Emily Arvanitis ENGL 1101 August 28, 2012

Project #1: Multi-Modal Literacy Narrative Part 2: Cultural Domain Analysis Instructions (Part 1 Domain Analysis Chart): When introducing the Multi-Modal Literacy Narrative project, we established that your mind is influenced by different cultural/social systems that work both separately and together to shape your ideas, beliefs, and practices as a reader and writer. To analyze these systems, your first task is to complete the domain analysis chart in which you must reflect on each of the four domains listed below and identify as many practices, ideas/values/beliefs, objects, or significant details from each cultural/social system that you think has influenced your literacy and composition skills.

Home Mom, dad, brother, grandparents Money never mattered Mom went to college, dad didnt, brother didnt Always ate dinner together Mom works in an office, dad works for himself Always been taught to do my best Never severely punished Very open with each other Never talked about politics Watch movies together all the time Every conversation ends in a laugh Dad struggled to be serious unless he felt strongly about something Mom overcame cancer Arguing about stupid things between my parents and my brother became very frequent I never knew what to do besides leave when I was uncomfortable or upset My parents always supported whatever I wanted to do with myself I always had the upper hand because my brother slacked a lot Parents encouraged travelling and seeing the world as much as I can Heavily involved in volunteer work and mission trips Always taught to stick to my morals and think about my family first My brother and I most always got along Everyone was always there for each other

Work First job was at the grocery store Became the front end assistant after being there only 6 months Been babysitting since I was 12 Worked at an office building- hated it The people I worked with we unprofessional and weird Working at a professional business made me mature more Realized I never want to work in an office or a grocery store

 Being yourself was always the most important thing Went to church every Sunday School Went to preschool at my high school Took naps and read picture books Attended public school for all 12 years Went to school with the same kids for 12 years My graduating class is very closewere all good friends Always hated math class Favorite teachers- 3rd Grade, Miss Benvenga and 9th, 10th, and 12th Grade, Ms. Bellavia Most always had a say in the choice of books we read in English class In elementary school most writing was about things I liked and cats and such In high school writing was always about who I am and who I becoming 8th grade field trip to Pennsylvania- got lost going to Gettysburg so we went to Hershey Park High school tried to get into social networking for school events- didnt work well Skipping school was never a big deal Introduced to MLA format in 8th gradehated it then and I hate it now Capstone project my senior year of high school was the most useless thing Ive ever done

Neighborhood / Community / Peers Lived in a very close community 15 minutes outside the city Always took the train in town to hang out and such Always had parties at my house Known my best friends for 18 yearsour parents are best friends and theyre my neighbors There are always kids at my house We always watch movies and rap Met my other best friends at church Everyone knows everything about everyone No matter where you go you see someone you know Not very many cliques but everyone had their close group of friends Lived in the same town for 16 years Lived in Lowell for the first 3 years of my life- dont remember that Everyone played soccer for most of their lives Always went camping with the families of my neighborhood Everyone had big slumber parties in the summer

Instructions (Part 2 Domain Analysis Narrative): Now that you have completed the chart and generated some ideas about the cultural/social systems you engage with, it is time to flesh out those ideas, and analyze/explain how you think each domain has influenced your literacy and composition. For each of the systems listed below, write between 75 and 100 words to explain the major details of each cultural/social system and how the qualities of each system have influenced your literacy and composition (this means you will compose four short analyses total). You may complete your essays below. Simply type your essay next to each of the headers.

1. Home: Coming from a home where I was always taught to express my feelings however I want, it has greatly impacted my literacy and composition. My parents, or any of my family, have used big words, so when I say things I say them pretty

simplistically and, when they need to be, straightforward. My parents always read books with me as a little kid so Ive been reading and listening from a young age. When I used to bring home essays from school my parents would then encourage me to write outside of school and just write how I felt. They always had my back and would edit my work and suggested, as I got older to start a blog. My family always supports my writing, but they arent afraid to tell me if they dont like something or it doesnt make sense. Every Sunday I would go to church with my parents and surprisingly enough, that influenced my writing. After church I would be left with questions about how God influences my life and such and I would always write them down and leave them unanswered. I wasnt unhappy that they werent answered though because it always gave me something to think about when I looked back. In a lot of my writing I also used simple words because thats what I grew up around. It never bothered me until I grew up a little and people started using words I didnt know, but I still mostly use small words.

2. Work: Working in a grocery store I didnt do much writing, and when I did, it wasnt about anything interesting. At my office job I had to write up receipts and invoices and things like that. That was also uninteresting. But, I will say that both jobs made me realize how other people view my work and how I do things. I did write about that. I used to always write about how much I hate my jobs and how I will never have a job in a grocery store. Both jobs opened my eyes to how others view the world and view certain things and depending on the subject, it would kind of sway my opinion or direction with something. 3. School: Elementary school is when I began to be a good writer and when my writing began to make sense. I was in a few poetry shows and won the 5th grade spelling bee. Coming from public schools we never read anything too fancy or too challenging, which Im not mad about. Im not very good at reading but I do like to read so a few teachers helped me out with that. In the 3rd grade my teacher was Ms. Benvenga and she was the coolest woman I knew. She was young and fun and always brought us presents because she loved my class so much. I hated to write in the 3rd grade cause the rest of my friends did but she always pushed all of us to write as much as we could about anything. Sometimes I still read my 3rd grade journal and giggle at the things I thought were cool back in the day. My 8th grade year I became very close with my brothers freshman English teacher and then she was my teacher for a few years. To this day were really good friends- she always encouraged me to read more and keep writing because she knows it may take me somewhere. In high school, the Wilmington High class of 2012 was very close knit and we were all good friends. Because of this we all influenced each others and it made my writing become a little more diverse. Sometimes I would write goofy little rap songs and sometimes I would write about how crazy my friends are for getting mad at each other for writing raps about one another. 4. Neighborhood / Community / Peers: When my best friends and I were young we would make movies and be silly, but I would always be the one writing the script and telling everyone what to do. In my community we have an

elementary and middle school poetry contest, which I was in six times. Many of my peers read my blog and laugh because they know how I write is how I speak. My community and friends have always had some interest in writing that is another reason I continued to write. No one ever really put pressure on me or my friends to write- from my community- but when something good was produced, everyone knew about it. That was such a great feeling.