First Look at Literacy...    

   Early elementary was the first introduction to reading and writing. Being that it was 45 years ago, the library was your main location for reading materials and resources for studying. Printed material were books, encyclopedia's, and an articles that you could access using "technology" at the time, microfiche machines. Based on our readings this was introduction to reading multiple forms of text and use of electronic formate. We watched movies on a projector in class, and that was our visual media. Until looking back at our readings for this unit, I never realized

how many different forms of literacy were presented for instruction. 

First look at Writing....

    As I reflect back on my writing experiences, I have vivid memory of entering a "God, Flag, and Country" contest. We had to memorize, and recite the Preamble of the Constitution, and the write and present our speech to the class. The winner from the class moved on to the city competition. We were using content specific materials, and the creating,

 interpreting the information and presenting as a oral speech. 

 Impactful People...

     The one person that had an impact on my reading was my middle school english teacher. She introduced me to books that were turned into text to movies. I could make connections with the authors' point of view, and then compare it with the movie. I loved to do projects comparing movies to written text. She was a teacher of "new literacy" before her time.

  I continued to do that as I became a teacher. I would incorporate as much variety of material as I could for my students to make connections. I had a poetry assignment, "Interactive Music Poetry", students had certain songs that they had to listen to, interpret the meaning, find the literary terms, and complete a slide presentation. We would read a novel, watch the movie, and compare similarities and differences. I feel that this what the chapters and readings were emphasizing as being a teacher of "new literacies". 

Teaching reading goes beyond the lecture and sitting in a class being quiet. A teacher can present student of all academic levels in all content areas to use visual, digital, technological , and textual forms of literacy.