...Essay #1, First Draft English February 12, 2013 Literacy is About Communication, Not Group Loyalty After reading the articles by Stephanie Roach, James Paul Gee, and Lisa Delpit, I find myself agreeing very strongly with Delpit. Roach and Gee both imply that trying to teach a standard type of literacy might be violating the special cultural qualities of poor students and students of color. It’s true that the United States of America is made up of many ethnic and racial groups, and many of them have special ways of thinking and expressing themselves. But the key to success in this country is learning standard literacy, which is common to everybody. You really can’t succeed in America if you don’t first master this common language that we all share. The simple question raised in the famous Newsweek cover article in 1975, “Why Johnny Can’t Write,” was: Are American children learning to write, and if not, where is the problem? This is a simple question, and it cannot be avoided, as Roach does, by accusing the author of that article, Merrill Sheils, of trying to alarm people about something that she doesn’t really prove, using the few examples of bad writing she has in the article. The fact is that American school children don’t write very well, and Roach knows that. Thousands of studies and journal articles since 1975 have confirmed this sad fact. Roach cannot avoid this reality by agreeing with Humpty Dumpty that “words can mean whatever Humpty wants them to mean...
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...The Night Before An Examination It was the night before my examinations. I was appearing for my matriculation examination, for the third time. Come on, even intelligent people fail their exams too!! It was that “butterflies in stomach” Part-3 once again. Not for me, hah.. am talking about my parents. God knows why they took so much of tension about my exams. I had warned my parents of Diabetes and Ulcers way back, but they would never listen. I even asked them to emulate my carefree attitude when it came to exams, but they were one ignorant lot who would not heed good advice. Anyways, I was cool as a cucumber, because this time I had decided that it would not be the Season Three of some failed daily soap. I had made all fool-proof arrangements to pass this time. My dedication, patience, perseverance and persistence would definitely see me through my exams this time around. Day in and day out, I had sacrificed all my useless activities that kept me unduly busy; computer games, movies, parties, discos.. everything! I gave up everything as soon as the exam time table was announced. All my energy and efforts were now aimed at one single objective: getting the question paper somehow!! Patience is always rewarded, so are genuine efforts and dedication. I was lucky enough to discover a gem of a person in one of my class-mates, whom I revered as my senior, coz he had failed thrice in the same exam. He would have made one hell of a statesman...
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...Literacy can be promoted and encouraged by different influences in a child’s life, but most importantly it starts with the influences of home. Just reading to your children daily can be beneficial to their literacy development. They can begin to connect words with print and see that the books and print have meaning. It is also important to extend conversation with children so that their oral language can improve with their reading and writing skills. Teachers can then lead activities for children that are more structured like writing exercises that uses different materials to create the written form. Siblings can enhance their literacy development by showing or imitating reading and writing skills to show siblings how to recreate those skills. The environment can also provide ways to support literacy development early on in a child’s life. They notice logos and remember by sight different ways to promote literacy. There are four stages that can promote reading but I choose to discuss storybook reading. “Storybook reading provides children with access to enjoyable children’s books, building positive attitudes about books and reading.” (Christie 79) This is the beginning step to introduce children to literacy. They can gain a lot knowledge pertaining to print awareness and oral language. Reading children stories can enhance their imagination and also present the opportunity for them to describe the story in their own words. Educators can promote this stage by providing various...
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...Young people in the 21st century do not value literature as a essential tool to expand their creativity. The decline of literacy in young Americans has a negative effect on intellect, and often political matters. The lack of literacy puts a damper on fundamental character building and mental skills needed in the work place, Dana Gioia reveals that reading in the business world is a important skill to have, and studies describe the literacy characters on the members of the 21st century as, “not linear, logical, and analytical talents.” Unskillful traits like these are not particarly in favor due to business leaders looking for, “consistently set imagination, creativity, and higher-order thinking at the top” as their set standards. Because...
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...Health Literacy "It has long been recognised that people with less well developed literacy, language and numeracy skills (LLN) also have poor health outcomes." (DfES 2006). Poor basic skills impacts on the ability to navigate the healthcare system. It makes it harder, if not impossible, for individuals to make choices about their treatment and their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices. Health Literacy is the ability of individuals to make informed decisions about their health. Everyone needs these skills, but those with poor LLN skills are more at risk poorer health literacy, poorer health outcomes and greater health inequalities. Health literacy involves basic health knowledge and a range of skills including: • the ability to find and read health information; • the ability to comprehend and evaluate health information; • the ability to communicate verbally with health professionals; • the ability to assimilate the above to make better informed personal decisions on their health. Within a health context these skills are needed in order to: • navigate and access the healthcare system and use services appropriately; • communicate health needs effectively; • make empowered choices and decisions about both healthy lifestyles and treatment options; • understand and follow treatment instructions; • both communicate and understand essential information in routine...
