Day 2 Teaching of Reading – Literacy
I love to read aloud!
Today I learnt that stories are great ways to begin lessons, to connect the teacher with the student, to connect the student with their creative and imaginative self, with the goal to stimulate learning.
Class began with the story of The Knee High Man by Julius Lester where the theme of self actualization was evident. Then we decoded reading:
- Word Identification
- Vocabulary Acquisition
- Comprehension
Here are some more takeaways. Reading and literacy are inextricably bound to each other. Just as we cannot separate the clouds from the sky, if a person cannot read, functional literacy will be a challenge. Reading is important not just for ourselves to negotiate our existence in the world, but also to help us become useful contributors within our community and spheres of influence.
There are many types of literacy such as academic literacy, media literacy, numerical literacy, political, digital and financial literacy, to name a few. Is it ignorant to postulate that literacy only encompasses the ability to read and write as literacy transcends many facets of one’s human existence? Assuredly, yes. As an aside I certainly think that a focus on sexual literacy in schools can help teens make better informed choices as it relates to their sexual behaviours.
Another valuable nugget from class discussion was that literacy uses language. For us to express language we utilize phonology (speech sounds), orthography (spelling patterns), morphology (composition/formation of the written word), graphology (shape of the language characters) syntax (grammar rules), and semantics (word meaning).
Upon reflection I feel fortunate that English is my arterial language as it is riddled with language complexities and exceptions.
10.03.2021
