The Ethnography of Literacy

In Szwed’s article he states that we do not actually really know what literacy is, and I as well believe that we do not. While giving examples of different literacy he compares school based literacy and social context and functional use literacy with this quote: “A student who shows little interest or aptitude for reading may read Jaws in study hall.” (423) This quote made me think back to when I was in elementary school and failing the school’s reading tests. I had to read out loud numerous stories and then answer a couple questions. Yet when I would read, I wouldn’t pay attention to the context or I would be thinking of other stuff. It was almost like I read in auto-pilot. I found the stories boring so I lost interest fast, though at home I was reading books constantly. They weren’t books that taught valuable lessons like the stories they made us read at school, but they were exciting and something I was interested in so I paid attention to the context.  

I haven’t sat down and read a book for fun in a long time, maybe since middle school. But back then I would sit in my room in quiet and read for hours. I would feel so accomplished once I finally finished one but somewhere along the line I lost interest. Same thing happened with writing. When I was little I thought I was the best poet in the world and I also attempted to write numerous books. Now I only write when asked of me. Yet I do sometimes enjoy writing and feel proud of some of my work that I have done for previous classes. My research paper for my previous English class was one of the top papers and was chosen to use as an example for others for the following semesters. So apparently I’m not too bad at writing but I would never just sit down and write for fun. I look forward to seeing what my teachers thought of my writing and getting good grades on them. I need that feedback and feeling of accomplishment in my writing.

Reading Szwed just emphasized that there are always improvements to be made in teaching. New ways of doing things and a better understanding of how children learn can help teachers better help their students. This is something I, as a future educator, am going to have to look more into.