Digital Literacy in my Own Words

I agree with the last comment for Dustin Anderson’s piece. "The new classroom should teach the huge array of complex skills that come under the heading of digital literacy. And it should make students accountable on the Web, where they should regularly be aiming, from grade-school on, to contribute to a wide range of wiki projects."(Anderson) I was not really taught about using the computer till in middle school and even then that was minimal. In high school my range was broadened but, only to a certain extent. There was no blog, Moodle, or animoto instruction at all. The instruction they did give to me was very limited. I barely know how to use an online database and the only online tool that I got to use was Prezi. When I came here to college I had to basically teach myself how to use all these other kinds of programs that we were expected to know already. High school only prepares you for writing by drilling into your brain the MLA format saying that you have to follow this in college. Never had I heard the term digital literacy used before. The teachers completely ignored that part of the subject. I now think of digital literacy as basically anything you read and write that you see through a screen. Blogs, emails, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are just a few examples of this. I feel that in at least middle and high school they should better prepare us for this new digital world. They should explore more digital options that will make it easier for high school graduates to transition into their new college life. This is already happening for some elementary schools have Smart Boards in all their classrooms. This is a step forward in which should continue and be spread throughout all schools and areas. In all digital literacy should be more thoroughly taught and earlier.      

Literacy timeline

4 years old- spoke my first word

·         Elementary school= Dad reads books to me and my sister, I read books in morning as my mom helps me get ready

·         Not a big book reader

·         Speech and Language therapy

·         Dr.Suess and picture books were the first books that I read which helped me develop my skills

·         Father loves  historical/factual books, mother doesn’t like books, older sister likes all kinds of  books

·         Slow reader and difficulty understanding made it hard to read and write

·         Television, movies were more my passion.

·         Horrible handwriting which many people couldn’t read discouraged me from writing

·         Middle school= typing class was slow when everyone was fast

·         Mysteries (Nancy drew, Agatha Christie) were the only kind of stories that I enjoyed reading

·         High school= started reading sci-fi and fantasy books, combination of romance and different people made me feel better that I wasn’t like everybody else.

·         Get involved in series and get consumed by them.

·         Would make up stories in my head based on other books I read, T.V shows I watched, and things that happened to me

·         Would sometimes write them down

·         Reading and writing was/is an escape from my life especially when life would get hard

·         Father jokes I might become a writer when I am older.

·         The more I read and write the better I felt about my literacy and myself

·         Got a Kindle in the middle of high school. It made me read more(don’t know why) 

·         Now can’t wait for the next book that I am going to read to come out

Summary/Response assignment

I didn't really connect with any of the readings. In the case of Sherman Alexi he felt literacy was important to him because his father was a very active reader. Therefore he wanted to read just like his father. Even though my father loves to read, what my father read (most of them historical and religious books) was uninteresting to me. My experience was sort of the opposite of his. I didn’t automatically love to read. In fact, I didn’t like to read at all. This was probably due to the fact that I was a slow reader and it toke me a little longer than everyone else to understand what I had read. It wasn’t until I was much older in high school that I connected with reading and writing. I then found I was creative because of the stories I made up in my head.  So maybe I did sort of connect with this story but, in a different way than expected. I don’t have any major cultural differences like Amy Tan does. I am a horrible drawer so I didn’t connect with Barry in that way. I do connect with her in the way of her two questions. I have definitely asked myself those questions before. When I ask myself these questions to me my writing becomes less unique. What I should be asking is, is this right for the assignment? When I occasionally write stuff for my own purposes I feel like my real multi-layered personality comes forward and shines. Does this suck? That is a question that I ask myself in everything I do. I have found that when I ask myself that question the answer in almost always yes. That is because I always expect more of myself. It brings down my confidence level and makes me feel stupid. I now don’t ask myself that question as much so that I can feel good about myself. 

My Wake Up

             We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. This is the preamble of the U.S constitution one of the most important documents in our history. With all the upcoming election for president coming up I wanted to get information on both sides. There is plenty of pro-Obama information out there in the media, from my teachers from my family. Anti-Obama is harder to find and figure out. My father is right now what everybody calls a republican. I have always actually considered him more of a pro-American even though he is a Canadian. Most of the time when he would go on his anti-Obama rants, I would just tune it out or just nod my head and say ok in the right places. I recently went to see the movie 2016: Obama’s America. It has not been promoted in the media or by anyone I know. I went into the movie with an open mind. That wasn’t very hard because I didn’t know that much about Obama. I found out a great deal about him in this movie. The movie basically explains this one man’s discovery of who Obama is and why he has made the decisions he has in the white house. This movie was basically a version of the man’s (Dinesh D'Souza) book. In the movie the man basically just reads Obama’s autobiography and interviews people and then draws conclusions based on the facts he has been given. The first thing I noticed was that there were more people than I expected there. There were between 40-50 people in the theater when I expected there to be maybe two other people there along with me and my parents. The next thing that surprised me was after the movie everyone clapped when the credits started rolling. Most of the movie’s I go to even when they were rated famously great like The Dark Knight no one clapped at the end. The last thing that I thought was interesting was the fact that I was so captivated by the movie. That was very evident when I had to rush to the bathroom right after the movie ended. When my parent’s and I got into the car, we discussed the movie on and off like. There would be periods of calm discussion and then there would be periods of passionate conversation. Watching this movie certainly was a factor in choosing which side I am going to vote for in this next election. It also made me wake up to what was really going on in this world and look at the facts that I was choosing to ignore. I don’t expect you to share my opinion all I want you to do is to go and see this movie and make conclusions for yourself. After all, isn’t that the goal of a great documentary film?

Why writing is important?

            Writing is important in my career of being an elementary school teacher. I will be teaching the basics of writing to younger children so I should know how to write effectively. Also, I might have to write reports to my colleagues and supervisor. Being a good writer will help me be successful in my career because it will shoe that I am capable of teaching writing as well as other courses. Even though I will not be teaching that advance kind of writing it is important that I know it so that I can set up the basics for the students I will be teaching.

Writing is important in school because it is the most effective way other than actually telling someone how you feel and the fact that you know what the class is working on. Taking tests and writing papers are the two best ways to show you know the material and can use it. No one likes to take tests so writing is a good second option. Writing can also help improve other subjects. If you can write effectively you can take notes effectively. Taking notes is very important in school because you can then get all the information the teacher is teaching.

I improve my writing in a lot of ways. I write in a journal so I have an easier time getting my thoughts down which might come in handy if I write a paper about a subject I am passionate about. I also write down some stories that pop in my head. My stories come from dreams or ideas I get from reading other stories. If only I can improve my typing skills now.