...Historically, people have used literacy to obtain political power. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it is evident that books, reading, and words themselves represent power for different characters in different ways. Close analysis of Liesel Meminger and Max Vandenburg reveals that power can be achieved through literacy in a context where literacy is severely limited. Literacy plays a major role in Liesel’s adolescence. Liesel obtains power through literacy as it gives her a sense of comfort and control. The act of reading and writing gives Liesel the strength to cope with and heal from her emotional trauma. Reading and finishing the book The Gravedigger’s Handbook helps Liesel find the courage to move on from the loss of her brother. Although Liesel does not yet know how to read when she arrives at the Hubermann’s on Himmel Street, she keeps the book to comfort her, as it is the last object she has relating to her brother. When papa and Liesel finish reading the book, Liesel “trot[s] out, involuntarily” (Zusak 87) by explaining to Hans that her brother’s name “‘was Werner’” (87). The act of Liesel’s words being spoken involuntarily suggests that “she is finding some freedom in the effects of her disturbing experiences” (Lee 14). Liesel does not have to force herself to speak to Hans about her brother as she has gained emotional stability. Additionally, literacy helps Liesel recover from her distress as Hans reads to her nightly. Hans reads to Liesel “to soothe...
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...In her article, Debbie Harwood highlights the importance of incorporating critical literacy practices in literacy education in order to teach and encourage children to think critically, question texts and transform themselves or the world around them (Harwood, 2008). Critical literacy’s aim is to encourage children to be aware of the underlying nature and the purposes of literacy, as well as the different worldviews through which literacy can exert and maintain power (Harwood, 2008). It is important that we as educators teach and encourage children to use critical literacy skills as they engage with texts, and to encourage them to explore and learn about multiple perspectives, as well as to question what they read in order to uncover and recognize...
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...Academic Literacy in the Classroom Vincent Bordi Grand Canyon University: SED 535 February 6, 2013 Abstract Presented in this paper is a class and student profile concerning literacy traits as observed in a 9th grade health class at Lathrop High School. From classroom observations and personal research the class as a whole was analyzed on how they were able to read and write while also observing the strategies the teacher used to promote these literacy skills. To better understand literacy skills used by the teacher in the classroom there was a meeting between him and I where we discussed different strategies that he incorporates into his lessons. Attached are the observation summaries along with a Venn diagram that is based off one student that was individually observed. Introduction What do you need to know to become an educator for adolescents? It is obviously a requirement to master the content being taught and having the ability to manage a classroom; however educators are sometimes oblivious to one trait and that is teaching literacy. Most information in the secondary classroom is extracted from text and a common misconception is that it is not the responsibility of content instructors to teach literacy. It is often thought teaching how to read and write is up to English teachers while a content educator only needs to focus on their content. Observed Classroom as Whole From the little time spent observing the classroom a lot of information was...
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...Media Literacy Project medialiteracyproject.org Introduction to Media Literacy Media literacy is a set of skills that anyone can learn. Just as literacy is the ability to read and write, media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media messages of all kinds. These are essential skills in today's world. Today, many people get most of their information through complex combinations of text, images and sounds. We need to be able to navigate this complex media environment, to make sense of the media messages that bombard us every day, and to express ourselves using a variety of media tools and technologies. Media literate youth and adults are better able to decipher the complex messages we receive from television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, signs, packaging, marketing materials, video games, recorded music, the Internet and other forms of media. They can understand how these media messages are constructed, and discover how they create meaning – usually in ways hidden beneath the surface. People who are media literate can also create their own media, becoming active participants in our media culture. Media literacy skills can help children, youth and adults: • Understand how media messages create meaning • Identify who created a particular media message • Recognize what the media maker wants us to believe or do • Name the "tools of persuasion" used • Recognize bias, spin, misinformation and lies • Discover the part of the story...
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...When you think about literacy you generally think of sharing your ideas and opinions with others, but how is this a bad thing you say? Well to us the average citizen it's not. literacy helps us human beings to become closer and to improve off of others ideas and thoughts. Sharing these ideas and thoughts come in many different ways, such as body language, pictures, symbols and so on. Literacy may be more powerful than you think. “Thinking” can sometimes cause controversy, to someone with a strong political grasp on the community or state may think of this as a threat. If the person in power is enforcing very moronic laws, The people might start to spread controversial statements and thoughts on the person in power. Due to these controversial statements, the person in power has to develop ways of deterring...
