Literacy Project Defense Essay

7/31/2019 Literacy Project Defense Essay

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Joshua Schlude

Oct 10 2012

English 1101

Anthony Borrero

My Automotive Literacy Account

There are many forms of genre, literacy, and ways of portraying them in a meaningful

way, but the one way that is the most meaningful to me, and will continue being the most

meaningful to me is through cars. Cars have shaped the world around me ever since I set foot

into the auto-shop at Enloe high school four years ago. They have allowed the way I think to

change into a more mechanical understanding of everything, and they have allowed me to

understand how everything works in a way that makes sense, and it has also allowed me to

compare all of my experiences and things that happen into a way that makes sense to me. All

of my experiences with cars have been learning, from talking with customer, to dealing with

them; and also talking to the cars and learning how to decipher what they are telling me and

how I have to communicate back to them so that they are back to the way that they should be.

I picked the genre of a diagram/visual poster of the different systems of a car, to compare to

all the different parts of writing, and to my literacy experiences. Also, I picked this genre,

because cars mean a lot to me. Cars have been, and will be a major part of my life, and it will

be the setting of where I use most of my literacy knowledge in the future. This is true

because my goal in going to college is to obtain a degree in business management or

entrepreneurship so that I can open my own garage one day. Also, I picked this genre


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because the mechanics and how all of the parts move and function make sense to me. Since I

completely understand the mechanical concepts and natures of a car, if I am confused about

something, I can compare it to a part on a car and usually the comparison or metaphor makes

much more sense to me than the original concept I was comparing in the first place. For

example, if I am confused on why part of a radio doesnt work, I can use my experience

fixing cars and work my way through the electronics isolating where the problem is and

hopefully being able to fix it. Finally, the biggest part of why I picked this genre is that it

relates to most of my literacy experiences and that it has been the basis for my development

of my communication, how I view other genres and my experiences with literacy.

I have had countless experiences with cars and their concepts and systems. My basis with the

genre started in high school when I took the first automotive technology course where I

learned the basic concepts, and where I also learned I loved to work with my hands and that I

really understood the mechanical concepts that are present. During the second and third year

of automotive technology, I further refined my knowledge to where I understand most of

everything on a car, which created the foundation of knowledge that I needed to get a job in

the automotive industry at zippy lube. During the year and a half that I worked at zippy lube I

took all concepts I knew about cars and put them into action incorporating them with

customer service and real world situations. With where I worked, I had to change my diction

based on the situation I was in and the person I was talking to, for example, with two of my

co-workers, I could talk about cars in an in-depth manner and name parts using their name

instead of describing them by what they do, which is what I used with most customers

because not very many people know too much about cars and how they work. Also, I had to

use different diction with customers and one of my co-workers who were not very educated,


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and didnt have very good diction or only had a basic understanding of language. Finally, I

have had the experience of communicating with cars with my hands and talking with them by

fixing things, replacing parts, and performing services. Whether or not the service was

helpful, the car communicated back through a check engine light, computer code, noise, or

how it performed. With the way I currently view things, I can compare all of my experiences

to a car, with the foundations of what I know, to the refined details that are not so easy to see.

This genre has taught me much about reading and writing. For example, it has taught me lots

about how to take signals and context clues and form a general idea about whats going on or

what is being portrayed in a situation. It has taught me a lot about writing, because at my job

I had to write comments about a customers vehicle for the customers and our records, and I

had to put it in a way that concisely fit the entire situation, but was not in any way offensive,

unclear, and incomplete. Throughout automotive technology at school, I learned how to read

diagrams and step by step instructions through a program called all-data, which gave the user

a diagram and print out of how to perform a service on any vehicle; and it took a while to

learn how to adjust to it and learn how to effectively, and accurately gather the information I

needed from the text.

The lessons I have learned from this genre have greatly impacted how I engage and evaluate

other forms of literacy. When I first started working on vehicle diagnostic in auto shop my

views changed completely because I learned how to read for the information that I needed,

and I got to the point where I could skim over an article, and know I could skip the first

couple of steps because I had a good understanding of how to take things apart, and how to

take them apart the right way, just like when a writer gets really good at writing, pre-writing

is not always necessary to write a paper, article, or any text. This has been really helpful with


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reading textbooks in college, because I can easily skim over the section and read key parts

that I think have significant value compared to all of the other parts. Furthermore, I can cater

how I talk, and choose my diction while writing based on who I am talking to, and how much

education and understanding they have. Furthermore, my experiences with cars and the

automotive industry have impacted my views on how I engage with talking to people, telling

them the complete situation explained to the best of my ability, and taking what they say as

constructive criticism, instead of having it become a personal matter. Finally, having a job in

the automotive industry has helped me use synonyms more often, and it has helped me refine

my methods of being descriptive.

