My Literacy Skills

My literacy skills have grown and improved through taking the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course. I can now more effectively seek out and sort important information and I also have a better understanding of different types of texts and writing. As a result, I have achieved more confidence in my ability to write my own stories, articles, and essays.

I am considerably more productive now that I understand how to locate and sort important information from texts. Using the techniques taught in this course such as, skimming and scanning, I now know how to find what I need quickly. This saves me a lot of time and has made me a much more efficient learner. The use of templates, reading strategies and the unit on summary writing has illustrated

Throughout unit one, I thoroughly examined graphic texts and learned how visual elements communicate information. In Fact, in the activity “Good vs. Bad drivers” I discovered how using visual elements can more clearly convey information or data than writing. For this reason, I expect that while taking steps toward the furthering of my education my renewed ability to read graphic texts will prove invaluable. Additionally, I have cultivated a better understanding of written texts; the many types of texts and the many intentions these texts have to their audiences. Specifically, I have discovered how a news article is unbiased and factual whereas an opinion piece will express and back up ideas. I now have a better grasp of the intention of certain texts, this has changed my perspective and I now consider myself a more informed

Over the last few weeks, I have needed to write a number of reports and essays, a couple of my favorite being; “Damsels were meant to be saved” and “we need to ban the bottle in Schools.” My constant need to find new ways of saying things and play with words has upped my knowledge of vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and grammar. That, together with all the editing, both my own and with peers, has contributed to my overall understanding of the written English language. the assignment “Advancing Angles” was a perfect example of this, especially of finding two ways of telling one story. Now, with this knowledge, I have an increased sense of my potential to produce good writing. I know I’m not about to win any awards for literature. But this course, through its instruction and through feedback has been hugely encouraging for me. I feel better equipped to carry out my academic