Today's Literacy

My definition of literacy is to be able to read write and comprehend a particular language. For some their definition of literacy might be different. Applicable to me is the English language. I feel that our definition of literacy should be broadening to other Medias and methods due to our constant changing society. Many of us today do not prefer to read, and use other sources than books for entertainment or to become aware of what is occurring in the world. I know for me I prefer to stalk facebook over picking up a newspaper of book. By broadening the definition of literacy it would increase student’s interest and perhaps encourage them to write on their own. I know when I am more interested and passionate about my topic my writing reflects this. I think blogs, such as this, are a step in the right direction for new innovative ways for people to express themselves through literacy. For our Enc1102 blog I feel that a way to keep the class interested in this type of expressive literacy would be to allow a different student to pick a topic each time that they feel needs to be talked about, rather than being assigned a boring topic.

Starved of Creativity

Literacy to me means expressing yourself with words whether it be written, sang, rapped or whatever form. The classroom should definitely venture beyond the pages of books and just written words because there is so much out there. Especially in today’s society the way people have begun to express themselves and their creativity is amazing. Lyrics to songs have some of the most amazing literature at least that I have seen and I find myself relating more with that kind of literature than anything that I am exposed to within the classroom. Although the literature that is presented in class is representative of the proper way to write I feel that writing should be allowed to be more free formed and expressive. I find writing to be really therapeutic and a really good way to release the inner thoughts that are tumbling constantly through my mind. It’s also a cool way to track your life, where it has been and where it’s going. I used to write journals about getting into college and where I would end up going and now that I am college it is interesting to re-read all the concerns and fears that I had. The classroom definitely needs to expand its means of literacy to include all the forms that deserve to be recognized even if they are slightly unorthodox compared to what is usually presented to students. I think students would enjoy it more and new forms of literacy could have the potential to spark some new form of creativity in each student.

I STILL HAND WRITE THANK YOU CARDS!!!!!!!

Literacy to me is the ability to read and write. Those are 2/3 of what it takes to communicate with other people (the third is obviously talking). If you can’t read and write things get pretty tough for you. Yet in our digital age we are running into an age that reading and writing might not be as popular or even necessary now with books on IPods news weather and sports are using video rather than traditional articles. Schools are not teaching their students things like grammar or how to properly address mail or letters. Traditional methods of communication are going digital. But it is necessary that we learn digital composition. As much as that pains me and as much as I hate E-mail and Blackboard it is necessary to understand digital composition because we are entering a digital age where we as a species are depending more and more on computers. Yes literacy maybe the ability to read and write but you must keep up with how information is being distributed, how the writings are being distributed because if you don’t then you will be left in the dark. Oh and yes I still hate blackboard and E-mail.

hookd on fonix

Literacy. To me, the word literacy means that one has the ability to read and write. I think that people are not really losing the ability to do those things by using the internet, but I do agree that kids don't read for fun anymore. I would blame this on schools rather than the internet. Kids read stuff online because they can pick the subject of the stuff they are reading. At school, they have to read boring books, and it turns them off from reading. When i was younger i went to a private school and never was REQUIRED to read anything. I loved reading and would always be in the library looking for mystery books to read. When i got to public school I was so shocked that they made you read books. I had never done a book report, and when my leisure activity was turned into work, I started to hate reading, and still do. I think it is extremely important for english classes to turn to other forms of writing besides text-based things. Just because it is a published book does not mean it is interesting, and in today's world there are so many different forms of information besides scholarly articles. I think technology is a good thing. I disagree that it is making this generation stupid because we just know how to find more specialized information. We know what we want, and the internet is the place to find it. I still know how to read and write even though I don't have my nose in a book all the time, or ever for that matter. After all... this blog post and mostly everything we do for classes at FSU involve reading online, so people better get used to it, because it is easy to access an it works!

