My Academic Literacy

Literacy impacts everyone’s lives in various ways. Such as, someone and their career, the ability to read literature in general, one’s comprehension of reading and writing, or the ability to write a book. Each person takes his or her own path with literacy and consequently are formed by the sponsors of literacy present in his or her life. Being new to the term or not, sponsors come in various forms and can be positive or negative to someone and his or her literacy. The sponsors of whom I am going highlight are my parents, The Sesame Street Show, and my elementary and middle school St. Mary’s all of whom have been positive sponsors to my literacy by setting high expectations and providing quality teaching, which still impacts my literacy today.

I do not recall much of my literacy experience. My parents were not big on reading. They relied on the school to increase my knowledge of print. Yet, I do remember special moments spent with my mother. Every Sunday she would buy the paper for the discounts that it offered. Once she was finished searching and cutting coupons, she would remove the comic section of the paper. She would call my brother and myself to her bed and read Garfield, Marmaduke and The Family Circle. Going to the library is another distinctive memory. My mother and I would spend time selecting the right book to take home and read together.

The beginning on my literacy journey was a difficult one. Partly because I am dyslexic, and partly because I was not motivated by traditional things. I did not care about reading or writing. I did not want to waste my time with it. Nothing about it interested me. I felt that I was already going to fail at it no matter what. So whats the point? If some lady told you that no matter what you are going to have a hard time reading and writing because thats “how God made you” would you really be motivated to read and write? She said in that it didn 't mean I was not smart, but that I just couldn 't read or write as good as everyone else. This lady was the school psychologist, who tested me for learning disabilities in the first grade. After hearing the verdict from her I had no intention of being good at anything that had to do with reading or writing. It was dead to me.

The vocabulary lesson for my EDU 363 (Literacy Across the Curriculum) was co-taught and co-created with two of my classmates. Our lesson demonstrates that standard 5 has been met. The standard says, “Teachers create instructional opportunities to encourage all students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, performance skills, and literacy across content areas.” This means that teachers must create materials that encourage students to fully analyze and evaluate material to form their own ideas and opinions. Teachers must understand which role they need to take at what time, and to allow students to actually practice what they are being taught, rather than to just witness it. Our lesson particularly applies to standard 5.3 that says, “[teachers] make instructional

I 've loved to read and write ever since I was taught my ABC 's for the first time. It 's been a huge part of my life in a lot of different aspects. I learned how to read when I was three years old because I went to a daycare where I was the youngest kid and the only one who couldn 't read. Reading and writing just stuck with me after that. After I started reading better than my older daycare-mates, school was ready for me to conquer. The school put me with older kids right away and I was in English class with 3rd graders when I was in kindergarten. It helped me out with making friends and I always got along with older kids better

“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This is how Dr. Seuss thought of reading, and I think of it in much the same way. Literacy is everywhere and influences us every day, therefore, it plays a major part in each of our lives. I believe that reading is an interactive activity in which learning happens, or as Clay (2001) defines it, “…a message-getting, problem-solving activity” (p. 1). Reading is the process through which one reads information and from doing so, constructs meaning about the material. The more exposure and practice one has with reading, the more knowledge one gains. In this paper, I will begin by discussing my own personal educational philosophy, then continue by stating and explaining four of my beliefs about the reading process and the research that is found to support each of them before sharing the remaining questions I have about literacy. I am an existentialist, and a strong supporter of a balanced literacy approach. My beliefs about literacy come from these foundations and perspectives that I embrace. For students to be successful in their literacy development, I believe that identity acceptance in the classroom is crucial, instruction for all students must be differentiated, direct and explicit instruction is at times necessary, and vocabulary is a significant component in the ‘Big Five’ of children’s literacy development.

The story of my history as a writer is a very long one. My writing has come full circle. I have changed very much throughout the years, both as I grew older and as I discovered more aspects of my own personality. The growth that I see when I look back is incredible, and it all seems to revolve around my emotions. I have always been a very emotional girl who feels things keenly. All of my truly memorable writing, looking back, has come from experiences that struck a chord with my developing self. This assignment has opened my eyes, despite my initial difficulty in writing it. When I was asked to write down my earliest memory of writing, at first I drew a blank. All of a sudden, it became very clear to me, probably because it had some

I have acquired many literacy opportunities throughout my literacy life my parents, grandparents, and teachers ,I hold them very close to my heart because if it wasn’t for them pushing and encouraging me to read and write I wouldn’t be the literate person I am today. I bear a huge family so there are always many voices going through my head so it wasn’t long until I started speaking, as well as comprehending what all these strange words meant recognizing the words was very difficult before I started practicing them. My parents always encouraged me to read and write in a way no child can resist with toys and candy who could say no to that. Every chance they got to help me read they would read with me. I wasn’t forced to read on my own because I didn’t know how.

As a girl growing up around a group of bikers, boys and two parents who listened to eighties hair bands and metal, you wouldn’t think that I read or was read to frequently before starting school. I pursued in reading quite often, actually. When I finally started school, I had the tendency of keeping to myself and staying quiet. There never have been very many friends in the picture of my life. I learned at a young age that there often are going to be cliques, even when you’re an eight year old in girl scouts. I stood out in more ways than one, but for now I’m only going to elucidate why reading is so salient to me.

New literacy is a new form of literacy that is made possible by digital technology developments. Technology and the use of digital media are incorporated in every aspect of a person’s life. Educators today now provided students with the skills they need to excel in a technology rich society (Gunter &Gunter, 2015).

Literacy, as I see it, has a very broad definition that solely depends on the interpreter. I believe literacy is the ability to read and evaluate the content in their own way of thinking, along with the ability to write and display understanding on a story, topic, or your own thoughts. Reading by itself is useless without being able to think past words on a page and develope one’s own conclusion to form the connections to what the author is trying to say. Writing, and how it is displayed, is a useful tool for the audience in which it is being written for. Effective, descriptive writing makes a more enjoyable read and ultimately a better piece of literature.

Since a child going up, literacy was not my strong suit. Literacy throughout my life seem not to cope with me. Later as I grew up, literacy meant to me that it is one’s ability to read, write, and speak. More importantly there is a more meaning of literacy, meaning that not only writing, reading, and speaking, but able to understand, analyze, and communicate with other peoples’ ideas. Soon enough literacy has made an impact on my life, it has been and will be a lifelong process. Literacy will always be with me, starting from my past and ending in my future.

James Patterson perfectly sums up my lengthy, arduous, and ever-changing relationship with reading. "There is no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books." As I grow older, and come to appreciate the influence that words have over the human mind and soul, this quote resonates with me more deeply. The interpretation of words has had an immense impact over my life, and is something I will be forever indebted to.

How has literacy impacted my life? From learning to read sight words and write sentences to progressing all the way to thick chapter books and lengthy essays, literacy has been a long and incredibly significant journey in my life. Literacy has been a fantastic and influential adventure because of exciting personal experiences that first took root at age two, the inspiration of an elementary school teacher, Mrs. Peake, and memorable events including the Accelerated Reader program and discovering my favorite childhood book series.

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.