Isela Pena

Professor Vanessa Doutherd

English 5M
11 December 2017
The Important Unit

According to Elizabeth Wardle and Doung Downs, the text Writing about Writing
which is used for this course, ...asks students to work from their own experience to consider
how writing works, who they are as writers, and how they use (and dont use) writing. (Downs
and Wardle v). An outsider considering the readings from this course would learn about
themselves as a writer and how their backgrounds have an effect on their literacy. Likewise,
readings from this course also offer skills students can learn and then transfer to their own
writings. (Downs and Wardle v-vi). Although it is important to understand how a person's
background and community shapes their literacy, it is more important to consider the types of
readings that provide writing skills. For this reason, units within this class What Counts as
Good Writing and Understanding and Applying Rhetoric are more important than What
Contributes to My History as a Reader and Writer?
The readings within the unit What Contributes to My History as a Reader and
Writer?only demonstrates who are peoples sponsors and how their literacy is affected by their
background. For example, Deborah Brant who is an author from this unit describes the role the
community plays in a person's literacy. Similarly, Gloria Anzaldua who is the other author from
this unit only demonstrates how one's ethnicity/background affects one's literacy. Although this
unit makes readers realize this, it is not something very important students should consider. The
information within this unit only makes readers think about their own background, but does not
provide them with information they can transfer to future clases. In other words, the readings
from this unit only allows students to see examples of how multilingual persons struggle because
of their community and background but doesn't teach students anything new. It lacks providing
skills or information students can then use for future classes. Since this unit only provides
background information, it is not important to consider it because it will not help students
become better writers.
The first unit in this course from Writing about Writing is What Contributes to My
History as a Reader and Writer?, and discusses the importance and role a community has on a
persons literacy. According to Deborah Brant who is an author within this unit, she states that
sponsors can be older relatives, teacher, priests, supervisors, military officers, editors, or
influential authors. (Brant 47) Furthermore, Brant states that some literacy sponsors [can be]
organizations or institutions, like a public system or a major corporation, whose sponsorship
affects large numbers of people. (Brant 44) This demonstrates how these sponsors are part of a
community who can make a difference in a person's literacy. Therefore, this unit is important for
students to consider because it allows them to be aware of who the sponsors are especially
because they may become sponsors to others as well.
 For example, it might be important for students considering becoming a teacher to
understand how their role as a teacher can impact students lives. If future teachers know the
importance of sponsorship in a person's literacy, it will motivate them to become better sponsors.
In addition, although this reading shows the importance of communities sponsorship and its
effect on student literacy; (Brant 52) it does not help students taking the course develop their
own literacy. Looking at this reading from the first unit, it is seen how students are only given
information about who their sponsors are. No information here helps students improve their own
literacy or gives advice on how to become a better writer. That being said within this reading
students only learn about sponsorship and how their sponsors have affected them with reading
and writings. It is only information about their past of who influence their literacy; however,
knowing this information will not help them become better readers or writers.
In addition, this unit allows students to see how a person's background affects people's
literacy. Brant states that poor people and those from low-case racial groups have less
consistent, less politically secured access to literacy sponsors (Brant 49) Brant tries to point
out how people who are minorities or poor are put at a disadvantage. This is shown by
comparing two people where one was a minority and the other was not. Brant demonstrates how
a multilingual person has to work harder in order to get literate. Another important reading from
this unit that shows this is How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Anzaldua Gloria. Anzaldua states
that being Chicana sometimes makes people feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. (Anzaldua 58)
The author also stated, that speaking her native language would get her in trouble and would
often be judged. It is important for students to see how a person's background affects the way
people are viewed. Being chicana affected the authors literacy because she had to adapt to other
writing expectations. Since the course focuses on ML students it's important for students
considering this course to see examples/stories of other ML students and their struggles.
On the other hand, reading Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott is one of the most
important readings from the second unit What Counts as Good Writing? that students
considering this class should read. In this article, Lamott makes readers realize how all writers
struggle with writing. The author shares a writing process after writing a shitty first draft such as
... sit[ting] down, go[ing] through it all with a colored pen, tak[ing] out everything [she]
possibly could, find a new lead somewhere on the second page, figure out a kicky place to end it,
and then write a second draft.(Lamott 530) Reading this article allows reader to see how writing
a shity first draft is not bad after all. Many students struggle when writing and tend to writes a
shitty first draft; however, Lamott demonstrates how no matter how long and bad peoples first
draft may seem, they can always go back and do all the things mentioned above. Lamott
demonstrates the process of what doing a good writing is like such as 1. Doing a shitty draft, 2.
Fixing the first shitty draft and finally 3. The final draft where people fix the last errors. This
writing method is important advice students should consider because it something they can
actually use and will help them for future writings in any course. This type of information is not
seen in the first unit, and is the reason why this unit will be more useful and important for
students to consider.
 Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitive Analysis of
Writers Block by Mike Rose is another important reading from the unit What Counts as Good
Writing? that students should consider. This reading changes students perspective on writing
rules; in fact, Rose discusses that having less rigid rules can be better. Rose states that student
experience writer's block because they are trying to stick to the writing rules that ultimately
affect their writings instead of helping. (Rose 534) This shows that people who experience
writer's block usually tend to use writing rules. Seeing how writing rules affect people's writings
will allow students to move away from the rules, realize that the writing rules they learn are not
always very useful, and can even have a negative affect when writing.
With the readings mentioned above, students should be able to see how these units
provide readers with many writing skills that they can take and transfer to their own work.
Therefore, these units are more important because it allows student to learn many writings skills
unlike the first unit What Contributes to My History as a Reader and Writer?, that only
provides readers with information about their history of becoming literate. Therefore, this unit is
more important for students to consider because unlike the first unit, these units actually provide
student with many writing skills that will help them become better writers, and is something they
can always use. As a student, it is more important to consider units that will teach a lesson or
skill. Getting this information from these units is something students will actually consider and
will help them with many classes.
In conclusion, unit What Contributes to My History as a Reader and Writer? has two
reading that do not benefit readers who are considering taking this course. The readings
Sponsors of Literacy and How to tame a Wild Tongue discusses only how a person's
background and community shapes their literacy. Although it is good to know this information,
these readings are not as important because it doesn't teach writing skills student can then
transfer to their own writings. In contrast, units What Counts as Good Writing and
Understanding and Applying Rhetoric has many reading that would greatly benefit a student
considering this course. The readings from these units provides readers with writing skills and
things writers should do to create successful writings.This course requires a lot of writing
assignments; therefore, it is important for students to consider readings that teaches writing skills
rather than general information. Reading these assignments will not only benefit students for this
class but others as well. The readings from these units offer many writing skills that can be
transferred into their own writings for this and other classes as well. These reading will have a
long term effect and could benefit students writings unlike the reading from the first unit.

Work Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.
San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987. 53-64.
Brandt, Deborah. Sponsors of Literacy. College Composition and Communication 49.2 (1998):
165-185. Print.

Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New
York: Anchor, 1994. 21-27. Print.

Rose, Mike. Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitive Analysis
of Writers Block. College Composition and Communication 31.4 (1980): 389-401.
Print.

Wardle, Elizabeth, and Douglas Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. 2nd ed.,
Macmillan Higher Education, 2014.