Week 2 - Definiton of Literacy

I would define literacy as the subject concerning the deciphering of symbols (letters, words, and pictures) to infer meaning. Literacy is about more than just reading and writing, but is about applying what you already know to make meaning of what you are reading and to imply meanings in your writings. Teaching literacy also goes beyond teaching students to read and write. To be a competent educator in the field of literacy, you must be able to choose appropriate texts that are at the reading level and of interest to the student at hand. When teaching literacy you must also be able to show children how they can critically analyze texts.

My definition of literacy has changed since I have started this class as I had never before had to define the word in a literal sense. Once I began to visualize how I see literacy in a classroom, my definition began to change. I realized that one of the important aspects of literacy that I see personally is the ciritical aspect. I believe it is very important to show children how to pick apart and analyze texts when they are reading. This allows children to understand the different aspects of a story, so when they begin developing and writing their own stories, they can understand the inner-workings of a text. I also think it is very important for teachers to critically think about the text which they choose to introduce to their students. In the class reading about the teacher who was introducing culturally diverse texts in her classroom I saw various advantages of this method which I found potentially helpful in the classroom I am currently observing.

In my ideal literacy environment, I envision a collaborative group of students, reading various texts as a class and individually, each contributing to each other's understandings of the texts at hand. I like having texts which the class reads as a whole because it allows students to respond with perspectives that others may have not realized. I also would want children to read books individually based on their own reading levels and interests to create an atmosphere where children are excited to read and intrigued to share their findings and realizations with others. I would also like to encourage writing on a daily basis, covering many genres. I firmly believe that the best way to improve children's writing abilities is to give them opportunities to exercise and revise their skills as often as possible.