Blog 1: Francesca

My name is Francesca Nesfield. I am a graduate studying Teaching International Languages. I would like to become a English teacher for ESL learners both in the high school and college settings. I also would like to teach abroad someday.

Szwed spoke of things that are so common like reading signs, but I never considered that reading just because it is so second nature to me, but in that case I read all the time!  On a serious note I find myself reading more for school and less for pleasure. I mainly read textbooks, journal articles and my assignments. I find it hard to joggle reading for pleasure and academia because I feel guilty for not reading for school. My writing is also academic focused too. I know I write far more than I give myself credit for, but for some reason I feel that my reading and writing should be of substance for others to read versus my Facebook status updates and photo captions. Just like many of my classmates the main purpose of my writing is for school whether it is self reminders, note taking or completing assignments.

I find that Szwed essentially was saying we have no idea what literacy means because it means something different to everyone based on our background and not only that but literacy encompasses so much you can not define it without leaving other essential elements out. I feel that underneath the text he was saying schools are to main stream our reading and writing skill on one accord when in fact that just cannot happen. I think our American society, government, whoever and whatever, has an image of what literacy looks like but cannot help us get there because it is like a searching for an imaginary world you swear is real but does not exist.

One small sentence that I thought was funny is “one can only ‘violate’ the rules when one has mastered them” (p.246). When I read this I thought about verbal and written language acquisition for kids 2-4 years old. When they learn language they typically use it incorrectly (violating the rules), but correct enough for an adult to understand. Then later in life those same kids revert back to violating the rules but in a more intelligent way. Why does this happen? I guess modern text speak forces us to revert back to our old rule violation but with acceptance from other.- I have to come back to this I just lost my thought. Dam it!