Blog Assignment-Literacy History

    

      My name is Mihir Patel and I am a sophomore at New Jersey City University. My major is finance with a minor in business. My common interests are reading books, listening to music, and playing video games. The reason why I am taking this class is because I am fascinated to learn how the American education system has changed over the past number of years and how this has impacted teachers, students, and the staff. I practiced literacy at home when I am reading articles online and when I read English subtitles when the characters in a movie are talking. Literacy is practiced in my community when people meet up at a park and have a book club. People have discussions on the chapters and make predictions on the events that are going to happen. My earliest experience of becoming literate was learning the alphabet when I was in kindergarten. My teachers helped me understand each letter and showed me words that begin with a particular letter. Furthermore, they explained the sound each letter makes. My teachers supported me because they wanted me to understand the English language better. I felt the encouragement from my teachers when they gave me a sticker and a treat because I knew how to pronounce the English alphabet. They wanted me to read more books so that I can enhance my English vocabulary. One of my earliest experiences with literacy happened in the first grade where our teachers made the class be involved in the 100 Book Challenge. The teachers read books and the students had to complete a log sheet where we would write down the title of the book, the number of pages that we read, and the date we read the book. We also needed to have our parent’s signatures on the log sheet. Whenever I would complete the log sheet. I was awarded a medal, and I was given a piece of candy. This experience significantly impacted my development because it helped me gain a better understanding of the English vocabulary. 

    I began to feel literate when I was in 3rd grade. My 3rd grade teacher read passages from a textbook. The class would highlight any vocabulary words that were going to be on the test. We would answer questions at the end of the passage. When there was a reading test, we had to answer questions that were related to the passage that we read. I enjoyed reading stories about wars and other real-life events that took place. I liked writing argumentative essays that were about pollution, unemployment, healthcare, and discrimination. I appreciated listening and viewing events about the American Revolutionary War, and the Great Depression. I felt delighted when the teacher gave the class an overview about what we read from the passages or what we saw in videos. What frustrated me was when I was forced to read a passage that I did not enjoy. I would feel bored at times, and I would feel unmotivated to communicate with my teachers about the stories. 

    My role model was Walter Dean Myers. He was an avid reader like me. In 8th grade, I read his book titled Bad Boys which explains Dean Myers’ childhood and how reading books was a part of his passion. In my opinion, literacy is an important skill to have because literacy builds your knowledge which opens up new ideas and new adventures. I continue to use literacy in my personal life by reading daily news articles such as the Morning Brew. This online article covers the stock market, political news, and weather reports. I believe that school as a whole continues to inspire my literacy development. My literacy began in school when I was learning the alphabet. I am currently still reading books that my teachers are giving me. Overall, I had a significant amount of literacy experience.