Discovering 1: Tracing Our Literacies

Discovering 1: Tracing Our Literacies

By Jan 31: As best you can, keep track of your reading and writing for 2 days between Jan 24-31. This will be challenging. You might keep track by taking a photo every time you switch from one literate task to a new one: from email to reading for class to posting on Instagram. Or you might keep a journal handy (digital or pen/paper). As you’re tracing what you read and write, keep some notes about purpose and the context in which the reading and/or writing is situated (on the couch, in your room, at a desk). Try to keep track of time, the kind of device you use (are you reading/writing on a tablet–what about audio books or podcasts; do those count as reading?–phone, laptop, book, paper…) etc. What would your literacies look like on a school day versus a non-school day?

Once you have notes or a list, consider these questions for our class conversation: How did you decide what to keep track of? What questions emerged as you tried to decide what to record? What did you learn about your reading and writing habits from tracing those two days? What was left out? Do you think what you decided to trace is a representation of you as a reader/writer? We’ll reflect on what we learn together from tracing our literacies.

BRING your data (your notes and/or images) to class on Jan 31.

Feb 7: Paper or Artifact due

You’ll then use your notes/data/images to write about what you discovered or create an artifact that represents your data.

Questions you could answer in this paper:

How did you decide what to keep track of? What questions emerged as you tried to decide what to record?  What was left out? Do you think what you decided to trace is a representation of you as a reader/writer? What did you learn about your reading and writing habits from tracing those two days?

Our goal: make sense of the data you collected about your reading and writing. What does the data explain about your reading and writing practices and habits? What insights did you gain?

Example papers from previous semester:

• Jesse
• Charlotte
• Stephanie

Share paper with me as google doc: kjaxon@mail.csuchico.edu (*NOTE: email slightly different for sharing in google)

OR, Ideas for artifacts:

• Write a reflection about your “day in the literate life …” (blog or short video).
• Create a short film: alternating some day-in-the-life style video perhaps with some narrative and images from you. I would keep this under 2 minutes.
• Make a piece of art
• Write slam poetry, poem, or original song
• Create a Zine
  • The Small Science Zine Archive
  • Have a Feeling Zine
• Curate a playlist: what do your day to day literacies sound like? (Note: this should be a curated list that says something about the literacies you traced, as opposed to just a playlist of your favorite songs. ;-))
• Design a game: imagine a gaming experience for us that immerses the player into your daily literacies
• Make something: you might have another idea

Bring artifact to class Monday, Feb 7.