Literacy Ethnography of Benjamin Yerby When I was younger, in the midst of my confusion due to divorcing parents, I was diagnosed

with ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. I went through phases of therapy and counseling for both the ADHD diagnosis, as well as for the family situation. The counseling I received was meant to give me strategies to be able to learn how to cope with the disorder. In early elementary school, I had a few coping mechanisms to deal with my anxiety and hyperactivity. I had a weighted vest that was supposed to calm me down, so that I would pay more attention to the teacher. Also, I had a contraption consisting of two two-liter bottles filled with water that were connected at the top to create an hour glass figure. This brought a soothing feeling over me when I played with it and carried it around. Those types of things only happened in kindergarten. From first grade on, I was granted an IEP or Individualized Education Program. Written in the IEP were various special classroom modifications. Included, were things such as extended time on testing, preferential seating for better concentration with less distraction, testing in a separate room, etc. I had to continue to learn how to cope with this throughout my educational career. Matter of fact, I am still learning how to cope with it today, hoping that one day I may grow out of it. But I am prepared to live with it my whole life if I must. Because my parents were divorced, I was required to have visitation with my father every other weekend unless scheduled otherwise. This created issues with my education in that my time for focus on school and the extent of my support was limited. My focus often strayed at my fathers house because he wasnt as firm with me as my mom is when it came to school work. I would tell my father I had homework some weekends and he would just say you dont have to do that at my house. This change of support made it difficult for me to find a balance in my focus. My mom married my step-dad when I was 3 years old. Ever since, he has played a huge role in my education. My step-father, Philip, is a very studious person and has a passion for academics. He

attended the University of South Carolina and graduated with a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering. He then was offered a grant to attend graduate school at NC State and The University of Virginia. He decided to go with The University of Virginia, because they gave him more funds. He eventually graduated with his Masters in Electrical Engineering. He has held positions at Ericsson, as well as other notable companies. Currently, he is a Senior Principal Engineer at a company called Signalscape, Inc. Signalscape is a governmental defense contracting company that does all sorts of things for our branches of military and law enforcement. With his background, you may be able to imagine how he impacts me in the world of education. So much that I even became interested in the computer world myself. Before high school, I applied to be in a program called AOIT, or Academy of Information Technology, a four-year educational path that incorporated technology in every class. AOIT is part of the National Academy Foundation, and as of recently, the program at my high school was named the number one Academy in the nation. The Academy of Information Technology prepares students for career
opportunities in programming, database administration, web design and administration, digital networks, and other areas in the expanding digital workplace. SAS will validate the curriculum and offer a joint certification. In addition Juniper Networks has agreed upon an AOIT program of study, linked to NAF assessments, that will qualify students to enter its professional training program, Junosphere, and earn a Juniper certificate. NAF Website (Go to http://naf.org/files/page/2009/06/AOIT_OneSheet.pdf to see all about AOIT.)

Being in AOIT was a huge part in my high school education. I will say that it probably has shaped me into the student I am today. We not only learned about technology, but we went to job fairs and career expos, even college fairs. We also partook in team building activities throughout all four years.

Another rewarding experience was being able to go on special field trips with all of our class mates. We went to Beaufort, NC my freshman year of high school for our biology class. We discussed and learned a lot. Then we took what we learned from that trip, and we video chatted as a whole group of ninety students with a group in California who had studied water and ocean life on the pacific coast. We compared data as well as photos and so on. My sophomore year, we took a field trip to Linville Caverns in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

This is a picture of me and my project group at Beaufort, NC. But I will say most importantly, aside from the technology driven courses, learning how the professional world works and what it takes to be a part of a company shaped my view of the real world. As an AOIT student, I was required to find, apply to, and interview with companies to eventually work an internship before my senior year. This was designed to prepare students for the professional world, but

also to get an idea of what technology does within companies. All jobs had to incorporate some kind of technology as a requirement. Then after the internship was completed, students were required to create a presentation about their internships and lead a Q and A session along with several other students who presented at the same time.

This is my employee ID from Signalscape It gave me access to the building and held all security clearance information on the card. My photo border is red, which means I am not cleared for any secured project.

For my internship, I applied to Signalscape. I knew almost everyone who worked there through my step-dad. I also really enjoyed the idea of working in partnership with military and law enforcement and as a team within the company. Even though I did not have clearance for any classified projects, I

still got to do some fulfilling projects.

This is a screen shot of a program that I had to run a lot while working at Signalscape. It is called FASA, or Forensic Audio Spectral Analyzer.

I have even written a blog about my daily work on the job. Find it at http://benaoit.blogspot.com/. After working at Signalscape for a summer, I decided that when I apply for college I will apply under a computer science major. That is why I am where I am today! If it had not been for my step-father, AOIT, and really everything before and after that, I probably would not be here at UNC- Charlotte. All of it really just highlights everything that I have learned in English 1101 about sponsors of literacy, both visible and invisible, as well as literacy events and environment. It all played and is still playing a role in what I do in regards to my literacy and education.