Reading together

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Instructions for joining on the Assignments page.

 

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Time photoOur course invites you to work with data collection and analysis, readings, and discussion around the field of literacy studies

Author: lukeminton

Reflection – Minton

Reflection – Minton

 

English Reflection Paper

Coming into this course I really had no idea what to expect. I am a public relations major with a minor in English and most of my English background is in dissecting Shakespeare quotes into something I could wrap my head around. At first I noticed this class was about teaching, good, seems simple enough. Then I cam across the term “literacy”; okay that means someone can read. I was so wrong. There are a million forms literacy takes shape every day. As I read articles from Street, Szwed, Williams, and Scribner and I started to grasp that literacy has a personality disorder.

In my current knowledge of literacy I believe it to be fluid. It is something that takes the shape of whatever the student; teacher, doctor, or lawyer wants it to be. Literacy is whatever it needs to be at the current juncture. It can come through video games, social media, story-telling, street signs, manuals, public speaking, even the dinner time conversation. There is no one defining factor to literacy.

I liked what Gee had to say about video games and literacy. He states ““Further the combination of the two models communicates things that neither of the modes does separately.” (Gee 18) when talking about the differences between visual cues and audio cues. People may say one thing, but their body expresses something else entirely. Our literacy will decode these two interactions to create a deeper meaning of what the person said.

When reading Brant’s take on literacy we were asked to question our parents about their use of literacy. This was a unique assignment since I hadn’t given it much thought. The results were completely different per parent. My mother read for fun, much like I do, and my dad only read for work. I remember saying I would hate to read for work back then, but now that I have my first post-grad job, I just ordered a book for work. Seems like literacy came full circle. I like that though, the fact that literacy is there and able to help us get ahead in life.

 

One thing that I noted from literacy in our classroom is how it can move people and create relationships. At first, I thought Mike in our class was a psychopath and now I consider him a friend. He is just Mike like how literacy is literacy. Take people for example, they come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities. They field well in certain subjects and each one you get to know unfolds to teach you something new about a subject you did not necessarily grasp the way you though you may have.

Working in article groups might have been my favorite activity. We were the group about digital storytelling and we used popcorn to tell a mad lib story. I loved the way we came together at the end and created in interactive and fun experience the whole class shared in.

While working on our last presentation, the literacy film, our group hit a wall. There are so many ways of explaining literacy that we could not get started. Luckily Poundstone took control and decided that we did not need to focus on an aspect of literacy, but instead present a broad interpretation of what literacy can be. We showed threats to literacy by using scantrons as the leading path towards the downfall of our comprehensive growth. Other objects presented in the downfall of literacy growth were shown such as; alcohol, guns, and on a literal note, a paper shredder.

Being a future teacher is not a job I would ever want to obtain. There are so many different channels in which a teacher can teach and so many different situations a teacher can find themselves in. It seems like the kind of workplace where nothing is granted and plans are thrown out the window before they can even be implemented, In public relations you can’t even lift a hand before having a structured and researched plan that acts to guide you through each step.

I love the course that literacy is taking though. Through social media our literacy can defy time and space with things like WordPress, Prezi, Google Docs, and sites like Twitter and Facebook. Trillions of bits of information just float at any eager mind’s fingertips.

The individual who resists these new developments is doomed to fail. There has to be sympathy for the younger generation by the old and vise-versa, because, like everyone else, I have an expiration date. Soon my children will be professionals on outlets that I cannot even pronounce.

Reading and Writing as Gender Identity Development

Reading and Writing as Gender Identity Development

I agree with Moje when she says that females at an early age are far more likely to read books about females and the same with males. I feel that early on in development this is very prominent in reading choices since the reader will be able to relate better with the narrator and because of social contexts.

I feel that as time proceeds, it is very easy for these limitations to break with more reading. Once the later years of high school hit for me I started reading more and I started with male novels about promiscuity and drinking; anything that seemed cool to me at the time. As my reading and my tastes evolved I started reading novels with female characters or males that were much more compassionate and found these to be more fulfilling. The Hunger Games and Go Ask Alice are two of my favorite female perspective books.  Now, I don’t think twice about a novel that is written from the female perspective; if it is good I will read it.

As me that 6 years ago and I would prove to be much more misogynistic.

What to take away from article groups

What to take away from article groups

There have been a few presentations so far and the one that stuck out the most, and I am surely not alone in this, was the video game group. I feel that this says a lot about literacy. Make it fun. There needs to be a hands on approach that gives the listener something unexpected. The competition factor is something that every teacher should key in on.

Competition is something that is shunned by teachers sometimes because it means that there is a winner and a loser, but that is no way of looking at it. Winning should be glorified. It is natural to want to win and it is a great motivational tool for any classroom. If I lost, which we all know I seldom do, it motivates me to do better next time. It is not a moment of discouragement, but rather a chance to learn and get better.

Aside from that I learned from each group. I am glad I had the chance to see so many different websites that had tools for the classroom. Sites like WordPress and the music site were very interesting. We are coming onto an age where consumers want customization and with customization comes creativity and passion. Anyone has the tools to become what they thought they never were. Who thought Mike would be a platinum artist? I didn’t.