me = bucket of information

Lastly in my literacy conception model, is myself...which is the culmination of all other parts that have passed down information to me, decided which messages were worthy of sending, which texts or ideas to enforce, which ones to distract me with, persuade me to think a certain way, think of a certain discourse as more superior than others, pushing and pushing and pushing their influence upon me. This type of pressure and so-called 'guidance' by all other parts of my literacy model, reflect the influences that have created the person I am. Ideally, one would like to develop into their own being without the persuasion of other people's ideas...but is this ideal really reality? Our culture teaches us to become individuals, and think for oneself...but the system does not stand by its own preaching, the system is telling members to become an individual, that does/acts certain ways, one of which is being an individual thinker. Although this may seem empowering, it also is very restricting for a growing mind. How can one become everything society idolizes as an individual, while struggling to conform to the system's term of being an individual?

4= Family

I think the most fundamental and meaningful influence of literacy comes from one's connection with their family. My parents were the first people to ever speak with me, teach me words, how to form sentences, to read me stories at bedtime, and look over my first homework assignments. My mom and dad have been the most influential sources of literacy in my life, and still continue to be. In some of the discussions we've had in class, we've talked about learning literacy in order to fit into the larger picture of society that surrounds us. And in a way, that's exactly what I'm doing when I'm learning literacy with in my family. I want to be considered equally as literate as my other family members, because I want to be able to participant and partake in all the same things that they do in their daily lives. I know that I still have a strong desire to please my parents and to do things that validate the ways they are proud of me. In this sense, I'm still both living up to societal expectations of what a literate individual means, but also doubling that expectation up with ones that my family provides for me, which in many cases is more important. It's quite sad to think of families where children are not properly cared for and loved when they were younger, whether that means they were read to or taught one-on-one, or neglected by a certain parent because of other circumstances. In these cases, it becomes imperative that a teacher can spend extra time with these children, because these are the important few that are more likely to struggle with literacy. Most of this is rambling on about the importance of family in literacy education, but in the same sense, it inadvertently addresses the flip-side where children grow up in homes that lack any educational help or assistance. In congruence with my research on prison literacy, I have to wonder if there is a connection between children who are taught minimal literacy at a young age and the number criminals in prison, struggling to become literate. One would have to assume there would be some sort of link between the two, although not causal, just relational.