Stepping Outta That Box

Last semester I was assigned to write a paper about the literacy I had developed throughout my life. In this paper, I had written about the development of my reading, writing and even learning skills. I went into detail discussing how as a child, my appreciation for these three things were at a different “level” than where they currently stand. But as I look back, I would now define one’s literacy as much more than reading, writing, and ability to learn. I would add the way someone presents them self, or the persona someone has to this definition of literacy. Being able to present themselves with confidence and integrity could also go hand-in-hand with my definition of literacy.
I feel that literacy is such a vital skill in life that everyone should only learn to perfect it over time. Of course, like the saying goes, nothing is ever perfect. Although I feel with practice and everyday use, these skills of writing, reading, learning and communication, people can learn the proper ways of literacy. Especially as a student at a prestigious university such as Florida State University, I feel that having these skills of literacy are important. Perhaps students can learn, or perfect, these skills through their English classes, as suggested. I feel that learning a new way to write, or figuring out a different style of writing is always fun. I think that the English classroom is the perfect place to “adventure outside the realm of text-based writing to try other forms of composition”. Within the English classroom, there should be little limits with what students can explore throughout the various parts of literacy.
I personally feel that learning how to compose in other genres would be difficult. For the past 18 years, I have written and communicated within the same boundaries. To step outside those boundaries, would stress me out only wanting to perfect this new skill.

Hoo NeEdz ToO ReEd?

Litrcy iz a frm ov knwing how to reed nd right, nd mny peepl due not no how to due it. In essence the percentages and ratios of people who don’t know how to read and write are too high for the type of society we live in today. Our society, not only has the ability to but can create the need to abolish literacy in their own respective geographic areas, international care can even be provided through the help of more developed nations. For me literacy in regards to literature means the ability to read and write, but in the confines of my own mind literacy means the ability too. There is a famous quote which reads: “Knowledge is power,” and I couldn’t agree more, but simple knowledge doesn’t just come in the form of books and school, it comes in the form of knowing what to do. Living in the 21st century there Is a lot of speculation everywhere but mostly in the economy and job market. Kids today are forced to hit reality sooner than they’d think and even sooner than they’d like. But we are speaking in terms of the English classroom. In terms of the English classroom literacy respectively is being able to decipher between several different types of works and genres. In my opinion scholarly writing is the anti Christ of literacy, because it is taking the point of literacy and expecting too much for no reason. Composing is understanding and for one to master both literacy is needed. You need to be able to tell whether a piece is being sarcastic, or if the humor is dry, because if you don’t get it you probably missed the whole point of the story. The English classroom is a place to learn about literacy but not to experiment with it.

Let's Mix It Up

Literacy is the ability to read, write and use language without difficulty. As a Florida State student in the 21st century, obviously it is important to be literate in order to succeed in school, but I feel literacy for us exceeds the traditional ability to read and write and expands into technology and creativity as well. Not only is tech-savvy part of literacy, so is street knowledge to a certain extent, its more about thinking outside the box now. I feel traditional literacy was based on whether or not a person was able to read something or write a paragraph, today with such an advanced society our literacy should match our way of life. Since the world runs off computers and other fun, convenient equipment English classrooms should adventure outside the basic text-based writing forms to others. At this point, hopefully we would assume students are traditionally and more modernly literate, text-based lesson plans in a way could hold back possible exploration of newer, more appealing methods of learning. Scholarly writing of course is important, so basic knowledge of how to find it and analyze it is essential, yet I feel we go much more beyond that these days. There is much more creativity and minds think differently then traditional outlines. I think it is essential to break out of basic genres and explore other options. In all honesty, most students do not enjoy English classes as much as they could, if it wasn’t such a basic structure of reading, writing, researching. In my opinion it is more demanding to have more options and choices, it might be said our generation is “spoiled” which is certain aspects is true, but our minds aren’t set conventionally in past times, we constantly see the discovery and invention of more color, shapes and movements in medias, so we thrive on it. I don’t think we can continue to maintain a Standard English classroom; it has to adjust to the students in it, which changes as society does. Just like we don’t dress like our grandparents did at age 18, we don’t necessarily learn like they did, maybe the same concepts, but if we have the technology and opportunity to crank up our English classroom learning experience, why wouldn’t we? Good writers come and go, but are popular with people of their time who can relate to them and their writing style.