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...Musical Literacy: The Stuff of Genius Keith Rulli COM 156 December 7, 2012 Karen Nowak Musical Literacy: The Stuff of Genius Literacy is the ability to read and write, which implies knowledgeability and capability of exercising one's ability through comprehension and expression. It is developed through learning and training in the intellectual and formal standards of a language. It is not a natural talent or innate capacity, therefore, it is not to be underestimated in importance. Standard, or formal English, differs from substandard, or informal English, as well as broken English and slang, because it is contrained by formal rules and elements. Language of a higher caliber is of greater worth because of its sophistication which breeds sophistication. People with a feebly sentimental attachment to their own nature and its affections may be complacently stifled from pursuing a sophisticated consciousness. Fluency and literacy are not the same. Fluency only requires a degree of understanding that gives one the ability to easily and readily express oneself. Often, illiterate or borderline illiterate individuals are able to speak and understand the English langauge in a basic way. People who speak the same language often speak different dialects identifiable by characteristic nuances. The concept of musical literacy is one that many people are unfamiliar with. Musical literacy is partially an understanding of the notation system that enables one to read notes...
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...Interviews Literacy is usually understood as the reading, writing, arithmetic abilities. The term also includes the skills to use language, images numbers, and computers to communicate. An interview to five parents was conducted in order to understand how they view the importance of literacy and the steps used to implement it with their children. The interviews showed that all parents see literacy as highly important in the children’s lives. It was stated that through literacy children develop their speaking and listening skills, help children to improve strong vocabulary, to express themselves and communicate better with others. And stimulates motivation, comprehension, curiosity and memory skills. It was very interesting to see how al the...
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...Jake Andryshak Jerry Tartaglia English 101 November 12, 2013 The Decline in Literacy The decline of literacy has been something that has changed over time. Words used in the past may not show up in today’s vocabulary. Historical events will impact the writings and the verbal words during that time. Literacy will change according to time eras and with what is going on during that time. Through history the way people spoke to one another and the way they wrote has changed. During the civil war era, people wrote differently. They used a different assortment of words. People back then had a diverse vocabulary that people today do not use. The language and literacy has been molded as each decade past. Events in history have impacted the way people speak and write to one another. During the 50s America was coming off of the Great Depression. Times were pretty great, it seemed like there was an abundance of money. People were living the American Dream. This was the era of the movie “Grease”, with John Travolta. People had their clicks like they do today but each click resembled a gang. People had different words that meant the same thing, for example the word ‘chick’ was used in place of girl. The word ‘bread’ is not the eatable cooked wheat, it actually meant money in the 1950s. In the 1960s, during the decade of the hippies, the meanings of some words changed. When someone said ‘that’s boss’, it meant something that was the best of or something that was great. During the...
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...thinking about this project, I had plenty of opportunities to read other people’s papers and compare them to mine. I found out that everyone is different; their views on the subject of literacy varied a lot from one person to the next. I experienced the difficulties that one encounters when you try to define such an ambiguous term. How do people set the standards for this? And how do we know which definition is the correct one if everyone will debate the term because of their different views on it. The readings helped a lot because they served as a base for my argument. Brandt is more interested in the way people view the different aspects of literacy rather than arguing the standards she would set for the term. Young and Kendall also impacted my arguments because they see literacy in a rhetoric way speaking about the importance it carries and the ambiguity it possesses as well. As hard and complex as it was for me to begin this paper, I decided to speak of literacy as a process in everyone’s life. Starting from reading and writing and ending with our employers who are most likely the ones who will be setting the standards for our literacy level. As I read, I saw that the paper wasn’t flowing smoothly and I tried focusing on transitions from one idea to another as I went on to my final draft. As I see literacy as a process that is constantly evolving and flowing through out education and our lives, I thought that my paper should also be a flowing process that allows one idea to follow...
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...EMERGENT LITERACY Emergent literacy is used to describe how a young child interacts with books and when reading and writing, even though they could not read or write in the usual sense of way. Emergent literacy is a process that takes place over the timeframe from birth until a child can read and write in what we think to be a standard sense. The key to term literacy is the consistency of all parts of language: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing. Some people believe that, up until a child starts school he/she will first learn to read and then learn to write. The process to learning to read and write has to start early in a child's life. Right away they have contact with different types of communication from the start. Most children can identify basic signs and logos by the age of 2 or 3. From there they will begin to experiment with written forms of communicating long before they can read by scribbling. Reading and writing develop at the same time in young children who are unified or consistent. Children love to make marks on paper. As they do this, they begin to realize that the symbols on pages are letters that form words. This will help with the attempt to put their thoughts down on paper as well. The development of writing skills consists of stages that children go through. Parents can promote early literacy development for infants by presenting cloth or cardboard books with bright pictures, reading books that have rhyming words, surrounding children with...
