Yes, I realize that it's been nearly a month since I've written, so I've decided to try an interactive post of sorts. Since I've started back up with the Ed.D. assignments, I've been doing quite a bit of thinking, reading, reflecting, etc. that have kept me from posting more regularly. Of course I'm familiar with the bit about good intentions and pavement, so I'll just skip all that guilt crap, although I will have some more interesting posts when I can buy a minute or two of my life back. (Don't ask, "What life?"). Really. I have a few things from my classroom to share. I might even use pictures. For now, quit bellyachin' and be content that there's actually something new here.
I'd really appreciate for all of you (yes, all four) to join in this conversation. I recently addressed an anticipatory prompt in my Theories and Models of Literacy class the following:
What is literacy? What are all the sub-components of literacy? What is reading? What is writing? How would you characterize a literate person? Please describe a "literate" person that you know.
In a few days, I will post my response. In the meantime, I'd like to hear what you have to say. This generated quite a good conversation on the discussion boards. Honestly, I am interested to hear your thoughts and opinions. Don't worry, there is no one right answer, there will be no quiz on Friday either.
Please just post your thoughts as a comment; or I guess, if you are too shy, you could email them to me. You don't even have to address the entire prompt; a neat little slice would suffice. Thanks.
P.S. Yes, I know I could do this on the English Ning, but this is more intimate. No super weirdos (unless you count me).
My friend (S.E.) sent this response, which was borrowed from Karen Brown: To be literate means to be able to
ReplyDelete"Speak for a variety of purposes and audiences
Listen in a variety of situations to information from a variety of sources
Write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes
Read various materials and texts with comprehension and critical analysis
View, understand, and use nontextual visual information."
I think literacy is more than just the ability to read and understand the words on a page, or information from another source. You have to be able to analyze, synthesize, and even regurgitate the information in some way. Far too often I seen students "reading" something in class, and they think they are literate, yet they cannot tell me about what they are reading. Their lack of literacy skills are so evident, just from everyday conversations with them.
ReplyDeleteS.E./Karen Brown's response sounds like the text of a state standard.
ReplyDeleteHow about defining literacy by what it isn't? That is, what do we mean when we speak of illiteracy? Most commonly, to be illiterate means to lack the ability to read. Literacy is then simply the ability to read. When we talk about degrees of literacy (e.g., "he's very literate,") it seems to mean that a person has assimiliated a lot of texts and is able to easily make connections among them and to the real world--for instance, to liven up a conversation or a piece of writing. So there's the basic reading component: being able to decode graphemes and morphemes and understand the meaning of a sentence. Then there's the ability to incorporate this information into your worldview or schemas, if you will. Um, so that covers what is reading ... I'd say that writing is the recording of information and ideas with an audience in mind. The audience can be yourself, one other person, or the whole world. People "write" computer code, but is a computer an audience? I suppose I'd consider a set of instructions to be writing, but perhaps not a grocery list or a set of data. Maybe writing in my mind has to be self-contained so that it can be easily shared. It has to be transferable between audience members with little or no explanation because it creates its own context. A grocery list amounts to merely the sum of its parts. Writing is a gestalt.