Elvis Ortega : The Literacy Biography of a Motivated Cast-Off

Literacy crisis. Education crisis.  These terms are widely used to describe the state of our education system today.  Many of the issues regarding education seems to be related to many factors: access and distribution of resources, as well as, socio-economic and ethnic divides.  There is no easy solution for the equal allocation of literacy and education resources for all students.  So what happens when a student from a working class and bilingual  background attends school in a wealthier district than his own?  Ultimate academic success, right?  Not necessarily.  Elvis Ortega and many of his Latin American peers were bussed from their working class hometown to the wealthier school in the neighboring town because they lived on the border.  As Elvis described it, his childhood academic experience was far from ideal.  By his junior year of high school, many of his friends and relatives had dropped out.  After years of being cast aside by many his teachers, he decided that emulating the bad boy, urban gangsta persona was more worthwhile. He was close to joining his peers in the high school drop-out club.  Then harsh reality smacked him in the face his  junior year and he was forced to make decisions that would forever change the direction of his life.

Elvis overcame  many barriers to attain the academic, professional and literacy achievement he has today.  Read  his story and listen to a portion of his interview to learn more about his experiences.   Enjoy!

Link to literacy biography:

Elvis Ortega lit bio final.doc

Audio file link to interview with Elvis: 

This audio clip explores Elvis' early literacy development and the challenges he faced as a bilingual student in both Mexico and suburban Chicago.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mqujp1flz2p

Link to seminar project:

My final seminar project focuses on Elvis' education experience and analyzes recent research findings and suggested proposals on how we, as educators, can reach out more effectively to students like him in our own schools to close the achievement gap across ethnic groups in America. 

LiteracySeminarProject.doc 

E-mail contact:

gvann@triton.edu