In the Cornelius article, as well as the Lu article, those looking to attain a certain level of literacy are met with breakthroughs that change their view of literacy. For slaves, this was marked by the transition that comes with attaining literacy. Sella Martin described it as a “click of comprehension” the first time he was able to both read and comprehend written words (Cornelius 71). In the Lu article, she described a similar feeling upon realizing “social class” and the adjective “classy” are actually similar concepts. The distance between the two had been accentuated by the separation of “home” and “school” ideals, as well as English being a second language for her.
In both scenarios, reaching a new understanding involves restructuring the way they see and use literacy. For Lu, it was steeped in connotations and the ideology behind words. For many of the slaves in Cornelius’s work, it was about consolidating and expanding a new skill.
In both of these instances, however, these revelations are coming at what would be, to most of us, elementary-high school levels of achievement. How does restructuring come into play at higher levels? What sort of learning has caused you to restructure your literacy, or how you view it? How do these instances of restructuring change the way we pursue certain literacies?