John Steinbeck stated that “Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain, and if you don 't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.” (142). The first time a child really understands the concept of reading it becomes an introduction to a whole new world. When one thinks of literacy the first thing one thinks of is the ability to be able to read and write. But literacy is much more than that, to me literacy is the key to all forms of knowledge as being literate opens up the doors to all forms of learning and continued learning. Building confidence as a reader, writer, listener and speaker is transformational in a person 's life. These core abilities are used every minute of every day to live in the world. Even in society a large degree of importance is placed on literacy. The in-class text by Sylvia Scribner states “I want to depict that is, the tendency in many societies to endow the literate person with special virtues”. (16) Throughout my life literacy has played a very important role, and has evolved and manifested itself in different styles, from my introduction as a small child …show more content…
Literacy also took on several different forms. My first introduction to social media came in the way of AOL instant messenger and eventually Myspace. My introduction to social networking presented a new language where acronyms like LOL (laugh out loud) became common in my written communications with others. Around this time, I also began often writing both poetry and music, which was something I did as both a hobby and a stress reliever. Writing music was a way for me to tell stories similar to rappers like Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG, who were able to paint vivid and graphic stories through their lyrics. I listened to their music quite a bit and tried to write stories like
Deborah Brandt (1998) wrote “Sponsors of Literacy”, a journal where she explained her findings of the research she has done on how different people across the nation learned to read and write, born between 1900, and 1980 (p. 167). She interviewed many people that had varying forms of their literacy skills, whether it was from being poor, being rich, or just being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
Living in the Southern United States during eighteenth century was a difficult time for African-Americans. Majority of them were slaves who received manipulation, sexual abuse and brutally whips to the spin. They were treated this way in order to stop them from gaining hope, knowledge and understanding of the world. Some African Americans managed to obtain these qualities from books and use them to escape from slavery. Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who wrote an autobiography, from which the excerpt "Learning to Read and Write" explains how he developed literacy. In the excerpt, an African American slave banned from learning to read and write, breaks the law in an attempt to free his mind from the restricted beliefs of his master. One significant idea portrayed from Douglass's ordeal is that reading and writing is a vital skill that benefits humanity.
Literacy is very important to me, it is essential to everyone, everywhere, and helps those who are intellectually curious about any subject. Personally, I have never had a bad connection with reading or writing. Both tools have taught me about myself and helped me realize I can find a lot of things out by reading a book. From learning how to sound out letters to completing a reading and writing summer assignment on The Mismeasure of Man, I developed a good foundation for reading and writing.
Growing up in working class family, my mom worked all the time for the living of a big family with five kids, and my dad was in re-education camp because of his association with U.S. government before 1975. My grandma was my primary guardian. “Go to study, go to read your books, read anything you like to read if you want to have a better life,” my grandma kept bouncing that phrase in my childhood. It becomes the sole rule for me to have better future. I become curious and wonder what the inside of reading and write can make my life difference. In my old days, there was no computer, no laptop, no phone…etc, to play or to spend time with, other than books. I had no other choice than read, and read and tended to dig deep in science books, math books, and chemistry books. I tended to interest in how the problem was solved. I even used my saving money to buy my own math books to read more problems and how to solve the problem. I remembered that I ended up reading the same math book as my seventh grade teacher. She used to throw the challenge questions on every quiz to pick out the brighter student. There was few students know how to solve those challenge questions. I was the one who fortunately nailed it every single time. My passion and my logic for reading and writing came to me through that experience, and also through my grandma and my mom who plant the seed in me, who want their kids to have happy and better life than they were. In my own dictionary, literacy is not just the ability to read and write, it is a strong foundation to build up the knowledge to have better life, to become who I am today.
In recent years the meaning of literacy has become much more than that. Now literacy includes things such as, numbers, images, and technology. Literacy can be something that developed through things like Books, the internet, television, family, and many other resources. In this literacy narrative I will discuss the origins of my current attitudes about writing, and reading.
How do you control a population from discovering the truth about the vast atrocities that their same government purposely commits against their citizens? Simple. You keep them illiterate. Keep them from learning information unveiling the truth about how government institutions and policies are set to marginalize and discriminate against them. You refuse them the opportunities to better their lives by limiting the means of acquiring knowledge that Freire would argue would help alleviate them from systems of poverty. It would be against the interest of the oppressor(s) to educate the oppressed.
