Developing My Literacy Skills

Writing is a powerful tool for communication and connection. As an extension and expression of the mind, writing is as much about the mental processes of the author as it is about the final marks laid to paper. As we write, we hold in mind our own thoughts on the work, anticipate the reader’s thoughts, and think both in concrete and abstract ways in order to accomplish the task at hand. Whether an academic research paper, a novel, or text message to friends, writing seeks to engage, persuade, or impress concepts upon an audience. Like language and other art forms in general, the practice of writing is ever-evolving and is subject to cultural and contextual influence, expectations, and conventions. Each writer holds a theory

The impact both reading and writing have had on me throughout my school years has always been changing. While I have always struggled with reading comprehension, and anxiety in putting my thoughts into words when writing, I have found some relief when I am able to connect to a character in a book, or given freedom to find a topic I am interested in; which makes me excited and passionate about sharing my thoughts through writing.

Literacy plays a huge role in my daily life. Every single day I read and write. Whether it’s writing an email or reading a text message, class assignment, discussion board, etc. My literacy journey is unique because I have had different experiences. As a result, this is how my literacy journey has let me to be the reader that I am.

One of the most eye opening experiences of my life occurred in the second grade. I would have never thought that doing one simple assignment in elementary school could change my whole perspective on literacy. My understanding of literacy was sparked when I had read my first real book. I remember sitting down on the vividly colorful carpet day dreaming about playing Mario Cart on my Nintendo 64 while everyone was obediently listening to the teacher read a book out loud. It wasn’t that I did not know how to read or listen, I just didn’t care. Reading to me used to be tedious because I did not understand the purpose of it. I did not grow up with the luxury of my parents reading to me because they weren’t literate in English, so I had to figure out for myself why literacy is vital in everyday life. My ongoing learning experience with literacy can be traced back to one simple visit to library.

What does it mean knowing how to read and write. I take literacy skill very seriosly that will help me in the future. I know such skills don't come easy, it requires hard work, sleepless night. The reason why I go to school is to make mistakes, correct them and not to repeat them again. I always improve my skills through curiosity to learn something new, not being able to read and write would keep me in a darkness without seeing beautiful things that surround me.

Everything that we do requires words. Even when we think we create our memories out of words. One reason why we do not remember stuff when we are young is because we don’t have the words to put the information into to store it. Writing is very important because writing means everything, and if we didn 't have writing, we wouldn 't be able to spread ideas. The local and world news are in writing also so we need to be able to read the information. Also directions on how to use something or directions to go somewhere for transportation are also written in words. It is unimaginable how many roles writing plays in our lifestyles and we don’t even think about it.

My literacy path has a lot of exciting events that happened during my childhood. At that time I was inspired by my mother who was my literary guardian, and encourage me at that path. She was the closest person to me at that time. She has been teaching fine art for more than thirty years at one of reputable schools back home. She didn’t settle for that job only. She was cooperating with many other artist running exhibitions that won awards. Five years ago, my mother was promoted to be a supervisor at the ministry of education of all the art instructors over the region. As child whose literary guardian is an artist, I spent most of my time trying to imitate my mother’s painting.

When I was two, my parents relocated us to Muskogee, Oklahoma. It is from these early days that literacy took control of my life. As a younger child, I do not remember a moment when books were not a crucial part of my existence. I eagerly awaited my father’s payday every week because that meant I could go to TG&Y and purchase a new Golden Book. Two of my favorite selections over the years were Little Brown Bear and Grover Takes Care of Baby. I may not have been able to read all the words, but through the pictures and my mother’s encouragement, the stories began to take me away. I did not understand the sacrifice my parents made for this opportunity until I was grown, but as an adult, I am extremely grateful for it. Without their support and encouragement of my literacy adventure, I would not be where I am today.

The most useful event for my learning was the literacy activity, where students learned how to create an alliteration poem. When I assisted with the activity, I provided a definition for the students to grasp a further understanding of the concept. An alliteration is a sentence or line of a poem that has at least two or more words starting with the same sound or letter. For example: Marlon makes a marmalade with mangoes.

Creativity allows people to find their purpose to write without feeling like it isn’t good enough when it gets read. Schwalbe claims that the importance of writing freely is to enjoy the process of writing and also enjoy reading what is being written. “Reading isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control, domination: It’s one of the world’s great joys.” (Schwalbe, 20) When writing, the words should make sense that they flow freely onto the page and be read without any confusion. Sometimes when we write, we get stuck, especially when we must write a certain way that we may not understand.

In general, the first time that I utilized this kind of literacy practice in the aspect how I see it now was in the United States. Even though I have studied in my home country the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but it was not like the way looked the education now. It is very different because of the community in both sides. Her in the United States the quality of education much higher.

Young children imitate what they see adults do in society. On such thing is reading. Children will take up any form of literature and pretend that they are reading. To enhance and cater for this behaviour parents and teachers can:

My literacy skills have grown and progressed throughout this course in the way that there have been a lot of things that I have learned and that I have been continuing to learn. When I first started this course, I did not know how to write an essay, I learned to use the before, during, and after reading technic, and I learned what a summary paragraph was. But now with this course, I have written a couple of assignments which have helped me keep learning.

Literacy is defined as being literate, that is, being able to read and write in a language. My personal experience with literacy began at an early age, at the age of 4 when I began to sit and read words and letters in the back of my mother’s car. Soon enough, she would bring me a magazine called “Majed” which, in the 90’s, was a popular magazine. With this, I began even more interested in reading and writing and reviewed every word in the magazine associated with each of the short pictured stories. It was the first memory I deeply recall of literacy and it was what laid the foundation for my personal love of reading and writing. The methodology used for this is an interview. There are three interviews which are analyzed and brought together in the form of a narrative. This narrative serves to better explain the emotions and thoughts that the interviewees had about the idea of literacy.

I would say that my literacy skills are in between. My literacy skills I think is a six, because I know that there is still some problems that I face. Many of the problems that I face are oral and writing. Oral communication is something that I found to be difficult to me. Growing up I was always a quiet person someone who does not speak out as much. Therefore, I think that is why my oral communication is not as good. For example, I remember in middle school that I had a presentation to do but I was really shy to go out and speak and for that reason I ended up getting a bad grade. Another problem that I face is writing. This to me is a problem that I have been facing ever since middle school. The reason I think why I have such a trouble with