interesting how they learn their discourse community, and how they learn how to fit in within that community. When I think about learning to read and write, I think about a kindergarten classroom, not a grad student. It definitely brought a new perspective on how I think about learning to read and write, and how it can literally happen at any age. It just depends on what you're learning to read and write.