Courtney Adams Blog #2

Until recently, the term being literate to me has meant being able to read and write, now that I am associating the idea of being literate with technology, speech and text, I come across the term personal literacy.  I thought literacy was something taught in a textbook that will be inserted into all people if they want to be literate no matter what their personal background is. 

In the text I find, “To become personally literate, you must consider your attitude toward language and how it has been affected” (Melzer, Coxwell-Teague 64).  This stood out to me and made me realize that everyone is literate in his or her own personal ways.  People around the world speak different languages, just because they don’t speak my language doesn’t mean they aren’t literate, they are literate just in different ways.  Also, with the English language, people’s experiences such as where they were brought up or what school they attended all effect their personal literacies.  I am surprised that your attitude toward language and your background with writing plays a role in being literate.

Through this section of text I have learned that in school, students do not need to learn everything from their teachers, individual student experiences can be a lesson within themselves.  “Exploring you personal literacy histories can help you challenge your education, your beliefs, your communities, and your experiences with cultural and racial diversity” (65). Your experience being literate can be studied and analyzed to help better understand why your personal literacy is different than the person next to you.  A lesson that will never be found in a textbook is a person’s experience and how it has affected their literacy, but to acknowledge these experiences is important in developing educationally.  Maybe you realize in the past you have succeeded in reading but have struggled with writing.  By recognizing that, you can break down the problem to challenge you education.