There are many complications that arise when seeking a single definition of literacy. The debate over what is literacy and what isn’t is one that is of critical importance to the education of our country’s students. When originally asked at the beginning of this course about what literacy is, my initial response was the ability to read and write. While I suppose my answer wasn’t wrong, it certainly wasn’t entirely right either. Reading and writing are certainly important aspects of any persons literacy and are therefore one of the reasons why schools test in these areas frequently. However, as the course progressed I came to understand that there maybe more to what I originally thought about what literacy is. I came to realize that coming up with a single definition would prove to be a tedious task since there now appeared to be so many things that can be considered literacy. Through reading articles pertaining to literacy and observing various settings where literacy is used, I have been able to come to a better understanding of what literacy is.
Literacy is the understanding of reading and writing. People develop this skill by learning the language and be able speak, read, write, understand. This is important because people need to be able to communicate and understand reading the text. People learn their language when they were about 2 years old. They will learn it from their family and parents. After they know how to communicate with their family, they learn how to read and write. The grammar skill develop by the time and how much they use the English language. People learn the language by reading and understand the concept. People also need to know how to write and be able to make other people to understand their text, this mean literacy skill. You learn this by know the strategy of writing and understand the text when you read something. The more you read and write, you improve the literacy skill.
Literacy, the ability to read and write, also arguably one of the most important skills to have. Reading and writing, also one of my least favorite topics I have had the pleasure of studying in my educational career. Starting young, just entering grade school, it was sheer enjoyment being read stories, one of my favorites, Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, entering worlds of excitement with pirates and adventure, and drifting off to sleep to the voice of my mother. When the tables turn, this began my life lived struggle. My mother could not read to me anymore, schooling took its course, I had to learn to read and write for myself. I was not the best reader or writer in school. A difficult set of teachers, throughout education, and
Growing up as a child, I have always enjoyed reading books and writing. As I got older I began to lose interest in reading. It seemed to me that the words were becoming harder to pronounce, and the long words were discouraging for me because I didn’t know the meaning of them. I have always been good at writing, but I have never been a huge fan of reading. Reading and writing are both significant skills that are needed in life. Having the knowledge to read and be highly educated in this world today will get you a long way. Reading and writing both play a major part in our daily lives today. We communicate by using both skills whether you are texting, or emailing, and if you are unable to do these, it can impact your life.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported, “that children who were read to frequently are 77% more likely to read or pretend to read and 60% more likely to count to 20 than those who were not.” (National Education Association) This statistic is one of many that demonstrates an emphasis on the importance of parents reading to children at a young age. Not only is there a significant change in children who have parents read to them but there is also a change when schools push more “fun” reading. I think that as a child the factors around you, such as your parents and school, are crucial to the way you view and experience reading and writing.
I have very few recollections of my early years and the exact age I was able to read and write. Some of my earliest memories are vague on the topic of my literacy. However, I do remember small memories, such as, learning how to write my name in cursive, winning prizes for reading, and crying over every assigned high school essay. Over the last twelve years my literacy grew rapidly with the help of teachers, large school libraries, my family, and so on. There is always room for my literacy skills to grow, but my family’s help and positive attitude towards my education, the school systems I have been a part of, and the horrible required essays from high school helped obtain the level, skills, habits, and processes that I use as part of my literacy
“Why do you read all the time?” A frequently asked question of my past and I still find it repeated even now as I have entered a higher class of the educated. Whenever posed with this blatant criticism of my preferred free time activity, I simply answer with “Why don’t you read all the time?” Of course I might sound like the biggest geek that ever walked the face of the earth, but the fact of the matter is that no matter what negative stereotype is attached to those who read, it has never stopped me from continuing to pursue my joy of literature. I am a firm believer in the power of a book and that the fact that the more well read you are the better chance you have of relating to entirely different groups of people.
“The more you read the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you’ll go” (Dr. Seuss).Throughout my childhood and reading Dr. Seuss books this quote was important in my development as a reader and writer. Growing up as an only child my parents wanted to make sure that I had all of the resources I needed to succeed, one being the ability to read and write. The quote by Dr. Seuss was highly regarded by those who wanted me to succeed in life. They wanted me learn to read and write so that I can know and experience more than they have. At an early age reading and writing was stressed to a high degree, but as I got older reading became a struggle and writing was something that helped relieve that struggle.
Early days many of people do not know about reading and writing and the importance of reading and writing. If someone knows to read and write in English many people think that person know about many things. In Maldives also most of people know to read and write Arabic and Dhivehi only that time. But now a day it is necessary to read and write in English because it helps us to communicate better and to get information also help to develop the mind moreover reading is the key to developing a good self-image. Without English language we cannot use internet also our language also is interconnected with English language without using English language we can talk properly in Dhivehi also. Writing is very important to be able to express yourself well