We frequently hear critics argue that U.S. students can’t write well and that there is a “literacy crisis” in the U.S. What is the origin of these discourses? What do they have to do with immigration, national security, and economics? How does the notion that Americans can’t write drive the national push to test writing? Here we explore the history of writing and testing in the U.S., the “science” and technology of testing approaches, and how the rhetoric of assessment impacts the lives of Americans today.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Final Thoughts

I mentioned this in my voice thread for my Auto Ethnography, but I just wanted to place emphasis how much we rely on technology. I work for Penn Dot during the summer and when we had lunch breaks I always diverted to my phone or Ipod. The girl I was working with actually brought a book with her! I looked at her like she was crazy and then I realized: reading is a form of entertainment. Do I really need my cell phone or Ipod all the time to keep me entertained? It was at that point I started to get back into reading. When you make something fun it makes it easier to do, especially since I had that girl working with me. We made our own book club and exchanged different books throughout the weeks. I'm glad I had a chance to meet someone like her because she motivated me to read again.
My main point is that literacy comes in all forms. We are still going to rely on facebook and text messaging everyday to find out what's going on in the world and with the people around us. I just realize that there are more forms to literacy learning. I can't motivate everyone to read or write but my main goal, as a future educator, is to try my best to get students interested and to be creative. The first step is to understand why we write and how to write in a way that is clear and understandable to others. I, myself, am still learning and this class has really helped me to realize how literacy is an advancement in life--individuals need to make something out of it.
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1 comment:

Jessica said...

I think that a lot of people have the same problem you had. We rely so much on technology nowadays that we forget how we entertained ourselves before we had all these nifty gadgets. Personally, I have always loved to read and I almost always have a book on me; especially when I'm at the beach. But I completely understand where you're coming from--whenever I'm on vacation at the beach, I always get up early and walk by the water while the sun rises. I almost always have my ipod when I do this, just so I can listen to my favorite songs. However, one day last year I forgot to charge my ipod before I went to bed.. I was so irritated in the morning that I almost skipped my walk. I ended up going out anyway, and I realized how much I'd been missing--how relaxing and soothing the sound of the waves can be, how much as was able to de-stress my sorting through the thoughts in my head without all the noise. I'd been dependent on something I didn't really need, which is a problem a lot of people have today. I think we should all take a day or to and "unplug" ourselves (after classes are over, of course!) and realize there's more to life than checking our Facebook every 5 minutes.

May 1, 2011 at 10:47 PM

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