what is literacy?
"Literacy is more than the ability to read and write. It involves the knowledge, skills and abilities—the competencies—that enable individuals to think critically, communicate effectively, deal with change and solve problems in a variety of contexts to achieve their personal goals, develop their knowledge and potential, and participate fully in society."
- Government of Alberta 2009
Check out the links below to videos that were put out by Inspiring Education Alberta to explain the importance of literacy.
Literacy is an important tool to include in all classrooms. It allows students to express themselves in various ways through listening, reading, representing, speaking, writing, and viewing.
LISTENING
Listening is key to the classroom because without listening learning could not happen. The main form of listening in the classroom is on you, the Teacher, and be able to express to your students what they are learning in a clear and concise way. The teacher must also listen to their students. Their questions, answers, and overall have an open relationship with your students so they feel they can always come to you to listen about what ever challenges they may be facing. Another important form of listening is students listening to each other. An environment where everyone feels free to answer a questions, ask a questions, or even speak what's on the mind is so important.
READING
The world of reading is such an exciting one, but not all students will agree. It is up to you as a Teacher to teach students how to read, excite them about the world of reading, and incorporate reading into all subject levels. Reading is a very important life skill to have and should be a skill that all students feel they can achieve. Yes you will always have some stronger reading students than others, but allowing students to be excited about reading and always excelling is so important.
REPRESENTING
Being able to thoroughly reflect and explain a topic is a very important skill for students to learn. Also being able to take ownership in something they have created and then presenting and discussing with their fellow classmates is a very important life skill for students to learn. Representing can be seen in many mediums such as video, presentations, posters, diagrams, charts, symbols, visuals, skits, mime, and models. It is important to allow students to explore all mediums of representing.
SPEAKING
Speaking is important for students to learn as it is through listening and speaking that we express our feelings, experiences, information and opinions. Building student's confidence to speak in front of one another is also very important as for some students it may take some time before they feel comfortable and confident with this and is important to incorporate as often as possible in your classroom.
WRITING
Writing enables students to explore, shape, and clarify their thoughts to communicate them to others. Students need to learn proper writing strategies so that they can discover and refine ideas with growing confidence as their abilities in writing increase. As Teachers we should aim to have at least one writing activity in your classroom everyday.
VIEWING
Viewing can come in many forms and allows students to participate in deeper thought and reflection. Mediums of viewing can include television, videos, films, diagrams, symbols, photographs, video, drawing, and art work. Also viewing other student's work and giving feedback to each other is another very important tool for students to learn from each other and help each other succeed in their work.
I AM FROM...
The poem we wrote in class was a great way to introduce the importance of literacy and enabled me to touch on all six strands of Language Arts in some way.
LISTENING
Listening is key to the classroom because without listening learning could not happen. The main form of listening in the classroom is on you, the Teacher, and be able to express to your students what they are learning in a clear and concise way. The teacher must also listen to their students. Their questions, answers, and overall have an open relationship with your students so they feel they can always come to you to listen about what ever challenges they may be facing. Another important form of listening is students listening to each other. An environment where everyone feels free to answer a questions, ask a questions, or even speak what's on the mind is so important.
READING
The world of reading is such an exciting one, but not all students will agree. It is up to you as a Teacher to teach students how to read, excite them about the world of reading, and incorporate reading into all subject levels. Reading is a very important life skill to have and should be a skill that all students feel they can achieve. Yes you will always have some stronger reading students than others, but allowing students to be excited about reading and always excelling is so important.
REPRESENTING
Being able to thoroughly reflect and explain a topic is a very important skill for students to learn. Also being able to take ownership in something they have created and then presenting and discussing with their fellow classmates is a very important life skill for students to learn. Representing can be seen in many mediums such as video, presentations, posters, diagrams, charts, symbols, visuals, skits, mime, and models. It is important to allow students to explore all mediums of representing.
SPEAKING
Speaking is important for students to learn as it is through listening and speaking that we express our feelings, experiences, information and opinions. Building student's confidence to speak in front of one another is also very important as for some students it may take some time before they feel comfortable and confident with this and is important to incorporate as often as possible in your classroom.
WRITING
Writing enables students to explore, shape, and clarify their thoughts to communicate them to others. Students need to learn proper writing strategies so that they can discover and refine ideas with growing confidence as their abilities in writing increase. As Teachers we should aim to have at least one writing activity in your classroom everyday.
VIEWING
Viewing can come in many forms and allows students to participate in deeper thought and reflection. Mediums of viewing can include television, videos, films, diagrams, symbols, photographs, video, drawing, and art work. Also viewing other student's work and giving feedback to each other is another very important tool for students to learn from each other and help each other succeed in their work.
I AM FROM...
The poem we wrote in class was a great way to introduce the importance of literacy and enabled me to touch on all six strands of Language Arts in some way.
I Am From Poem.docx | |
File Size: | 494 kb |
File Type: | docx |