Like we made evident in class, my definition of literacy is just one of many that could work. I think that literacy is being able to read, comprehend, and produce written text on any given level. Understanding what you're reading is crucial to literacy, you also must be able to continue adding to your schema when it comes to this subject because the rules keep changing and things are constantly being added.
However, on top of being able to read and understand; to be successful in literacy, you must also be able to think critically and add your own ideas to what you have read. I found the article by Leland absolutly fascinating. Her classroom atomosphere was improved drastically and set an example for other classroom behavior as well as general human behavior. It was amazing what those kids picked up on at such a young age. Thinking critically and asking questions and applying your new information to life is also a very important part of literacy. In this case Literacy is the reason for these kids' open minds. It taught them history and ways that they can help overcome a repeat of a nations mistakes. It taught them a little bit of compassion as well.
A little of this is also drawn to our attention in the Langer article. Her discussion of the major stances of interpretation are, from what I saw, kind of an outline of the behavior of Leland's students.
Overall I believe that literacy is more than just understanding the mechanics of how to read and write. Comprehension and interpretation are huge aspects of it. Anyone can be taught to read and write words on a page. But if the reader isn't questioned on what it means or how it makes them feel there is no point to the skill.
After reading the Leland and Langer article I came to a realization of how important literacy actually is in a society. I would really hope to have the kind of classroom environment that Leland produces in her classroom. I really liked how she was constantly making connections to the behavior of her students from what they were reading and she was constantly being amazed by their new abilities and thoughts. This is something that I would find intensely rewarding in a classroom of my own. It is proof that they are taking what they learn in school to heart which is hopefully the goal of every teacher; to leave the kids with something they can keep going with instead of just putting something in their heads and hoping it stays there.
Literacy is so important in so many different ways; our class discussion made this quite clear because we came up with so many different but valid points and definitions for literacy.
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Erika – This class has opened up my eyes to many new aspects of teaching literacy. As you stated, there are so many different ways to view literacy and concepts about literacy are constantly changing with the times. The importance of critically reading and developing an understanding of text is on which I believe to be very important and which I am not sure enough teachers focus on. I also found the Leland article fascinating and was amazed at how reading students books about situations which they may never encounter except on the evening news, had such an impact on their learning and their behavior toward one another. You stated that the literacy helped them to learn about our nation’s mistakes, but do you believe that this is good for students who are such a young age? Would you like for your own children (not your students) to be taught literacy such as this at such a young age? I personally believe that making emotional connections to literacy is very important in the fact that it helps the reader to be able to develop more meaning and to understand different viewpoints of the literature and society as a whole. I am glad to hear that you would hope to have that kind of a classroom, as would I. How do you think you would go about creating a classroom environment such as this and how would you deal with parents who do not agree with the material you are reading to their children? Is there any type of material you would choose to leave out (for example, what if the literature was about accepting homosexuals rather than different ethnic groups)?
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