I chose to draw different systems of a car, and relate them to my literacy experiences and

things that have to do with literacy. First, the car in the middle of the poster represents my

literacy experience as a whole. It represents all of the different things coming together to

form a whole, all of my sponsors, experiences, and knowledge.

The sponsors on the side of the car (hart, Manley, K&N, and e3) represent the book all quiet

on the western front, my parents, my tenth grade English teacher, and Enloe high school. All

Quiet on the Western Front is one of my sponsors because it was the last book that I read

cover to cover. It was a book we read for sophomore English, and I really liked it because

when I read it Remarque wrote the book in a way where I almost felt like I was watching a

movie about what he was writing, and this relates to the car and my literacy experiences with

cars, because it was almost like I was reading repair instructions, which make much more

sense to me than anything else. This compares to the sponsor Hart, an aftermarket racing

wheel company, because the wheels are a part of the car that dont have to be nice, but they

look really well and add a subtle addition to the car as a whole; and although reading All


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Quiet on the Western Front was not necessary, it has been a nice, positive sponsor that has

subtly kept me interested in books and reading. There are many options from one to choose

from when purchasing wheels for a car, just like there are many genres and types of books.

My parents have always been strong influences and sponsors throughout my literacy

experience, and provided a strong, productive foundation. They compare to the second

sponsor Manley, because Manley produces forged connecting rods and pistons (the part in

the engine connecting the piston to crankshaft, in the top left corner the piston is the thing

that is going up and down through the four strokes) and forged pistons allow the engine to

cycle faster, because they are lighter, yet stronger than factory parts. This is like what my

parents have done, because without the pistons and connecting rods, there would be nothing

to propel the car forward, and it would be incomplete and not functional. My parents have

created a strong foundation for me because they have always tried to push me to do more.

They started reading all of the Harry Potter books to me when I was a kid so that I would

learn that there is a whole new world to books, and that all I have to do is open the book to

open the door. Also, they have helped provide me by always encouraging me to do better, for

example, they always helped me on my homework when I had trouble, and they also tried to

use bigger and bigger words when I grew up so that I would ask questions and learn the

meaning of the new word; and they have always tried to get me to read, and have gotten me

countless books for Christmas so that I would read them.

The third sponsor E3 spark plugs are like my English teacher my tenth grade year. The spark

plug creates the electrical arc inside the combustion chamber (above the piston in the engine

cylinder) which ignites the fuel/air mixture that forces the piston down, creating torque and

motion that propels the car forward. Although E3 spark plugs are more expensive, and burn


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more intense and hotter, this is bad for the engine because over time, the hotter temperatures

of the engine tend to break down vital parts like piston rings (they help maintain a seal

around the piston and cylinder wall as to maintain an efficient engine and cylinder

compression), the oil system (hotter temperatures that an engine is not designed for burn oil,

creating deposits, stopping lubrication, leading to engine wear and failure), and many other

essential parts. This compares to my English teacher because she made English, reading, and

writing miserable with the conditions that she put forth in her classroom every day; just like

having hotter than normal operating temperatures for and engine is miserable and detrimental

to it. She is furthermore like this because she has had a lasting effect on me, which has

caused me to not want to even deal with reading, writing, and English all together. She is the

sludge and engine wear for me, but I am finally coming around and cleaning it out, by

figuring out I should not let one teacher ruin my experience and views.

The final sponsor K&N is a brand of performance air filter. The purpose of the air filter is to

keep contaminants from entering the intake and engine, and the performance air filter refines

this process with better filtration, and less resistance for the air flow. This is like my final

sponsor, Enloe High School. It compares because this is where I learned how to put a filter

on the words I use and the tone of voice I have with people. For example, it has helped me

learn who not to talk to with an attitude, and what appropriate times are for me to be able to

say whatever I feel like and use whatever tone, (which sometimes portrays the mood Im in) I

feel like. It has also helped me put a filter on the words I use when people are mad at me, or

are upset and taking it out on me.

The powertrain I drew represents the force propelling peoples writing forward. It starts with

the engine as a foundation, which is parents and school for most. The four stroke engine


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starts with the intake stoke, where the piston moves down, creating a vacuum, which in turn

sucks the fuel/air mixture into the cylinder from the open intake valve. This is like when

students are given a prompt and they are taking in the information, and starting to process it.