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...The Power of Knowledge Frederick Douglass addresses in his autobiography the cruelty and the barbarity of slavery The Narrative life of Frederick Douglass and his speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July to a Negro.” He emphasizes this by using education as the key to the path of freedom. Knowledge has liberated those who have been oppressed by slavery. Nelson Mandela, a famous civil rights activist and the first South African president, once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world.” (Mandela, 1993). Both were subjugated by societies filled with abusive racism. Douglass used education as a weapon to guide him to his independence. Through knowledge, Douglass ascended to be as educated as a white man. By insisting on his credibility, appealing to his readers’ emotions, and making logical arguments against his oppressor, Douglass communicates that literacy is a tool used to overcome the oppression of slavery. This is significant because literacy broadened the perspective of slaves, which enabled them to prevail against inhumane conditions. As a former slave, Douglass emphasizes reliability by talking about his experience as a slave to show how slaveholders would prevent them from knowledge. He realized his life had been molded into an abrupt distorted lie created by the most wicked of men by stating, “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about...
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...Predictors of Reading Literacy in the Netherlands Drs. Andrea Netten, National Language Center, The Netherlands Prof. dr. Ludo Verhoeven, National Language Center, The Netherlands Dr. Mienke Droop, National Language Center, The Netherlands Abstract The purpose of this study was to construct a longitudinal model that predicts reading literacy at the end of primary school. The data of 822 students who participated on a combined PRIMA and PIRLS 2001 study and PRIMA 2003 study were analyzed. The following student variables were considered for the model predicting Reading Literacy in grade 6: Nonverbal Intelligence, Home Reading Resources, Decoding, Language Comprehension, Mathematics, Reading Motivation, Academic Self-confidence and Reading Literacy in grade 4. The fit of the model was found to be good. The model explained 62% of the variance in Reading Literacy in Grade 6. The three school-learned skills that were entered in the model; Language, Decoding and Mathematics have proven to be important predictors for reading literacy. With respect to the two variables measuring attitudes, Reading Motivation and Academic Self-Confidence, it can be concluded that they contributed, either direct or indirect, to the prediction of reading literacy in grade 6, although they explained only a small part of the variance. Introduction For a student to become a successful and productive adult in society, good reading skills are essential. To refer to the demands for literacy in today’s society the...
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...other hand, successor Alexander III had a conservative ideology. He believed in the doctrines of Nationalism, Eastern Orthodoxy and autocracy. Alexander III often questioned his father's reforms, which he thought were too liberal and diminish the power of autocratic leadership of the country. After his accession of the throne, Alexander III started a wave of "anti-reforms", as he reversed his father's liberal reforms. ...read more. Middle However, under Alexander III, the power under the Zemstva was acutely restricted. These administrative powers held previously by the Zemstva were handed to the Ministry of Interior in 1889. Thus, Alexander III restricted what people could do in Russia and accumulated that power in his own hands. Another contrasting policy between the Tsars was that of Education. Previously, education was only affordable to the very wealthy. However, Alexander II began a new era in terms of who could receive education. In order to increase literacy in Russia, Primary and Secondary Education was available for all citizens of the empire by 1863. Alexander II also permitted the discussion of sensitive topics in universities such as government and law. This liberalization of the education system resulted in much higher literacy rates and the ability for students to express themselves. However, Alexander III saw this universal education coverage as a threat to Russian...
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...Imagination. This word is all too familiar, but what’s not so familiar is the true meaning of imagination and what it means to literacy. Yes, imagination is the thought process that leads to creativity, but is it possible to be creative without the basic principles of literacy? Mikala Lowe’s narrative, Charlie, and Katja Kleine’s Reading Without An Imagination argue that the answer to this question is no. Both authors have discovered the value of literacy in their own creativity. In order to appreciate the role of imagination in literacy, one must first learn to appreciate literacy itself. Imagination is defined as “the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses” (Lowe 3). Without...
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...This study states trust and depression are issues that cause difficulties with glycemic control. The purpose of this paper is to critique the quantitative study and offer a critical synopsis of the research presented. PICO (Patient, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes) is a type of model used to aid in framing questions for the research study. It helps to define questions that will support the specific population being studied and aids the reviewers in finding relevant information and evidence within the literature (Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois [UIC], 2012). The population studied was uninsured patients with diabetes. In considering the intervention and comparison, the goal of the study was to link health literacy and patient trust factors as predictors of glycemic control. Other factors that were considered were: socioeconomic status, diabetic knowledge, self-care activities, and depression (Mancuso, 2010). The outcome of the study suggests that trust and depression in the patient population was a factor in glycemic control; however, patient’s ability to understand their health, their...
