Monday, September 7, 2009

E342 Wednesday, Literacy Snapshot

I have always firmly believed that people take for granted those people or aspects of their lives that are most important to them and/or are vital to their survival due to the fact that they are natural. This is true of our ability to breathe, see, feel and think. As teenagers, most of us did not put our all into being gracious and kind to our parents and it is usually our best friends or significant other that takes the brunt of our emotion when we feel overwhelmed. Upon putting concentration towards noticing the times in which my literacy has served me, I can now place “being literate” into one of the things I unfortunately take for granted. This was especially apparent to me as I sat in the office of the school of education on Friday morning with the topic of literacy fresh on my mind. I was attempting to read all of the services offered to students but, being that I was on the inside and the letters were posted on the window as to be read from the outside, I struggled to comprehend the opportunities that awaited me. Sitting there attempting to read backwards letters and symbols I experienced, in my mind, what it was like to have some sort of learning disability with reading. I was unable to decipher the symbols that made up these phrases and took much longer than someone standing from the outside to read words that I already knew.
The aforementioned experience was by far the most meaningful to me as I was actively aware of my own literacy the past few days. One of the ways I noticed I use literature the most is in keeping in touch with the people I care about. I used facebook on multiple occasions throughout the day, every day to see what my mom and sister are up to as they both live three hours away in opposite directions. I also used facebook to catch up with friends from home who are at different colleges all over the Midwest. I used my reading abilities all evening on Saturday (sad, but true) to complete Monday’s homework. I read multiple textbooks to gain an understanding of the material I would need to be an active participant in class.
The final most apparent way I used literacy was by being entertained. I frequent People’s website to read celebrity gossip and see embarrassing photos of celebrities *GASP* eating! I use my understanding of the English language to enjoy television shows such as “Criminal Minds” and “How I Met Your Mother.” I also challenge my own knowledge of language (and my sense of humor) by watching “The Big Bang Theory” as it is both informative and hilarious, but more often than not you have to be able to understand the joke before you can get it. Overall, my ability to read and understand language serves me on a multitude of levels, which I now have a greater knowledge of and appreciation for.

2 comments:

  1. I think your blog was very well written, funny, and interesting. You went about showing how you came to appreciate your skill in an interesting way of not being able to read the backwards letters. I enjoyed it!

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  2. I really enjoyed reading this blog posting, it was very interesting! I also realized when doing this project how much we take our ability to read for granted, when we actually pay attention we realize that it is a necessary piece of our everyday lives.

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