JACKSON LTED601 Literacy Blog

 Dear Dr. Jones, I would like to start off this letter by saying thank you! Thank you for your support this semester and endless knowledge on a topic I really wasn't sure about when first beginning this class. I'm happy to report that I'm really enjoying my time learning all about literacy, its different meanings, and becoming aware of my own literacy background and habits. I would say the class is not exactly what I thought it would be, but only because I was mildly blind to what literacy entailed, and how the topic could be so vast. I'm pleasantly surprised to be learning as much as I am, and to be honest, a little surprised at how much I actually find myself able to contribute to the conversations we have in class. I have definitely become more aware of my own literacy habits in just the first six weeks of this semester and through this course. I always knew I wasn't a "big reader" growing up; my mom was always reading and still loves it, while I always...

 During this week's reading assignments, I was introduced to different frameworks which provide guidance for teaching literacy from Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, as well as nine principals of balanced literacy instruction from Gail Tompkins. Below are my thoughts on what I have read following the 3-2-1 writing to learn strategy. 3 Ideas I'm Left Pondering When looking at both Muhammad's text, and Tompkins' Chapter, I see alignment when Tompkins talks about the Sociocultural Theory (as part of Principle 1: Effective Teachers Understand How Students Learn) and Muhammad speaks about the importance of incorporating culture and identity into teaching. Tompkins states, "Reading and writing are viewed as social activities that reflect the culture and community in which students live... Teachers apply this theory as they create culturally responsive classrooms that empower everyone, including those from marginalized groups, to become more successful readers and writers" (Tompk...

  Growing up, I had many influences on my early years of literacy development. I added photos of my parents and brother because growing up, my parents would always read to us, mostly before bedtime. I would specifically request Winnie the Pooh, and my parents still have the exact book above to this day, which I plan to pass down to my own children in hopes of developing their literacy at an early age as well.  I also grew up watching a lot of PBS shows, like Arthur specifically, so I added that into my collage.  Lastly, I added a photo of my grandfather reading to my brother and I, which is a core memory for me. We called him “Pops,” so naturally one of my favorite books to read was Dr. Seuss’ Hop on Pop, because I recognized the name on the front of the book at such an early age, and I thought that was just the “coolest thing, that he had his own book!” I miss my grandpa, so having great memories like these are so important to look back on for me.   

This week, I was introduced to the SQ4R Reading Strategy as a way to better comprehend informational texts. This method includes thinking about the information being presented before, during, and after reading, and while in theory, those are all things I think we are all taught to do at an early age, this reading strategy really narrows in on how to accomplish that. The SQ4R strategy helped me become aware of what I was reading by more thoughtfully taking notes throughout the reading process. I think as a reader, I’m used to initially reading text, and then going back through to look for important information as a secondary action, which tends to make comprehension a little bit more difficult, because I’m really just looking for information as it relates to a question posed. However, writing notes as I read through in real-time allows me to better understand what is being said and how it relates to the text as a whole. It helped me to become aware of how I was reading by allowing mysel...

Literacy to me means the ability to read and understand what you/others are reading. It is the understanding and knowledge of books, poems, essays and other works of literature in regards to the world around us. This can be done through the typical sense of reading, but also through writing, listening and engaging in communication with others. A literate person is able to take words either written down on paper, shared on a screen, or on other forms of media, and put them into their own words to make sense of them. A literate person is also able to communicate this new knowledge back to others effectively. I gathered this definition of literacy just from my own experiences and my own educational journey. I was always taught the straight definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. Through furthering my own education outside of high school and into college and now graduate school, I now know literacy can be defined as much more than that and can include speech, writing and c...