Essays On Literacy

Essay On Literacy Reflection
Welcome to my site.
Throughout my time writing at the City College of New York, I experienced a slow and dramatic
transition to my first semester of this college course. During that time, I've learned from several
feedback and lessons from certain peers and my professor. Because of the strict comments written in
my drafts by my professor, a few helpful suggestions to include in my writing, and a few miserably
failures, I was able to see how my writing and habits have changed during the duration of this
course. Back in high school, I was always comfortable writing only five paragraph essays
(Introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion), but I've never expected to write something
more complex. Here, I was encouraged to include as much detail as I can instead of writing
something vague
As you can see, for my first draft of my literacy narrative, I briefly explained how English as a
Second Language (ESL) helped me improve my reading comprehension and writing because I
was born in a foreign country that speaks Spanish, but I was brought to the United States, were it's
mostly spoken in English, and my home language remain Spanish. With that feedback from my
professor and peers commenting similar suggestions like the one above, I included specific
situations that served as examples of progress. I also expanded on a method of learning through
music lyrics by using Micheal Jackson's songs and specified the words used, I managed to compose
a decent literacy narrative for
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The Importance of Literacy Essay
Is it important to be a literate person in today's society? The ability to function well depends on
whether or not a person is literate and can comprehend what is going on around them. If a person
doesn't have the basic ability to read, they will feel the stress and dependency on others because of
their illiteracy. Illiteracy is a big problem because without the knowledge of reading, illiterate people
can't perform daily tasks and responsibilities in daily life. When all it would take is a mere two
minutes out of your day, don't you think illiteracy can be helped or even extinguished? In today's
society illiterate people are looked at as "half–citizens" (Kozol 190). They are dependent on literate
people to function daily. Think...show more content...
The problem is not only that illiterate people are dependent on others, it's also that the literate,
well–functioning people of society aren't always willing to put forth help. Help may only take a
few minutes out of someone's day, and to them be no big deal. For an illiterate person, those few
minutes may be the defining of their lives. As an example, I will talk briefly about my cousin,
born into a broken home and forced to deal with illiteracy on a daily basis. Steven was brought up
in a bad neighborhood and raised by the streets. His family simply didn't care about anything other
than how they would afford their next bottle of booze or pack of cigarettes. Growing up, he was
never told he had to go to school; therefore, he only went on occasion. His lack of schooling in his
younger years took its toll on him by the time he hit high school. Living in a bad neighborhood and
brought up by gangs, Steven's life was in a bad condition.
After dropping out of high school in his sophomore year, Steven attempted to get a job, but
without a diploma or a license this was just close to impossible for him. In desperate need of a
job, to support his growing family, Steven took to the streets and made money the only way he
knew how. After several months, he was living the good life, until the day came that changed his
life forever. He ended up selling drugs to an undercover police officer and was sent to jail for three
years.

Reflection On Literacy
Analysis
Literacy
As a child, I never had books read to me. It was not really part of the middle–class lifestyle in
Punjab, where I was born and lived for 5 years. In Punjab, I completed two years of early
education known as LKG (lower kindergarten) and UKG (upper kindergarten). The school I went
to, although a high SES school, did not have a library where we would go to read picture books.
Moreover, the books we did have for 'English' were a compilation of poems and stories, with very
few pictures. Poems or story was read by the teacher, and then told the 'moral' of the story. Nothing
more. Neither was there any extrapolation nor exploration of character or plots.
Nieto (1992) asserts that the language students bring along impacts their learning, and teachers often
want to take away the student's language and culture. I was often told to speak English at home, and
at home I was told to speak Punjabi. Teachers who want to create equity in class may in fact, by
ignoring differences, by accepting the dominant culture as a norm (Nieto, 1992). Many teachers
expect that students know how to 'talk books', because it is 'nature', however it heavily underpinned
by nature (Heath, 1982). Understanding the culture and the type of home literacies students practice
in is imperative in providing the appropriate support for the student. When I first came to Australia,
my teachers thought I had superficial English skills because I was unable to understand literacy the
way it was practiced

Essay Early Literacy in Education
Introduction
"Literacy learning has a profound and lasting effect on the social and academic lives of children.
Their future educational opportunities and career choices are directly related to literacy ability.
Since early childhood is the period when language develops most rapidly, it is imperative that young
children are provided with a variety of developmentally appropriate literacy experiences throughout
each day, and that the classroom environment is rich with language, both spoken and printed. Early
childhood teachers are responsible for both understanding the developmental continuum of language
and literacy and for supporting each child's literacy development.
Literacy learning begins at birth and develops rapidly during the...show more content...
Children can take more than one of these steps at the same time. This list of steps, though, gives
you a general idea of how your child will progress toward reading." (Helping your child become a
reader) While these ideas may seem structured, it is also important to allow children to be creative
and use their imagination. Although reading is imperative, too many arrangements and rules can
turn a child off and lead to feelings of resentment, anger, and resistance. Reading should be set to the
tone and pace of the child.
Emergent Readers
As the standards of education change a consistent factor remains the focus on reading. Early
childhood educators must provide an atmosphere that is both developmentally stimulating to the
student while also meeting the standards of education. The methods used to help recognize phonics
and begin the transition into emergent readers vary from student to student. Without the foundation
of phonics research shows that a child will not learn to read. All children must know the alphabet
in order to communicate effectively. Phonics cannot be drilled into the child. This will only
produce memorization. Instead, educators must understand a child's individual needs as well as
balance. There is no true need to teach phonics as a separate subject. Most children will develop a
sense of curiosity from their own knowledge, ideas, and interest. There will of course be a select few
that may benefit from a more formal instruction. When children

