Jourdan Smoot December 9, 2013 New Literacy Paper Forcing Positivity into the Throats of Students At the beginning

of the semester, we were given an assignment. As a class, we were asked to individually give our ideas of literacy. What is our current understanding of literacy? How do we define literacy? How did you develop your current notion? All of these valid questions made writing the paper easier than most. I just told my story of my personal literacy and why I did not care for reading and writing growing up. I explained ideas that I have heard in classes about what is considered literacy, and I regurgitated those theories into a paper and titled the document The Big Bad World of Opportunity. I was lying. I lied right to the face of every peer in my class and my professor. Why? Why would I just tell the professor what they wanted to hear? I find myself doing that in quite a few classes. How is that learning anything if I am just simply giving a professor what he/she wants to hear? I am done giving out answers just for the sake of getting an A in the class. I do not believe in writing a six to eight page paper over a topic you dont believe in, which is how I have s pent a majority of my time in college. So, back to the original questions covering literacy, I honestly believe that literacy cannot be defined, because literacy is different for each individual person. Not only is literacy impossible to define, but we must also consider what encompasses literacy, and how as educators do we eradicate negative stereotypes with reading and writing? This

paper will be 110% different than my original, because I refuse to stand idly by and just allow these answers to be thrown up out of my mouth. Literacy cannot be defined, cannot be controlled, and cannot be forced, because literacy is only positive to those individuals that make literacy positive within themselves. The first problem addressed is the definition of literacy. According to dictionary.com, the actual definition of literacy is, The quality or state of being literate, especially the ability to read and write. The first assumed idea of literacy is that the definition only covers reading. I was a testament to that belief, because in conversation when asking if one is literate, they do not mean can they write or can they comprehend. In the register when speaking of actual individuals and most often in the work environment, when asked if one is literate they are asking if they can read. Secondly, a different issue arises. Assuming the individual in question does know that reading and writing make up the foundation for literacy, how does comprehension and understanding mix in? I believe that one can be labeled as literate if they can read and write. If that individual understands the meaning of the word and can either replicate the thought through writing or respond with an oral answer, they can be literate. I believe that many like to argue that comprehension and understanding make a solid foundation for literacy. If this is the case, my question antagonizing their thoughts would be: What line do you draw as the minimum criteria for understanding and comprehension in regards to literacy? For example, I cannot read works of Shakespeare, and automatically understand the story, metaphor, and symbolic references being made. Do most people label me illiterate? Absolutely not, I am not labeled illiterate, but I do not understand nor do I

comprehend half of the literature that I read. Often, I even write works of essays and poetry that I do not even understand. Why am I not illiterate? I guess my overall, underlying thought is what can be considered the bottom line of literacy and how do we judge such notions? There is a broadly spread idea of reading and writing being boring and not fun. The general populations of students in K-12 schools have the wrong impression of literacy, but why? Where does this negative connotation come from? I remember being in the third grade, and getting in trouble for making a catapult out of a pencil on the end of my desk. I repented, of course, but as my form of punishment, I was given a piece of paper and sentence. I was told that during my recess time, I would not go outside with my friends, but instead I would sit inside, alone rewriting the same sentence over and over again. Now, I would like someone to tell me how this is beneficial for any person involved? The problem is we use reading and writing as a form of a punishment. What you dont finish in class you have to do at home. You threw a pencil across the room, so you have to write sentences until your hand cramps. What is this honestly helping? Teachers add these reprimanded techniques, thinking they are helping children to behave, but these educators are inflicting more harm then they realize. They have just scarred a child from a lifetime of reading because she threw a pencil to a friend across the room. This may be a personal opinion, but I think these situations can be handled much more properly than they currently are. We cannot expect students to want to read or write. Teachers and educators need to find ways to help students understand that literacy is not a sadistic form of punishment. We are trying to help them in the world. Society expects a certain amount of skills, and by helping them

we are gearing them for war with weapons of MASS destruction. Words can benefit people so much, but they are still so neglected and I know why. I was a victim of this society. I could read and write, so I was labeled literate, but I did not see the point. I honestly did not see the big picture till I left home and went out in the world to make something of myself. I now read and write every single day, so for me to have been able to change my mindset, is a phenomenal tribute to the changes that can occur. No, I do not have all the answers. I am the person who can point out the plethora of different issues going on with education, but cannot necessarily provide help. This is not to say after this essay I am done. I will try and find means of conveying the positivity from literacy, but if children are anything similar to me, this will be a mountain educators need to scale. You cannot force children and students do want to do something. You can ask students to read this work, or write that paper, and they will. Students will give you exactly what I did on the last assignment. They will give you what you want to hear. Certain individuals in the world love reading and they enjoy writing, but this is not a majority of the population. There are many others who would rather do other activities with their time, and I do not always blame them. Then other issues arise in terms of if social media and video games are considered literacy. After reading James Paul Gees novel, absolutely I agree that video games help with critical thinking and literacy. Yet, do I believe that tweeting about the Coke you drank at lunch today is literacy, no I do not. I do not understand how social media is helping with anything, because I have seen the kids in the classrooms. I have seen them hunt and peck for letters trying to type. I have seen them get depressed when they are asked to write a paragraph.

Literacy is tough, and that is the bottom line. There are so many gray areas, and choosing a side proves more difficult than choosing chocolate or white cake. I like to think that change can happen, but this goes against my pessimistic nature. Addressing these issues will be tough, and hopefully there is an end in sight. I do not believe there is one answer that can cure all of the issues hiding within literacy. With a little bit of hard work and dedication, there can be some changes in this field. I hope that everyone experiences the same, positive, beneficial movement that I did, because that change really sparked a whole new chapter in my life.