It can also be compared to my first introduction to literacy, when I started to learn how to

read in the first grade and write in the second. The second stroke, compression, is where the

intake valve is closed, and the piston moves up, compressing the air/fuel mixture so that is

produces a more forceful explosion is like pre-writing, where students take all of the thoughts

that they have and compress them into a rough draft. Furthermore, the second stroke is like

middle school for most people, where all of the information and components that they have

been acquiring have been compressed into a couple of years, in preparation for future events

like high school. The third stroke, power, is when an electrical charge is sent to the end of the

spark plug, and the electrical charge that naturally looks for the least path of resistance,

grounds through the diode in the spark plug, arcing the electricity. This creates enough heat

to ignite the compressed air/fuel mixture present in the combustion chamber. This is like

when students create a final draft and all of the components of the paper start to come

together to make forward motion and progress. Furthermore, the power stroke is a lot like

high school. For me it was where I was empowered to write all of the essays that I was

assigned throughout high school so that I would make a forceful product that propelled me

towards a college of my choice. The final stroke, exhaust, is when the piston moves back up

while the exhaust valve opens and the exhaust gasses are forced out of the cylinder and into

the exhaust system. This is like the final editing stage in writing, because all of the products

of writing are going to be filtered out and refined, like the exhaust gasses are converted from

hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides into harmless gasses emitted into the


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atmosphere. This is also like college because college is where all of the products of lessons,

essays, pre-writing, and knowledge combine for a final product and event. College is the last

step in a cycle for many people because this is the stage where the main part of literacy

education ends.

The transmission is also a big part of the powertrain; it is what changes the gear ratios from

the engine to the wheels, so the car can achieve a higher top speed. This is like when a

student uses transition sentences in a text to transition from one event to another, like a

transmission changes gears. The last part of the powertrain is the differential. The differential

consists of two gears mounted ninety degrees to each other that change the spinning motion

(created by the engine, changed by the transmission) ninety degrees, so it can be used to spin

the wheels, which propels the car forward.

The steering and suspension of the car relate to literacy because the suspension creates a nice,

enjoyable ride, while the steering directs the way the car moves. The suspension is mounted

to the spindle (where the wheel is bolted to) with upper and lower control arms, which are

mounted to the frame of the car. The suspension works by having a spring and shock

absorber mounted to the lower control arm and frame, absorbing bumps, and providing a

smooth oscillation of the suspension parts. This compares to pre-writing, because when you

form and refine your pre-writing, you are setting your paper up to have specific components

all mounted together, that are controlled by graceful transitions. With my experiences, I

would say that my literacy suspension is hard, which means that it does not absorb small

bumps in the road so well, such as writing assignments, but it can fly through corners while

maintaining composure, like when I wrote my senior paper last year that was about the bell


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schedule: I wrote four pages in two classes to where I flew through it and made it to the other

side.

The steering works by the steering shaft mounted to the steering wheel, turning the gear in

the steering rack, which moves the assembly left or right, but pushing/pulling the tie rods

(mounted to the front of the spindle) in opposite directions, to move both tires in the same

direction. This is like a prompt, authors ideas, themes, and tones in writing, because these

steer the direction of a text and determine where the final destination of a paper will be.

The brake system is a lot like writing in many ways. The brakes are designed to slow the car

down with control, just like proper diction and tone are used to slowly progress what the

author is trying to say. Furthermore, the brakes are used in preparation when one is driving as

to avoid accidents and maintain safety. For me personally, my brakes would consist of me

slowing down and thinking of things before I say them, and not getting too ahead of myself

when I am writing, like on the SAT where I had forty-five minutes to write an essay and I got

caught going off on a tangent and not having enough time to come back and correct the

major mistake I made.

Although many different people have many different experiences with literacy, I can

confidently say that I have not had the average experience. My experience has started off

well with a great foundation, like forged pistons in an engine, and gone through normal

strokes of a cycle. Regretfully, there was a period of time where I did not maintain my

literacy engine properly and I used bad parts and influences to where I let some sludge build

up, but I am getting to a point where I have almost cleaned all of it out, finishing up my last

stroke and starting my college career. Being involved in the automotive industry and loving,


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knowing, and being as involved with cars as I am has had an extreme influence on my life

from my everyday actions, thoughts, and processes, to my understanding of how things work

and my literacy experience as a whole. Without cars and an automotive experience, I would

not be the person I am today, literate and able to compensate for almost any situation. Since I

have found a love and understanding of cars, I have been able to compare them to every

aspect of my life so that I can fully understand it to the best of my ability in a way that makes

sense to me, teaching me lessons about reading, writing, and giving me numerous

experiences that I would not have had. I have discovered a whole new genre of literacy, the

literacy of cars.

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Literacy Project Defense Essay