Original 1:

In many schools there are programs that help the students who need to catch up a little and learn what they need. The problem comes when these programs single out kids and make it known to everyone that the kids in it learn in a different way, or have trouble with small things. These programs that give students extra help, but not discretely, almost always end up with the student feeling like an outsider in their school, and with their friends. Alexander describes the idea of an outsider narrative as “Portrays self as an outsider in relation to something else in the story, such as literacy, pedagogy, other students, the school system, etc.” In this context an outsider is someone who writes about their literacy moment from the standing that they are different than everyone else, and specifically with this idea they were forced into being an outsider. In a literacy narrative I found by Madison Derosa she makes a point of explaining the specific program that she was put in for extra help called Title 1, and although helpful it led to her feeling like an outsider as Alexander describes above. She describes her first time in this program “All the title 1 kids all had the same paper books. Not a paperback either… They knew we weren’t as smart as them.” Alexander’s ideas of what an outsider narrative looks like helps to define what Madison felt being in this class. Although the class inevitably helped her, it made her feel lesser than her peers, and shunned by her school. In other words Alexander’s article helps to categorize Madison’s and helps to show what the full effect of this is as she shifts from a success story to a outsider. In the end this program, although in the end it helped her, forced her into a scenario where she was lesser than her peers, and more importantly to a young child, her friends.

Revised 1:

In many schools there are programs that help the students who need to catch up a little and learn what they need. The problem comes when these programs single out kids and make it known to everyone that the kids in it learn in a different way, or have trouble with small things. This separation leads some children on a very different path away from literacy when the real purpose is to help them get closer to it.These programs that give students extra help, but not discretely, almost always end up with the student feeling like an outsider in their school, and with their friends. Kara Poe Alexander describes the idea of an outsider narrative in her book Successes, Victims and Prodigies as “Portrays self as an outsider in relation to something else in the story, such as literacy, pedagogy, other students, the school system, etc” (615). In this context an outsider is someone who writes about their literacy moment from the standing that they are different than everyone else, and specifically with this idea they were forced into being an outsider. In a literacy narrative called Road to Failure written by Madison Derosa she makes a point of explaining the specific program that she was put in for extra help called Title 1, and although helpful it led to her feeling like an outsider as Alexander describes above. She describes her first time in this program “All the title 1 kids all had the same paper books. Not a paperback either… They knew we weren’t as smart as them” (Derosa). Alexander’s ideas of what an outsider narrative looks like helps to define what Madison felt being in this class. Although the class inevitably helped her, it made her feel lesser than her peers, and shunned by her school. In other words Alexander’s article helps to categorize Madison’s and helps to show what the full effect of this is as she shifts from a success story to a outsider. In the end this program, although it helped her, forced her into a scenario where she was lesser than her peers, and more importantly to a young child, her friends.

Original 2:

This instance shows a very different scenario, but with the same results. We start with a class for smarter people, with the unintentional limitation of students who aren’t at that level. Normally people in these classes would be described a s child prodigies, but not everyone belongs in these classes. Alexander’s article has section that describes child prodigy narratives, which is what direction you expect programs like this to do, but students don’t always belong in harder classes, and once again become outsiders. He states that “The child prodigy narrative, the fourth most common cultural narrative, promotes the idea that unless children are exposed to school literacy and learn these values at an early age, they will not be academically successful.” What is being said here is that if children of a young age do not become exposed to normal school they will not be academically successful, but the problem is that being a prodigy does not always lead to success, and many times it leads to being more of an outsider. An instance such as above occurred in Dustin Tripp’s life when he was forced into a higher level english class even though he struggled in the regular class. Most of his class was placed in the higher level so he was carried with them. He describes how the class progressed, “I would always be the last to finish reading assignments in class and I wouldn’t get as much out of the readings as the other kids. Eventually I began skimming the assigned texts instead of reading them in full, which led to my further disengagement from reading.” In other words Alexander’s description of child prodigy, although accurate, can actually be a limiter in people’s lives. The class that Dustin was placed in was created to reinforce ideas already known and to further children who loved English, but for someone like Dustin who already wasn’t good at English it reinforced his ideas of being against reading at all. For Dustin, like so many others, this class actually forced him further from literacy instead of towards it like it was meant to.

Revised 2:

Through another narrative a very different perspective was found, but with the same final results. This narrative describes a class for smarter students, that unintentionally limits students who aren’t at that level yet. Normally people in these classes would be described as child prodigies, but not everyone belongs in these classes. Alexander’s article has a section that describes child prodigy narratives, which is what direction you expect programs like this to do, but students don’t always belong in the harder classes, and when forced into them become outsiders. Alexander’s article states that “The child prodigy narrative, the fourth most common cultural narrative, promotes the idea that unless children are exposed to school literacy and learn these values at an early age, they will not be academically successful” (619). This describes the idea that if children of a young age do not become exposed to normal school they will not be academically successful, and a problem that arises is that being a prodigy does not always lead to success, and many times it leads to being more of an outsider. This instance occurred in Dustin Tripp’s life when he was forced into a higher level english class even though he struggled in the regular class. Most of his class was placed in the higher level so he was carried with them. He describes how the class progressed, “I would always be the last to finish reading assignments in class and I wouldn’t get as much out of the readings as the other kids. Eventually I began skimming the assigned texts instead of reading them in full, which led to my further disengagement from reading” (Tripp). In other words Alexander’s description of child prodigy, although accurate, can actually be a limiter in people’s lives. The class that Dustin was placed in was created to reinforce ideas already known and to further children who loved English, but for someone like Dustin who already wasn’t good at English it reinforced his ideas of being against reading at all. In this moment is easy to see once again the position these classes put children in, making not only the less smart kids, but also the prodigies feel separated from their peers.For Dustin, like so many others, this class actually forced him further from literacy instead of towards it like it was meant to.