The Achievement of Desire... Literacy

This article by Richard Rodriguez was very captivating to me. I feel like at certain points I made a certain connections with him. Like Rodriguez, both my parents lacked that education that we had always hoped for. My parents both graduated from high school with a diploma, and the education halted. My parents however have no language restrictions, unlike Rodriguez. Rodriguez explains how education essentially caused a barrier between their family. He was always reading, in the closet, under the bed, for class or for entertainment. He had always loved being in class, and when it came to his later years in grade school, he always was the first to answer the questions. When it came to his home life, his parents struggled to help with his everyday homework, having to rely on himself even more as he got older. This is the same struggle I had. When I was in lower elementary school, my parents were able to help me navigate my way through reading, and writing, but I got older, I was more dependent to get help from teachers at school and other peers.

            I was always an avid reader through elementary school and then middle school hit me and I was forced to read the assigned books that each of us had to read. I normally refuse doing things I don’t want to do, but in the case of maintaining good grades, I continued to read the bland books assigned to me, day after day. I think this variation between the author and I; the love for reading separated both our educational paths from each other. Having parents with relatively similar educational backgrounds, he ended up going to a prestigious school, Stanford, and I find myself in at an average school, in a small college town.

            As far as literacy goes, it is clear how it can affect someone. Not only can lack of literacy affect someone negatively when it comes to jobs, everyday tasks such as driving, going to the grocery store or writing a letter, it can also have a direct effect on a family. Like Rodriguez says, “the first hours of me being home was the hardest, my mom asks, what’s new?” I can relate too. My family does not understand the trials and tribulations of college. They don’t understand why Shakespeare is important, or why we need to be able to write an effective essay. All our families know is that going to college will result in an education, which in turn will find us a great job, meaning a happier life, not all the in between. 

Szwed's Literature

I think Szwed was trying to convey what he thought literature was. In his article, he explains how it is difficult it is to specifically define literature, therefore making it hard to teach to students. Our cultural perception of what reading and writing is happens to be very narrow and strict. I think Szwed got the right idea about the way reading and writing should be used. He says “reading should not be focused on forming a single standard set of skills to be acquired and us as a whole individuals who acquire them in progression of steps which cannot be carried or avoided in learning.” Today, too many young readers and writes are have pressure on them to be “good” readers so they can do good on standardized testing. Instead, reading should be based on enjoyment and what best fits their specific needs. I think Szwed did a great job on how reading and writing should be approached. 

In Class Quickwrite

Kory James

            I am not a huge fan of doing formal reading, for the simple fact I do not have the time on my hands. When I was younger, I had a bookshelf full of my favorite books. I would read for fun, before bedtime and anytime in between. Going through school and being forced to read books that really did not capture my interest made me like reading a lot less. I do however informally read everyday, like most people. Things that I do love to read are social media sites: Facebook, twitter, blogs. Opinion articles on serious and non-serious issues in the world are my favorite reads. Arguing with people is something I like to do, not to make someone mad but to see how others react to other varying opinions, thoughts, and ideas.

            There are many different ways to teach and interpret reading and writing. I want my future students to learn to find a topic that interests them and be able to engage themselves into the reading or writing topic. There are standards as future teachers that we have to meet but I think there are alternative ways that we can make reading a writing more interesting and engaging for our students.