That was not so bad to read, or was it?
Mary Goodwin
Monday, January 23, 2012
Blog Day 1: What is Literacy?
The question that was posed to the class is what do we think literacy means. At first I thought this to be an easy answer, but as my classmates began to respond it made me rethink what the word really means. Literacy could mean a number of things with the first being to have the ability and comprehension to read and write. Or it could mean to have extensive knowledge and competency in a certain area. To be literate would mean to be able to comprehend and understand information that was given to you without hesitation. It is in my opinion then that literacy must be learned, it is a behavior that becomes consistent overtime through a repeated behavior of some sort. Lets's take reading for example. One states that to be literate would be to know how to read and write. The mind has the ability to do so without any problems when you are literate.
What surprises me is what we consider ourselves to be literate in. Could something so simple as cooking, taking care of children, playing a guitar, or singing a song make us literate in our own expertise? I am not so sure that it is this easy, otherwise the question would not have been posed so early in the semester. The word itself must be something so beyond our imagination that by the end we will come to look at it and it's existence in a whole new form. A simple word posed in a question should not be that easy to answer in a class where we will be challenged as writers to not only illustrate our writing skills, but to think outside of the box as well. After all, this is what writers do. It is then that I start this semester off with the word "Literacy" and what it truly means. And to set my goal that by the end of the semester I would look at the word in a whole new light, and allow it to help me grow in areas that I have never known before not only in myself but in my mind as well. I will have learned to search for it in places that I have never known before. I will extend my knowledge beyond that which is directly before me, and grasp for concepts unknown. Let us search for the meaning of literacy, shall we?
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Hi, Mary
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I really like your graphics; they add a nice touch to the blog (though they are not required by any means). I also like your musings about the purposes of asking the question "What is literacy?" and how everyone answered it. These are questions that will continue to form the basis of our inquiry as we read, think, discuss, and write.
Your insight that literacy must be learned is, to me, really important, especially for thinking about reading and writing. We are born understanding language, but not speaking it, though we learn to speak long before we learn to read and write. Your point that it is a behavior, too, is also an important issue to think about-- the readings we will deal with this semester take up all of these issues and questions!
Keep up the good work!
Blog Entry 1 grade: 5/5