Essay on Reading, Writing and Literacy

Reading and writing have been in our lives and around our lives ever since the beginning of time. It is something we are naturally born into. Almost every human being has performed some type of reading or writing, whether they live in the big city, or whether they live in the woods. They have all performed some form of reading or writing in their life. It is human nature. We are born into it. I have many memories of reading and writing, though I may not be very fond of it when it concerns schoolwork, it is something I have naturally adjusted to and it somehow has made me, and probably everyone else around me as well, who we are today.

“Learning to Read and Write” by Fredrick Douglas is a story about a slave breaking the bondage of ignorance by learning to read and write. During the course of 7 years Douglas discreetly teaches himself to read and write by means of stealing newspapers, trading food with poor white boys for knowledge and books, as well as copying his master’s handwriting. Douglas learning to read gave him extreme awareness of his condition as he says “…I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy” (Page 168-169). With his new consciousness he suffered with depression envying his fellow slaves for their

In the last chapter we read about literary sponsors so I am going to start there then go into my analysis of a writing experience. Literacy sponsors help people in many ways, they help people define themselves and learn about most things in life when you think about it. Everybody we meet teaches us something about a situation. Sometimes good and sometimes bad, it just depends on how you look at it.

Throughout my years of schooling, I have become ambivalent about reading and writing. I have struggled in school to make myself enjoy writing. I didn’t mind reading as much, as long as it was to my interest. It has differed throughout the years I have been in school. Some years I have enjoyed both, reading and writing, and other years I have not liked either. Getting myself to enjoy reading and writing has been quite the adventure.

Have you ever played a video game that you strive to beat the highest score, but try after try you fail each time? Well, that’s much like my literacy experience. Paper after paper, I had been unsuccessful yet for some reason I continued turning them in. Growing up, I realized I took advantage of the importance of reading and writing. Eventually, I learned the real challenge of perfecting a paper during my ninth grade year in honors English. When I started the class, I was in the habit of turning in terrible first drafts as my finals. I was in a comfortable state with putting little effort and time into my work, yet still wanting to achieve a high grade. Teachers practically participated in this by passing me without helping me in my struggle

When I went to the movies for the first time with Bobby, the person who I now consider a close friend, I chose the wrong seat to sit down in. Bobby, who has been deaf in his left ear since birth, occupied the seat to the right of me that night. We enjoyed the film, “Meet the Parents” thoroughly, yet the movie is certainly not what sticks out in my mind about that evening. Each time we shared a laugh, or one of us wanted to say something to the other about an event in the movie, Bobby had to swing his head around like some kind of bird so that he could hear my whispers. It was actually rather funny to see him twist his neck that way. I remember him saying to me as soon as the lights went down and the

The importance of literacy is quite big than what you can imagine, without it how can one be self-efficient. Whether you’re a child, adolescent, or an elderly it’s an essential for life duties. Literacy is an everyday component without it will be difficult to do things one requires. One of the main issues is poverty, this is stopping education for young kids or adults. Poverty has stumped the growth of knowledge for the people that have to deal with those daily issues.

John Green once said, “Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.” Literacy, at least to me. is the ability to understand and to be understood. Words have no limits they can travel across borders and oceans. They also hold a tremendous amount of power. Words can change the way we think, affect the way we feel, and inspire us to do more. Words can shape our entire world but more than that they can provide us a reflection of ourselves. Words bring comfort to us that there is a single person at some point in time somewhere out there in this vast world who knows what it is we go through, the struggles we face, and the things we find joy in. When you read something you can relate to it's like a hand is reaching out for

I do enjoy writing, more so about topics that interest me. I try to find something in any topic I’m given that interests me, having that mindset helps me get through the writing process much easier. I have writers block sometimes especially while writing papers for school. I am definitely a procrastinator but, I’m trying to change that in college. I am working toward becoming a better student and writer. I want to be an Elementary School teacher, so I have to know the right techniques in order to teach students. Writing for school although it is something I don’t like, I know I have to do it in order to learn and get better as a writer. One of the few times I did enjoy writing for class was an assignment that I had to research and write about

My life as a reader has been like a rollercoaster, I had ups and downs. There had been times where I would read regularly and my reading level would go up and there had been times where I completely stopped reading and my reading level dropped drastically.

Throughout my time writing at the City College of New York, I experienced a slow and dramatic transition to my first semester of this college course. During that time, I've learned from several feedback and lessons from certain peers and my professor. Because of the strict comments written in my drafts by my professor, a few helpful suggestions to include in my writing, and a few miserably failures, I was able to see how my writing and habits have changed during the duration of this course. Back in high school, I was always comfortable writing only five paragraph essays (Introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion), but I've never expected to write something more complex. Here, I was encouraged to include as much detail as I can instead of writing something vague

Is it important to be a literate person in today’s society? The ability to function well depends on whether or not a person is literate and can comprehend what is going on around them. If a person doesn’t have the basic ability to read, they will feel the stress and dependency on others because of their illiteracy. Illiteracy is a big problem because without the knowledge of reading, illiterate people can’t perform daily tasks and responsibilities in daily life. When all it would take is a mere two minutes out of your day, don’t you think illiteracy can be helped or even extinguished?

What option did you select, option one (discussing a known literacy) or option two (a new literacy to learn)? Why did you go with that particular option?

Genesis is a ten year old African American female and is in the fifth grade. She lives in a low income neighborhood with her Grandmother whom has sole custody. While Genesis’ Grandmother would like to play a more active role in her granddaughter’s education, she works a full time job and has health problems that prevent her being able to drive. Genesis was in my fourth grade Read 180 class and is with me again as a fifth grader. I selected this student because she is strong in phonemic awareness, yet her writing scores are weak and she needs the most individualized support in writing.

Reading has at all times and in all ages been a source of knowledge, of happiness, of pleasure and even moral courage. In today's world with so much more to know and to learn and also the need for a conscious effort to conquer the divisive forces, the importance of reading has increased. In the olden days if reading was not cultivated or encouraged, there was a substitute for it in the religious sermon and in the oral tradition. The practice of telling stories at bed time compensated to some extent for the lack of reading. In the nineteenth century Victorian households used to get together for an hour or so in the evenings and listen to books being read aloud. But today we not only read, we also want to read more and more and catch up