Literacy definition

My definition of literacy has changed overtime at first it was simply that it is a student ability to read and write. However, I am beginning to think it is much more than that. In my placement I see a lot of literacy from my CT and she focuses on more details than just writing and reading. She stresses to her students that they need to write neatly all the time and I never viewed neatness as a part of literacy. After I thought about it though it makes a lot of sense first off I am in a second grade classroom and there is a lot of sloppy handwriting and my CT believes that it is important for everyone to have neat handwriting. Which when I thought about it I remember that if I had neater handwriting school might have been easier for me a little bit. I would not have had to redo assignments and when it came time to edit papers people would not have had a hard time telling if I spelled something wrong. In terms of reading in the class the students are always encouraged to red during break time. But the student also has to talk with another student about what they read to show that they understand it. This to me goes further than just being able to read but being able to comprehend what we read.  They also have literacy stations every Wednesday after lunch. It consist of five stations one is guided reading with the teacher, then computers in which they play spelling games and such, reading corner, leap pads, and then literacy worksheets. Each student is divided into groups based on their reading level. It seems to be effective in that the student get a lot of literacy instruction and have experiences with reading and writing. However, the student can be a little unfocused at times. Another big factor in my class is spelling words the student do an activity every day that involves their spelling words. Whether it is writing sentences or each word ten times the students have a lot of time to work with them.

I guess what I’m getting at is that my placement has opened up my eyes into what literacy actually is. That it is more than simply just the ability to read and write. Literacy is the ability for a student read but also understands what they read relates it to them, retell what they read and write about it. In terms of writing literacy is the ability to convey idea neatly in written form, organize thoughts, and be able to coherently write using their experiences