Hannah:

In this narrative, there is an example of shifting identities and forming one for a teacher. Williams states, “it is also intriguing to consider the identities students construct for teachers in such narratives”(344). She goes on to explain how they can be positive, negative or anything in between. Hannah begins by portraying her teacher as mean because she didn’t think her paper was as great as Hannah thought it was. But then in the next paragraph she says, “Teachers are always hard on students, no matter what we do or how we act. They constantly push us to achieve more”(3). Hannah is trying to look at the bright side and understand where her teacher is coming from. She switches the identity she first gave the teacher and tried to analyze the intentions more than letting her emotions judge the teacher.

Sam:

In Sam’s narrative, the types of sponsorship that Brandt talks about are very visible.  As he talks about his second-grade teacher, he speaks kindly about her and very positively. Sam states, “there was something with her patience and encouragement that made me feel that with her help, I could get a hang of this” (2). She was a positive influence on him as a kid and encouraged him to learn the new skill of writing. Brandt describes a sponsor as, “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy-and gain advantage of it in some way”(556). Sam’s second-grade teacher is an example of a positive sponsor, who is supporting and teaching him. Later in his narrative, he wrote about his highschool teachers that helo him back, forcing him to write about things he didn’t want to. Thus making him lose his passion for writing that his secodn grade teacher helped him find.

Kayla:

In Kayla’s narrative, she clearly, very strongly, portrays the teacher with a very negative, harsh identity. As Williams states regarding students giving identities to teachers, “these cover a great range and include heroes, martinets, nurturers, and buffoons-to name only a few”(344).  Teachers have a great impact on students, and may not even realize this. Kayla describes how he was mean and that “the worst part about it all is that he hated his job, which was obvious. Her narrative clearly illustrates how much of an impact a teacher can have on a student and her identifying that proves Alexanders point in her article.

Blake:

In Alexanders article, she writes about the different types of little literacy narratives that students write about. One of the less popular ones was the outsider narrative. She described this as “students constructed themselves as a stranger in a foreign land. In Blakes narrative, he felt as if he was being left out, not understanding why he couldn’t just rush through his work. His teacher was checking everyone work, offering help to them but when it came to his he wrote, “once she read mine, she smiled and told me I should reread my essay because I was missing something”(1).  She made him stay in for recess as well until he figured it out. This made Blake feel like an outsider because she offered everyone help but him, and he didnt’t understand why.