Literacy Essay Final Draft

Writing has never been my best subject in school. I have a love/hate relationship with reading

and writing. When reading the Brandt Article, I realize that life is full of sponsors. My first

sponsor was my mother. Every night my mother would sit me down and read a short picture

book to me. Her language and tone of voice, shaped the way I interact with other people. She

exposed me to the world of literacy, even if the literature was Dr. Seus. This showed me that my

first, and most important sponsor of my life, was my mother. On the other hand, Malcolm X was

a man that taught himself how to read by copying down the whole dictionary. His primary

sponsor was Elijah Muhammad, the founder of Islam, because he inspired him to learn how to

read and express his ideals in the world. This shows that Elijah Muhammad had a lasting impact

on Malcolm X, like my mother did on me. My mother also introduced me to the world of math

which lead to her inspiring me to pursue a career in mathematics. With the sponsorship of my

mother and my exposure to the building process of bridges in high school, I am now pursuing a

career in the engineering world.

Learning the language of mathematics was almost like learning a completely new language.

Like any language, I started off with the basics of adding and subtracting. This could compare to

the little picture books my mother used to read to me. It was simple, but the ability to open up

my mind and learn the basics was the part that I struggled with. I had to become literate in the

mathematical world, like I became literate in the language world. With these baby steps, my

sponsors, like Deborah Brandt mentioned in her article, influenced me to use the ideals they

taught me in the real world. These mentors were my teachers from every grade level. They

expected me to become a sponge and soak up all the information I could to become literate in

this foreign language of mathematics. Every year the challenge became greater. Every year I

was expected to learn and grow more than I had ever thought was possible. I could compare my
studies to Malcolm X because I had to work at the skills to become proficient. Malcolm did not

just pick up a book one day, and automatically learn how to interpret the words. He devoted

himself to opening his mind, to expand his thinking to his greatest potential. Mathematics did not

just appear in my brain over night. It took me thirteen years of schooling to be at the level I am

at today. These years were consisted of new ideas and topics that I may or may not have

understood right away. This shows proficiency can be accomplished with the help of sponsors

and devotion of time. Malcolm devoted his entire jail sentence becoming literate with the help of

Elijah Muhammad. I spent thirteen years of school becoming literate in mathematics with the

help of my devoted teachers.