August 31, 2011: Sponsors of Literacy Deborah Brandt describes sponsors of literacy as people and ideologies that shape

our literary experiences. Everyone has their own unique personal sponsors (such as a parent or sibling), as well as sponsors they share with many others (governments, educational systems, religions, etc.) My Sponsors of Literacy: Family Friends Teachers Government Education Programs Academic Programs (English department, math department, engineering department) Religion Media (television networks, internet sites, news/current events/popular culture)

October 26, 2011: Hashing Out My Proposal What exactly is my purpose/goal? Id like to research what people do to get started writing a paper. Im interested in anything people do before they start to seriously write (where do people get their inspiration, how do they organize their ideas and decide what information to pursue, do they actually brainstorm the way they were taught, does technology influence the process?) How can I go about this? Interviews- the most obvious and direct route is to get the info straight from the source. Things to consider: who do I want to interview (undergrads, grad students, high schoolers, professionals), what kind of question do I ask, what kind of instruction will I need to use the proper technology? DALN- I assume many people who write literacy narratives will mention the formation of their writing process Sifting through them might unearth some useful info and diversify my sources. Scholarly articles- there are many articles out there about how people are taught to start the writing process AND how writers actually do get started (there are several in WaW). Blogs/Informal Internet sources- people write, and they write about writing. Do people use blogs to thrash out ideas and get feedback?

How to present my info? Video footage/Audio recordings- interviews, DALN audio, screen shots of blogs/websites? Physical models: do people generate anything tangible?

November 4, 2011: Reflection on Journaling In this section of my journal, I tried to improve a few things. Commitment: I learned my lesson last time about putting off journaling. I kept up much better this time. Engagement: I tried to use my journal to work through issues with assignments or class materials, in addition to summarizing class material and discussion. This way, I dont only remember what we talked about, but also how it influenced my work and what I thought it would help with in the future. Ambition: Not only did I use my journal to work through the assignments, I went back to my earlier entries while working on my assignments. Also, though I didnt include it in my journal entries, Ive used the journaling technique in another class. I used the gathering building a mystery approach while forming an idea for ENGL 275, and started chronicling my research in a journal. Journaling has really helped me apply class material and discussion to the assignments, especially Building a Mystery.