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...Running Head: Competency in Information and Technology Literacy Abstract The dynamic changes in information technology has advocated for nurses highly qualified in nursing informatics. This paper discusses some barricades allied to the employment of essential Nursing Informatics competencies into undergraduate nursing websites. Introduction Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to discover, repossess, evaluate, and use information. The Changes in information technology have led to new changes in the way nurses operate on patients. These nurses have to undergo various competencies. This paper discusses the changes and the required competencies. Discussion Information literacy is important in the nursing researches and practical working with the nursing informatics equipment. It is not just for students to learn but for practicing nurses and other healthcare practitioners as well. The practice of nursing in which the nurse makes medical decisions based on the best existing research proof, his or her own clinical expertise, and the needs and inclinations of the patient is referred to as evident based nursing. The nurses should learn to practice Information system to design and maintain their healthcare information. For instance, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant or Patient Data) could allow nursing scholars to access various decision support systems that would offer them with professional guidance relating to specific care and treatment matters at their patient’s...
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...University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, Pennsylvania FINANCIAL LITERACY AND FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING CAPACITY: THE GENDER BALANCE ISSUE Ebiringa, O. T. and Okorafor, E.O. Department of Management Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria ABSTRACT This paper investigates the extent to which age, level of education, nature of work and experience affects the financial literacy levels of Master of Business Administration students of Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria. It equally assesses the extent to which gender difference discriminates in financial decision making, as there seems to be inconclusive notion that female students are better at financial decision making than their male counterpart. Students who took a three credit hours course in Financial Economics during the 2009/2010 academic session as well as participated in a financial literacy capacity program jointly organized by GTBank Plc and SIFE a part of the continuous assessment for the course constituted the study population. Quota and simple random sampling was adopted in the selection of 165 respondents whose responses provided the primary data used for analysis. Correlation coefficients and linear regression tools were adopted for analysis. The conclusion of the study based on results obtained is that gender difference though having inverse correlation with financial literacy level is not a significant predictor of financial literacy level, implying that there is no valid evidence to substantiate...
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...Many people think that a literacy event is restricted to reading and writing in some form of education, but they are wrong there are lot of things that have their own literacy events. Like baseball for example if you know or are one of the many Americans who have played or watched baseball, anyone can see the many literacy events in baseball that many learn from. For the Americans who have played baseball in their lives they have been able to learn from many different things such as professional players, retired players, experienced coaches and, other teammates. Players learn from actually playing the game, they are able to watch other players and watch how they react to certain situations and how they approach the plate during an at-bat. Also...
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...What is your understanding of Information Literacy? How useful is it to an individual, especially a student? I was given the task to formulate an essay which comprises of my understanding of Information Literacy. I will include a definition so that my audience is fully aware of what I’m speaking about and can relate what I have documented in this essay. I am a first year student at the International University of the Caribbean studying Psychology, now in my second semester and one of my compulsory courses is Information Literacy. My first impression of this course was that it was going to be a “walk-over” but as Mrs B. Anderson engages us in her creative lectures I quickly realized that it was much more than I initially thought. Information Literacy is the capability to distinguish what information is needed, appreciate how the information is prearranged, ascertain the best sources of information for a given need (the need to complete an assignment), locate those sources, evaluate the sources critically, and share that information with other individuals through various mediums. Another source, The American Library Association (1991) states that Information Literacy is “the ability to find, evaluate and use information effectively”. Information Literacy came out of the need of wanting information. In September 1991 to March of 1992, The National Forum on Information Literacy came together, established and circulated the importance of information. We all use information...
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...Brittany Bond Befumo New Literacies READ 5306 The new literacies that are emerging today provide for many exciting opportunities for teachers and their students in the classroom. However, they do pose some issues that educators must overcome. One of those issues is an availability of resources. Being computer literate is a necessary skill to continue your education and also in the work force, this means that in order to be successful students must be able to use the computer to search for information and sort through that information to determine what is important and what is not and then use that information for whatever purpose they need it for. However, not every school can afford to provide enough computers and other technologies for their students. According to the text, “schools and districts lacking technology could well be imagined only ‘partially-literate’ spaces (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack 2011).” Another issue that schools must address is how rapidly technology changes. It can be very difficult for schools to keep up because by the time they have acquired and trained all of the staff in one technology, there is already another, newer, technology out and the one that they were just getting used to is already outdated. In addition to these, we must also teach students how to use the technology that is available to them effectively. According to an article written by Helen Abadiano and Jesse Turner, the more relevant technology is to the students’ lives, the more...
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