Life, Learning, and literacy
At the beginning of semester we took a dive into this concept called literacy. I thought I had a grasp on what literacy meant, but there was way more to it than I initially conceived. The in class discussions and readings help me see literacy from a whole different angle. Everyone seemed to have an idea of what literacy meant to them some were new and fresh perspectives. After the readings assigned and the class discussion I could see the change in not only my own take on literacy, but in my classmates takes as well. My writing on the process of my literacy project is below, and it discusses some of the what I then called "hiccups"(there is also a video) The project really made me think more critically than I had ever done before about literacy. To do a project around a single concept and my interpretation of it was tough to say the least. Presenting the project in a multimedia fashion only made it tougher for me, because I had to map it more so than a regular paper. All in all i really appreciated the things I learned about literacy, and its not single thing I had in mind at first, but its broad and ever expanding.
LITERACY ARCHIVE
Another literacy portion of the class was the literacy archive project. I presented an old, tattered, beat up document holder. As I explained in the presentation in class and in the writing, this document holder is dear to me. I dragged this thing with me everywhere imaginable, and it has served as the catalyst of my literacy. I found it under my mattress lying there with no life so I decided to revive it and give it a place again. Everything I wrote from that day forward was stored in this holder, and it just seemed to drive me to write and explore. The document holder gave me a place to encapsulate my thoughts, feelings, fears without restriction. I felt a sort of connection to it, and its weird to explain. I blew new air in the lungs of the holder and the favor was returned tenfold, by letting me express myself without judgement it allowed me to propel my writing skills to levels I thought weren't attainable.
Click the link below to view the writing for the Literacy Archive:
Click the link below to view the writing for the Literacy Archive:
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/rtf.png)
darius_ashe_literacy_archive.docx | |
File Size: | 12 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Literacy Readings
The literary pieces we were assigned to read were sometimes complex and other times insightful. One of my favorite readings was Raising an Arab Father in America by Diana Abu-Jaber. I thought Abu-Jaber carefully crafted what literacy meant to her. While it lacked the complexity of other readings, it broaden my perspective of what literacy. By showing that literacy is more than just reading and writing, but its understanding of people, places, and the circumstances that are in one's immediate surroundings. Abu Jaber redefined my narrow view of what being literate really means. I was brought into the story she told I felt like I could almost smell the food, and see the people in her family which made it easier for me to understand. This reading was an eye opener for me, and I believe it further progressed my writings in class and my thought patterns during the process of other readings and class discussions.
ASPECTS OF MY LITERACY
In one of my blog posts I told a small portion of the story of how I found my literacy so to speak. As I stated in the post I read the dictionary to discover words and use them in my everyday vocabulary. Sometimes I used them to look smart, other times I used the words I learned naturally almost as if I knew them forever. I think by reading the dictionary I expanded the literacy that I already had. This better help me read complex articles, and also create vivid writings with the use of colorful words. These days I have fell out of the habit of reading the dictionary, but its impact still remains.