Reflective Essay On Literacy
I sealed my fate for literacy in the ninth grade. Sitting in regular level English, I was about to
determine my level for sophomore year. At the time, I didn't think I was particularly skilled in
writing, and I wasn't a big reader, so it was hard to make the decision. In that moment, I still
precisely remember my teacher asking me "Do you want to go into honors English next year? I can
see all your other classes are honors." I responded with "I'll think about it." and I went home to
get my parents opinion the same day. At first, I wanted to take honors, but for some peculiar
reason I thought the workload would be to much to handle. Leaning towards attending regular
level, my parents weren't decisive enough for me. They gave the generic "Do what you want."
response, and hearing that didn't reassure me in the slightest. In the end, I took the lower level, and
it became one of my worst decisions yet. I never actually realized how skilled I was at literacy until
late into my sophomore year. I enjoyed reading a grand amount more than I thought, and
comprehension was usually easy for me. My competence in writing was at minimum three times
greater than I initially believed. Being at the top of the class was commonplace for me, and I got
an outstanding score for English on the PSAT. It was then that I understood my terrible mistake.
Why was I in such a low level class even though I was exceeding all expectations? Why didn't I take
honors English? To this day, I'm still

Critical Literacy Essay
Premise for Critical Literacy
Critical Literacy has many different forms, and can be very different depending on which
classroom it is taking place in. The basic premise that I acquired from researching critical literacy
is that it requires the literate consumers of the text to adopt a critical questioning approach (Critical
Literacy, 2015). Critical Literacy is forming an individual opinion on a topic that isn't only
superficial, but also in depth and meaningful. Being critically literate isn't about attaining literacy
for the purpose of reading letters on a page, it is to read the words on the page and become engaged
in a discussion formulating opinions and expressing ideas openly. Becoming critically literate means
that an individual...show more content...
A couple of them are Paulo Freire, Allen Luke,Henry Giroux, and Joe Kincheloe. Many of them
share the same beliefs about this topic, but with a different viewpoint. Paulo Freire was a
twentieth–century Brazilian educator. He was born September 19, 1921 and died May 2, 1997.
Freire was a leading advocate for critical pedagogy, and contributed to the philosophy of education
from a more classical approach such as Plato and modern Marxist. Freire believed in a 'banking
method' which is compared to students. He viewed students as empty bank accounts waiting to be
filled by the teacher. According to Freire, by filling students with this new knowledge it transforms
them into receiving objects (Paulo Freire, Wiki). Paulo Freire believed that Critical thinking was not
a one–way development, not "something done for students or to them" for their own good (Freire,
1989, 34). Freire's pedagogy focused on writing, reading, and things based around the student's life,
and not repetitive lecturing. One of Freire's most stressed phrases, I believe, is "reading the world."
Something that Paulo says is that when reading words, you are actually reading different
perspectives of the

Essay on Health Literacy
Health Literacy
Health illiteracy has become referred to as the silent epidemic. According to the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services website, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy showed only 12
percent of adults have proficient health literacy. That means nine out of ten adults may lack the
needed skills to adequately manage their health and prevent disease.
Healthy People 2010 define health literacy as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to
obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate
health care related decisions." These are the skills that people need to find the right place in the
hospital, fill out insurance forms, and communicate appropriately with...show more content...
"It was estimated in 1998 that between $35–73 billion was wasted in prolonged hospital stays and
frequent doctors visits related to low health literacy" (Ickes, MEd & Cottrell, DEd, CHES, 2010,
p. 492). With all of the previously mentioned problems of poor health literacy, individuals who fall
into these categories are also more likely to die at an early age. Is there a solution to this costly
societal problem? The long–term solution rests in the hands of health education beginning in
kindergarten and continuing throughout college. We need more community involvement with this
issue. It not only affects the health illiterate but those that are very health literate. It raises the costs
of health care enormously. Despite massive technological advances and that we spend twice as much
per capita on healthcare in the United States, we remain one of the unhealthiest nations in the world.
Low health literacy contributes to our grim future. We have high rates of infant mortality; increased
mortality related to chronic, preventable disease processes; and cancer mortality could be greatly
reduced by early detection.
Health literacy is both a consumer and public healthcare issue. As a health care provider, it is not only
my responsibility to ensure that you understand your health and what is going on

