What is "literacy"?

Someone told me last year not to expect to have a textbook the first week. I figured that was pretty reasonable, and I could fill up the four-day week with plenty of rules and procedures practice, getting to know you activities, learning styles activities, and the like. Sure. But then I found that I really didn't have as much as I thought, so I decided to look for a lesson plan that would set the stage for the year, something that would be sufficiently introductory while being challenging to the thinking processes of the students.

I'm doing a modification of the ReadWriteThink lesson about defining text, literacy, and the skills needed to work with them. My 9th grade students found the third column on the first day hard; it requires them to brainstorm skills they use when creating with the wide range of texts they've already brainstormed. Words like "compose" and "design" are difficult for them after a long summer off, I think, so I got a lot of "write," "make," and "color." Oy.

Eventually, though, we got to the group definitions of literacy. They're not fabulous, but many of them of things that I was able to highlight and nudge the students toward for a class definition of literacy. The group definitions are below. My favorite thing about them is that some are obviously trying on words and phrases they know more educated people use to validate their definition, but others didn't even try. It's so obvious, and I can point to the groups that did one or the other.

• “Literacy in today’s world is still mainly reading and writing. Everything you do, in a way, is related to literacy. For example: when you’re making a gesture it’s like your body is writing out a message for the other person to read it."



• “To read and write is considered literacy. Literacy is discovering and learning the moods using the illustration to see if it will be a good book a movie or even a play. To me literacy in this world means being able to communicate your idea clearly and effectively. Use text to determine many things.”



• “In today’s world literacy is like being able to receive and get messages. Internet is a great way to receive email and text. We receive literacy by watching, listening, feeling. Music can express ideas in different culture as well as statues and buildings. There’s another way of receiving messages by chatting with friends and family.”



• “Today’s text includes many skills like reading, writing, listening, and thinking. Text is so important that without it the world would be unsafe. Most text is used to describe things. Text makes people understand things the same way.”



• “We think literacy is about making predictions. Books. Things express ideas, that makes people express themselves.”



• “Literacy is the total of everything in the world that can be learned or taught from such as reading, writing, media, books, internet, anything that has information.”



• “Literacy is an extremely important tool in education. Being able to read and write allows one to gain more knowledge. It also helps one get the vast amount of education possible. Literacy is more than just reading and writing, its understanding and applying written matter to function in society. It broadens one’s knowledge therefore helps him/her advance in life. Literacy is one’s most valuable possession.”



• “Literacy is being able to read and write. Literacy appeals to the five senses. It also paints a vivid picture in people’s minds. Literacy is deprived in some countries, and it expresses ideas in reading and writing.”



• “In today’s American dictionary, the word literacy is the meaning of being able to read and write. I think literacy in today’s world is all types of writing out there. It’s also how people communicate by writing. Writing is what makes people successful. Finally it means that you read a book and understanding what you read.”



• “Literacy is reading and learning how to write. It also is the ability to use language – to read, write, and speak. Literacy can also interacting with sound, still and moving images, making for another branch of literacy, and being able to express yourself in your own ideas and opinions.”