In my research paper, first I plan to use some outside sources to define the "literacy story" as I experienced it in school. I was planning on using Chandler's chapter "New Literacies, Story Forms, and Literacy Narratives" and "Using Critical Metaphor Analysis to Extract Parents' Cultural Models of How their Children Learn to Read Critical Inquiry in Language" to define the "story" that was acceptable in school. I plan to go on to show, through relevant examples in my transcript, how I did not fit into this "story" and the ways I fit myself into the story in unconventional ways. One example I was thinking of focusing on is the soap opera I wrote in elementary school, as a way, (in an unconventional way) I was able to write for school despite a lack of success with academic writing in grade school. I might think about my experiences with my son, and trying to get him to "buy into" that accepted story, and creating that environment for accepatance in my home. It's possible I will also look at my role as a teacher, and my encouragment towards my student to be a part of that story, even if they didn't feel it was "their" story.

Today in my conference I was able to narrow my focus for my research paper. I started out with the idea that I would prove that the process of learning to read and write is a complicated and often times painful experience despite "romantic" notions as the process as a simple one. In doing some outside research, and talking about the topic, what I'm finding is I more specifically want to write about the cultural story created in the school system. I want to examine my transcripts to look for evidence of how I did not fit into that story, how I made my way into the story (through rebellion) and how I came to be on the other end of it, as a teacher who came to expect my students to fit themselves into that story, even when it wasn't a good fit. I want to look at, as a teacher and a mother of a new reader, why I could not recognize those who are not part of that story, and the significance of being on the fringes of that, when I was there as a young student myself.