Literacy Definition Survey - Teachers, Please Respond

[barbberry]

Hello fellow educators:
If you do not open this until after June 22, please disregard.
If you open it on or before Monday, please, please, take a moment to reply with
answers to the following demographic info and 5 questions. This is for my Emergent
Literacy class, so teachers who deal with lower levels of literacy are particularly encouraged to respond.

Teacher Survey: What is Literacy?
by Barb Berry
Demographics
Name:
Current teaching assignment:
Brief school description:
Years of teaching at this grade level:
Previous teaching assignments at other levels and years of experience:

Questions
1.In your opinion, what is the definition of “literacy”?
2.Which literacy skills or capabilities do you think are most important? Why
these?
3.What level of literacy do you think our society expects an individual to
attain?
4. What effect does family have on literacy?
5.As an educator, what is your deepest concern about literacy in your community
right now? The country? The future?


Thank You Very Much for your assistance!
Barb

[Brit]

Current teaching assignment: grade 1/2
Brief school description:canadian.
Years of teaching at this grade level: 2
Previous teaching assignments at other levels and years of experience: supply teacher


1.In your opinion, what is the definition of “literacy”?
literacy is the ability to read and comprehend, and write to express information and ideas, and to understand and evaluate messages in a variety of daily media (TV, internet,etc) at a level that allows full participation in the individual's society.

2.Which literacy skills or capabilities do you think are most important?
Reading to comprehend. All else follows from reading. If you cannot read and UNDERSTAND what you read, you will not be able to interact with text. Written text is everwhere in our world. text contains most knowlege, and is essential for basic activities -- e.g., shopping, banking, taking a drivers test, filling out a job application. Writing follows from reading.

Media literacy can exist separately from an ability to read, as individuals can see and hear connections between TV and other media texts, bringing an awareness of intertextuality, but reading is also essential in understanding messages of many ads, and many media texts heavily refrence written works (simpsons' take-off of Moby Dick, for example, not to mention the MANY ads the use text in tag lines and refrence books), so without a knowledge of the written world, even media literacy will be weak.

3.What level of literacy do you think our society expects an individual to attain?

I'm not sure how you measure levels, per se, but we all need to be at a level where we can understand political campaigns if we are expected to participate fully in society as voters in a democratic world.

4. What effect does family have on literacy?

HUGE. If family values reading, a child will become a reader. If not, their chances are much lower. If parents model reading, children will mimic it. The mimicry stage of reading is an important part of the development of young readers, in my understanding (mimcry is when a child copies reading behaviours -- holding a book, knowing which was is up, turning pages, pretending they know what the words say, which conveys an understanding that text carries message). If children don't mimic this before school age, then teachers have yet another step to take in teaching children to read. Also, if family takes time to talk with children about thoughts, texts, ideas, learning, and parents express curiosity and foster curiosity and an understanding that books can hold answers, then a child will be more likely to be more literate.

5.As an educator, what is your deepest concern about literacy in your community right now? The country? The future?

technology like IM and Twitter. I am afraid the language is going to change to the point where IMspeak is the norm. Conventions, which lend to understanding, will be misused (are already horribly misused -- look at many online posts, including my own. Capitals are no longer necessary, and are used for emphasis more and more. the semicolon is in its death throws, and fewer and fewer people know how commas and appostrophes work. My PRINCIPAL SENT HOME A LETTER last week WITH A COMMA ERROR IN IT!). Vocabulary will decrease, and because of a lack of traditional text in homes, children will have a more difficult time with conventional texts in schools, akin to the difficulty modern high school students have with Shakespeare now. Languages change, and to move to IMspeak will, I believe, be a move backward.

[lynn bambusch]

Current teaching assignment: have been grades 5-6, moving to 7-8 in the fall Special education
Been 5-6 for four years, was 6-7 for seven years total 11 years in this position
Previous teaching, four years alternative school grades 7-12 teaching math, phys ed, language arts

Literacy is the ability to read and write at a level needed to function in the society a person lives in. Therefor, literacy varies by location and culture.

One must read to comprehend, not just say the words. They need to be able to read instructions, understand warning labels and function.

My society expects people to be able to read a newspaper, understand directions, be able to take simple tests (drivers' license test), fill out forms.
Reading books or magazines are nice but not everyone does that.

The family has the biggest influence on if a student will be a reader or not. Nothing influence a child as much as seeing parents and grandparents reading books, or newspapers. If a parent goes back to college, students suddenly realize the importance of education. If a parents reads to a child, and shows interest in the story, the child developes that thrill of imagination. It always shocks me when I find that there is absolutely NO reading materials in a child's home, not eve a TV guide.

I love the technology that keeps students interested, but they no longer care about spelling. With a program that projects the word before the student finishes typing, they don't even have to think too much about what they mean. I worry that librairies will become obsolete and the thrill of reading a book will be replaced with reading things on line. Students are learning to just go on line to find answers instead of searching and sifting through materials. Too much spoon feeding, not enough individual thought.

I hopethis was in time.

[barbberry]

Thanks, Brit and Lynn, for your great replies. Your input informed and enhanced my writing. The assignment is now finished, and I thank you for offering your wisdom. You both shared valuable insights that will inform my perspective.
Barb