Saturday, June 13, 2015
Prompt 1- Literacy
Literacy is the gift that enables one to understand the
world around them. It allows them to limitlessly expand their knowledge. A literate
person has the necessary tools to truly see the deeper meanings in the world he
or she is living in. The common definition for literate is someone who can read
or write. The expanded definition is someone who is knowledgeable and educated
in one or several fields. The latter is more precise in that it suggests that
it is more than reading and writing. It is seeing and doing based off of what
one has read or written. One can become literate not only from reading and
writing, but also from seeing and doing. A literate person notices seemingly
meaningless things and thoughtlessly gives them significance. Think
of the last time you looked at a flower and thought of nothing else. Or an airplane.
Or a book. Or anything. It’d be a rare occasion. Each time, there was another
story. A literate person strings objects, experiences, memories, and previous
understandings together without even realizing it and with each new thought
coming in, another resurfaces, automatically connecting and expanding their
knowledge. A literate person is constantly building their data base. Allowing
their minds to freely wander, literate people ponder the deeper meanings in the
world. Literacy is a gift many may take for granted, but the world would be far
from the same without us thinkers in it.
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I agree Elizabeth. I think the literate person is the thinking person. A thinking person is aware--of themselves and the world around them. It is often easier to be oblivious. When we are aware, we have obligations. This is significant and fulfilling, but it can be a weight. Knowledge is power, but more often it's just a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteMrs. Mac
Liz, I like your definition of what it means to be literate and how you went into a deeper explanation of what you meant. I agree that being literate is more than reading and writing. One can read and know everything that a text has to offer, but that does not make them literate. Part of the definition of literacy is"being skilled." In order to be skilled one must actually perform, or carry out, the action. I also like how you brought up specific examples. I have never given much thought to what ideas stem from one little thing. Perhaps the path to literacy is an unending journey.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I would say that being literate is having the ability to understand the parallels of a text. Foster describes classic literature as having almost two stories-- one explicit, one implicit. I would agree that to be literate, one must be able to identify that implicit message, and its connection to society. I wouldn't say that a literate person "thoughtlessly" gives meaning to seemingly insignificant objects, however. I would have to say that, through experience and after much thought, a literate person can identify meaning in what seems to be ordinary. In total though, your definition of "literacy" is thorough and well expressed.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I totally agree that one also learns from seeing and doing. When I am attempting a new task, I tend to always have someone show me a few times before I attempt to do this task so there is no room for error. After doing a task as often as one at our age reads, it becomes essential to not only our daily lives but to cure our hunger for learning and striving to success. While reading How To Read Literature Like A Professor, I learned that if I applied the knowledge of Foster to the summer reading, it would help me to grow as not only a reader but a writer.. Just as Ms. Leach advised us in the informational Lit meeting.
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