Essay on Critical Literacy and Pedagogy
In this time where we receive knowledge different then anytime before, the question of how we
should interact with it should not be just raised, but emphasized on. In this new flat fast world that
we get our knowledge through, critical literacy is a valuable tool and ability that should be recalled
and available for all readers. More specific, it should be transferred by teachers to students in all
educational environment. It is an important ability for students to have towards texts. And redefining
texts to any devices or materials that we are getting the knowledge from, is the first step toward
understanding critical literacy. Beside how critical literacy spreads the awareness of looking at texts
in their social and cultural context, it...show more content...
In this context the critical literacy works, and which could be defined as the ability of using the
language to question and examine our own interaction with, developing through and vision about
the world around us, which have been defined by our cultures and social context (Shor, 1999).
Critical literacy is an action of reading beyond what we receive, specifically, on "one aspect we
are likely to agree about in principle is that Critical literacy is concerned with relations of power
and thus the manner in which power circulates both in the real world and within particular texts"
(Comber & Simpson, 2001). By using critical literacy we can come to the time when we
re–centralized, at least, the power of knowledge from those who have been controlling it to those
who have been marginalized. It is a tool that if we focus more in practicing it, the changing of the
authority and the public discourse would be more noticeable and beneficial for the majority of
people and society. With critical literacy the people become more then negative and passive readers,
rather, they would be empowered to create their own interpretation. "Critical literacy views readers
as active participants in the reading process and invites them to move beyond passively accepting the
text's message to question, examine, or dispute the power relations that exist between readers and
authors. It focuses on issues of power and promotes reflection, transformation,

Essay On My Literacy
Literacy, according to Merriam Dictionary, means the ability to read and write. Everyone has the
ABILITY to read and write, but that does not mean we are all good at writing. When I started
elementary school in Edmond, Oklahoma, the first thing I learned was reading. My teacher
would read to me and I would go to the library and pick out some books. When i got to the third
grade, i was learning how to write in cursive and how to improve my pimnimship. This is also
when I started to write in complete sentences and get into the "big kid" type of work. For me, I had
gotten bigger and bigger assignments throughout middle school and my freshman year of highschool.
My first real writing project was not until my sophomore year. I lived in a very

Essay on Literacy Narrative
Throughout my childhood, the idea of having a college education was greatly stressed. As a result,
it was my duty as the next generational child, to excel in my studies and achieve a life of prosperity
and success. Learning became the basic foundation of my growth. Therefore, my youth was
overtaken by many hours spent reading and writing what was known to be correct "Standard"
English. I first found this to be a great shortcoming, but as I grew older, I began to realize the many
rewards acquired by having the ability to be literate.
During adolescence, I began reading and writing through a fundamental learning program called,
"Hooked on Phonics." This program consisted of long hours spent reading short novels and writing
...show more content...
Unlike reading, when writing, it is important that grammar, spelling and vocabulary terms are
used correctly, therefore restricting me from writing in the way that I would prefer. The most
stressed phrase while in high school was, "It is not the content of the essay, but rather the
mechanics of grammar and speech that are most prominent." Unfortunately, I have never been
one to enjoy the art of writing. In fact, I was recently given a diagnostic test, determining at which
level I write and whether or not I should be upgraded to a higher achieving English class.
Unfortunately, I did not pass the test with flying colors. This was not due to the fact that I am
incapable of writing a good paper, but rather that I am unable to write in a limited amount of time,
using the emphasized principles of correct; grammar, vocabulary and spelling. In the reading,
Shitty First Drafts, by author Anne Lamott, it is a fact that in order to write a brilliant paper, a
first draft must be created. According to Lamott, "The Only way I can get anything written at all
is to write really, really shitty first drafts, all writers write them." (94) This is a quote in which I
can relate being that in order for me to begin a final draft, I must first have written a first draft,
usually one that is in absolute

Reflection On Literacy
How One Man Changed My View on Literacy If there is one person I have to thank for helping
me learn to appreciate literature it is Benjamin Cutler. I took honors English every year
throughout high school. At the beginning of senior year, I was enrolled in the AP Literature
course, and I thought that I would try something a little different that could better prepare me for
college. I knew that my English skills were lacking, and this course would be rather difficult
compared to what I was used to. I did the summer reading and wrote the required essay and after
the second day of class, along with failing the essay, I decided that it was not for me. I dropped
the course and enrolled in honors English IV. I knew the teacher and had heard raving reviews
from his previous students, so I was excited to be in his class. His class was a big learning
experience for me and is still with me today. To me, being literate is being able to appreciate
different types of literature, even if you do not prefer it; Mr. Cutler helped me discover this by
opening my mind to different genres and authors through books and explanations. Previous to this
class, I had dreaded English because of how much I struggled to write papers. I had written my fair
share of the meaningless, standardized five–paragraph essays, I always managed to get by with a
low A or B due to grammatical errors, run on sentences, et cetera. However, there was never any
clear criticism or feedback on the structure of my essay or

Essays On Literacy

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