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...desire to be “mentally alive” (Malcolm X, 1925) in him, while Douglass viewed reading as a means to escape “mental darkness”. (Douglass) Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass were affected greatly by the power of reading, and it is important to note exactly how it impacted their lives, what prompted their decision to learn to read, the parallels between the ways they both learned to read, the knowledge they both gained through literacy, and what they both discovered about “the curse and not the blessing” of literacy. First off, it is safe to say that Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass were not simply impacted by their opportunities to teach themselves how to read, rather, their entire lives were...
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...his/hers life time, explains every single detail because they remember what they felt at that moment, how it felt, the smell, the light, the thoughts, everything. Slaves suffered too much, until they said “enough”. As black slaves, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs have a lot of common because of the symbolism they used, the theme of how they describe slavery, and the literacy scene in how they did something everyone thought was impossible. For both, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, the symbolism of the word “slave” had a deeper meaning than just a word. In “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave” is written, “The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, change to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon” (Douglass). In this quote, Douglass is describing how the person who bought him for slave changed from being a good person to becoming a demon. The power that corrupts this person which in the story is Mrs. Auld makes her become a bad person by wanting to have control over the slave. This is one example of the symbolism of how Douglass used the transformation of a good person to bad by owning a slave. In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” is described, “When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command...
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...South Carolina Social Studies Academic Standards Mick Zais, Ph.D. State Superintendent of Education South Carolina Department of Education Columbia, South Carolina State Board Approved Document – August 18, 2011 Contents Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iii Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1 Social Studies Standards Page Format .............................................................................................5 Grade-Level Standards for Social Studies Grades K–3 Kindergarten. Foundations of Social Studies: Children as Citizens ...............................................7 Grade 1. Foundations of Social Studies: Families........................................................................12 Grade 2. Foundations of Social Studies: Communities ................................................................17 Grade 3. South Carolina Studies ..................................................................................................22 Grades 4–5 Grade 4. United States Studies to 1865 ........................................................................................29 Grade 5. United States Studies: 1865 to the Present ....................................................................36 Grades 6–8 Grade 6. Early Cultures to 1600...
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...wants education in universities to not be biased and allow women the same opportunities and privileges as men have to be able to get an education. Rich believes that it if women are limited in their education and denied the understanding of their female roots and heritage that it will be difficult for them to gain awareness of themselves and the world around them. Literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment, and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy. According to the “United Nations, Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, Statistical Office, 1977 Compendium of Social Statistics (New York: United Nations, 1980) it reports that “in an age of increasing illiteracy, 60 percent of the world's illiterates are women. Between 1960 and 1970, the number of illiterate men in the world rose by 8 million, while the number of illiterate women rose by 40 million.”(76) Rich wanted to convey the message how statistics and numbers reflect her message that something needs to done for more women to become literate. As a matter of fact, literacy is a right that we all should have and is a key outcome of education. Ones life experiences could open you up and teach you more about the basics of education that you learn in the classrooms, but also broaden your horizons to what else is out there in the world. Rich...
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...Zahra Arraya Professor George Lambert English 201: Writing in the Disciplines 17 April 2016 Dysfunctional Definition of Literacy The ex-Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan once said in one of his speeches during his term that, “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope” (Unesco). Thus, being illiterate is not the way to get out of that dark hole especially when you have the access to learn it. However, one might think of being literate as a way to simply get jobs or to survive, and I would not disagree with that, but I think that literacy cannot just be defined as the one only might think of it as. Furthermore, the connection between literacy and the form of literacy itself, which people use as a necessity, was also mentioned in Literacy and the Politics of Education by C.H Knoblauch as a functional literacy, and he basically explains that this kind of literacy used when people process the information, such as “reading sets of instructions” (Knoblauch 76). Even though Knoblauch agrees that this type of literacy is the most familiar one, I believe that there are still ups and downs of defining literacy in a functional way. Ultimately, defining literacy as a functional literacy does not really enclose the process of being literate completely, and there is also a limitation with seeing literacy this way because it simply ignores other purposes of being literate such as helping people who are in need. There are numerous of people that I personally...
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