Reading Works

Think back to when you were a child, did you enjoy reading and writing, or despise it? What about now that you have grown up, has your outlook on literacy changed? Everyone has a different story behind their answers each of these questions. Personally, I never enjoyed reading or writing growing up. However, literacy has slowly grown on me throughout the years, especially since I will be teaching children in just a few short years. My first experience with literacy was when I was still a baby.…

Chapter 25: “It’s My Symbol and I’ll Cry If I Want To” • Some symbols are common and well known (Ex: river = change, flow, flood, or drought; rocks = resistance to change, permanence, stasis) • A conceit is an extended metaphor that occurs throughout a work • In conceits, the figurative device seems to be more important than the…

conversations do you have with your child as you read? Do you ask questions or pause to let the child figure out what’s going on? (Lennox, 2013). Duursma, Augustyn, & Zuckerman (2012) believe that what happens between the child and adults outside of reading the text is equally as important. Asking questions that connect with the child’s experiences or to their world, giving explanations to whatever is going on in the story, or explaining the meaning of words enable the child…

Everyone has a destiny, something they are meant to do with their lives. Charles Bukowski, author of “so you want to be a writer?” believes that if you have got it, you got it. We should look for our natural talent instead of doing something we do not have a passion for. In his lyric poem, which is a lyric not because of its sound but because of its emotion, Bukowski expresses the themes of natural talent and that if it is right, you won’t have to try. We should not do something we do not enjoy,…

During the time I had spent with Amy in her dorm room, she allowed me to participate in a tarot card fortune reading for myself. In relation to witchcraft, the symbolic meanings of these cards bring upon psychic senses between the reader and the participant. These cards, in a sense, call out to the reader and are not simply picked out based on an artistic style. Additionally, if chosen correctly, the deck will form a bond with the conductor and will therefore only function if handled by their…

Literacy has plenty of different types interpretations. Like most individuals, when I think of literacy I think of reading but most importantly understanding what you are reading. When babies are brought into this world, they are like sponges waiting to soak up new information about their unfamiliar surroundings. Deborah Brandt states “Sponsors, as I have come to think of them, are any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract , who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit,…

Throughout out our lives we go through many different literacy events without noticing what each specific one actually signifies and helps us become a better overall person. The article “What is Literacy? – A Critical Overview of Sociocultural Perspectives” by Kristen H. Perry, breaks down the different views within literacy. What is literacy is the main argument, many think of it as a teaching taught in school but in reality it's in our daily life. Our sociocultural teachings have many theories…

The Tipping Point, then I started reading Blink. Next, I covered Outlier, What the Dog saw, and the last book is David and Goliath. He has a stark and unique ability to look at the work around him and think critically. Malcolm Gladwell is the master of analyzing conventional wisdom and get powerful conclusions that challenge what we think we already know. His books contain insightful…

In Bechdel’s Fun Home, a graphic novel memoir about the relationship with her father, it is obvious that every member of the family engages with fiction. The reader constantly sees these characters reading literature, writing, and acting. However, their interactions with fiction do not end with books and plays. It seems that they each use fiction in some relation to reality; generally, to alter it. The two characters Helen and Bruce use fiction as way to escape and live in a preferred reality,…

In “Reading as Situated Language: A sociocognitive perspective”, James Paul Gee argues the importance of written and verbal language is always needed in school, home and work. Many people do not really realize how much they use this skill in every aspect. Although,“ learning literacy is not English in general, but specific varieties of English that...is call “social languages”(Gee, 714). At a young age, my parents taught me the language they knew and frequently spoke. For me, it was Spanish. I…