Literacy is the ability to read and write. Its not quite as simple as that but the definition is the basis of what literacy is. Being literate is important to every child as it provides building blocks for future learning. It is the key that opens the doors to success in the future. In the Gerringer household we have always stressed reading and writing to our children. And it must have been a lesson learned as we now have some veracious readers ready to devour what the world has to offer.
Of Reading:
In our house reading has been a very welcome activity. As infants each of my children had subscriptions to the book of the month club. My wife belongs to a book club where she reads a selected book and then meets with friends once a month to talk about what they thought about the book. I spend most of my hours at school and work but that doesn't keep me from books. I subscribe to Audible and am currently listening to book 8 of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books. We have subscriptions to many magazines that give us countless hours of reading. The Gerringer's love for reading is obvious. We are always on the lookout for good books either for us or the kids. We keep an eye on the NY Times Best Sellers list. I even listen to the Sword & Laser podcast to get reviews and interviews from the latest science fiction writers.
It's needless to say we are a reading family.
Unfortunately since the world has gone electronic, our writing has been reduced to 140 characters on Twitter or short feeling blurbs on Facebook. Even our thank you, birthday and holiday cards have dwindled down to birthday cards to immediate family only. I do occasionally write to my blog, but on the whole, writing in the Gerringer family is starting to be less and less.
One activity that hasn't changed the pace of writing is in Education. I'm, of course, still in school and write frequently. My daughter is headed off to ECU to start her college career where she will be writing frequently. My wife writes many notes during the day at her work as an Occupational Therapist. So, writing has not completely disappeared in our lives, it's just reduced in the house.
That last section really raises some interesting points. I would ask, has writing really diminished? Or has it changed? And has its definition been broadened. For example, when I ask my students (high school) if they do any writing outside of school, they say no. But when I explain that writing also includes texting, blogging, posting to Fb, etc, they say, oh, well in that case . . .
ReplyDeleteGood questions. When I wrote that paragraph I was thinking hard about changes to writing. Of course, my kids are ears-deep in technology so your point of texting, FBing, twittering, etc, is a good one. They probably write more than ever. However, that is different from my wife and I. We only text each other and typically only read FB. In fact, I think my wife has only 4 friends on her FB account. Sad, I know, but true. So, your point is a good one. Our writing has changed to take on new/different things. More so for our kids and less for my wife and I. I wonder if there was a way to actually count "writing". If so, I wonder if (like what happens in a functional family) my wife and I have handed the writing "torch" over to my kids. Meaning, writing volume is the same, its just my kids doing it.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm....as a historian I have become increasingly alarmed at the use of first emails and now texts and tweets. Hardly anyone is leaving behind any kind of literary footprint that can be studied in the future. I have just assumed that all of this represents the decline of literacy, as you suggest in your blog. But I see Mark's point...if literacy is studying the world around us and connecting with it and verbalizing about it, then "these kids today" (I'm old like you!) are actually developing a skill in their ability to quickly condense what they see/hear/feel. I guess it all depends upon how we define things.
ReplyDeleteI'll add my opinion to your section on writing. I also believe writing has changed...due largely to changes in technology. Not to say it's better or worse now, but to me, it's just different. I had to adjust my curriculum in the computer lab to include typing for grades K, 1 and 2 because we're transitioning to testing online. This means the students must know how to type (know the keyboard) well enough to complete an EOG/writing test/science test in the allotted time frame. In this case, all the writing (typing) involved in texting, facebooking, etc. would actually be great practice.
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