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What are the importance literacy
The importance of teaching literature
What are the importance literacy
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“A nation that does not read much does not know much. And a nation that does not know much is more likely to make poor choices in the home, the marketplace, the jury box, and the voting booth. And those decisions ultimately affect the entire nation...the literate and illiterate.” This quote by Jim Trelease accurately describes the state of our society today. The ability to read is so vital to our past, present, and future. However, though we have raised our standards, demanded higher test scores, and increased the pressure on our educators, there is little to show for it. Jim Trelease shares the statistic in his book, The Read-Aloud Handbook, that despite our desperate efforts, there has only been a one-point improvement in reading scores between
My Antonia was not written as a true autobiography, but as a correlation of Willa Cather's life itself. Some argue that Jim Burden is just a delineation of Willa Cather. For instance, “Willa Cather was born in Virginia and moved to Nebraska to live with her grandparents in 1883” (willacather.org). Cather uses her own experience to build up the beginning plot of her Novel My Antonia. Cather's My Antonia describes the struggle and character development of Jim Burden's character as he tries to model himself after a Bohemian immigrant who is unable to cope with the guilt and strenuous life of an emigrant.
Deborah Brandt (1998) wrote “Sponsors of Literacy”, a journal where she explained her findings of the research she has done on how different people across the nation learned to read and write, born between 1900, and 1980 (p. 167). She interviewed many people that had varying forms of their literacy skills, whether it was from being poor, being rich, or just being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
I previously have mentioned, in prior reflection essays, just how important literacy is for a person’s future. Notice how I didn’t say “student’s” future? Literacy fluency effects several aspects of life, not only academically speaking. Ultimately, the literacy level of a child can directly affect their future as an adult. The whole point of Torgesen’s article “Catch Them Before They Fall” is about preventing students with literacy deficits from slipping through the cracks without the best possible, research-based interventions.
James Arthur Kjelgaard, otherwise known as Jim, was born December 10, 1910 in New York, New York as one of six children. Most of his childhood was spent growing up on a farm in the Pennsylvanian mountains. He was a writer and conservationist who loved animals and nature; one of his greatest loves was dogs. After marrying his wife, Kjelgaard’s most famous novel was published, Big Red; it was the story of a loyal companionship between a man and dog (Zietman). He combined personal experiences from his boy-hood with the animals he loved; he wrote many popular children’s stories before his tragic death at age forty-eight (Olendorf).
Literacy, or the capability to comprehend, translate, utilize, make, process, assess, and speak information connected with fluctuating settings and displayed in differing organizations, assumes an essential part in molding a young's persons trajectory in life. The ability to read speaks to a key factor of scholarly, social, and financial success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). These abilities likewise speak to a fundamental segment to having a satisfying life and turning into an effective worker and overall person (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1999). Interestingly, recent studies have demonstrated that low reading skills lead to critical hindrances in monetary and social achievement. As stated by the National Center for Education Statistics, adults with lower levels of reading skills and literacy have a lower average salary. Another study evaluated that 17 to 18 percent of adults with "below average" literacy aptitudes earned less than $300 a week, though just 3 to 6 percent of adults with "proficient" reading abilities earned less than $300 a week (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).
Pam and Bob Tebow were two students attending the University of Florida in the late 1960’s. Their first date was at the Florida- Georgia game in Jacksonville. They married in 1971 and Pam even skipped her graduation for her wedding. "Tim Tebow." Biography.com.
Jim Bowie was a difference maker and a true folk hero in the early years of Texas. He fought in the Texas Revolution alongside with David Crockett, Sam Houston, and William Travis. Fighting for independence was something he learned from his family. His father, Rezin Bowie fought in the American Revolution.
The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 32 million adults cannot read. In New York City 25 percent of adults lack basic literacy skills, the number is even higher in some of the surrounding boroughs. When parents are illiterate it has a negative impact on quality of life, puts stress on the children they rely on for communication and inhibits the child’s educational success. Higher education correlates with greater income, better health, the improbability of committing crimes, likelihood to vote and contributes to the success of future generations. The majority of Literacy Partner’s parents improved a grade level or more during the 2014-2015 program year. Of Literacy Partners students taking the GED, seventy-six percent
Last school year, I took a college class that required hours of field experience in a high school English class. I was able to observe different English classes and different high school grade levels. What made a big impact on me was to hear some of those high school students struggling with reading more than the third grade students I was teaching that same school year. These students were expected to read and comprehend grade level text when they were reading at an elementary level. Illiteracy “is considered the blackest mark of a person’s finally in school and the greatest failure in the American school system” (Tchudi, and Tchudi 75) and there are around twenty-five million functional illiterates in the United States (75). Why are our middle school and high school students still struggling with reading? What can English/Language arts teachers do to help these struggling readers?
Many people say that reading will only stimulate the mind and enhance one’s reading level. Statistics have proven that reading abilities have increased but has actually plummeted towards the ground. “Since 1983, more than 10 million Americans reached the 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level,” states the Literacy Company.
Pappano, L. (2001, November 25). Teaching Reading No Longer One-Size Fits All. Boston Globe. Retrieved March 6, 2003 from LexisNexis Academic database.
Ever since the signing of the Declaration of Independence the United Sates has strived for the betterment of its society on a whole. This effort can be seen through not only the push for higher education, but also in the standards set in the curriculum for all students. Even though there is such a push for educating the students in America, it becomes surprising that certain simple aspects of education can be almost shaded by or lost under the bigger picture. One such aspect is trying to maintain reading levels, and keeping them up to speed with the corresponding grade levels. With reading levels seemingly on a steady descending scale, it has become necessary for certain actions to take place in hopes of finding ways to bring the levels back up to par. One course of action is conducting research on the manner resulting in the suggestions of possible solutions to the reading problem. Of multiple studies conducted on the matter, one that stands out to be both direct and promising is the study conducted by the National Reading Panel.
Most administrators and educators, if asked what is the area that needs the most improvement in schools today, would answer reading. Children seem to battle with reading at almost every grade level. As reported by Trelease (2006) students do not read very much. In one reported study, 90% of the students studied devoted only 1 percent of their free time to reading and 30% to watching television. Fifty percent of the students read for an average of four minutes or less per day, 30% read two minutes per day, and 10% read nothing at all (p. 1). These statistics only serve to worsen the fear of students low reading abilities. Educators have developed a myriad of programs to improve students’ comprehension, retention, and higher level thinking skills. These skills are especially important in the improvement of scores on the state mandated assessments.
Flood, J., & Lapp, D. (1995). Broadenening the lens: Toward an expanded conceptualization of literacy. In K.A. Hinchman, D.J. Leu, & C.K. Kinzer (Eds.), Perspectives on literacy research and practice: Forty-fourth yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 1-16). Chicago: National Reading Conference.
Literacy plays an integral role in a society’s economic, educational and cultural foundation. Reading comprehension enables knowledge attainment and effective communication within a variety of settings. Despite America’ status as a developed country, reading abilities among U.S. adults continue to decline and reading score gaps between racial minority students and Caucasian majority students continue (NCES, 2017; Neuman, 2013). These facts are unsettling, and the former reflects what the latter predicts. In order to equip America’s future generations with necessary skills for success driven by quality education, boosting U.S. reading scores is crucial.