Literacy Timeline

Through my life I have grown physically and mentally. From day one, literacy was key to communicating and growing to learn how I wanted to communicate.

•  Growing up at the ages of around three or four, I learned my literacy through language and expression. I grew up hearing a little vulgar language and how to be tough. This taught me how to be straight forward. This was the foundation of what became of my personality in my writing and speech.
• At four and five, I would watch Sesame Street which gave me my first background with letters and numbers. However, not only did it teach literacy in letters and numbers, but also how to be social and kind to others.
• In my family, there was a lot of arguing that went on between members. Watching I learned how to argue and use logic to win arguments. This effected me down the road by allowing me to be persuasive in my composition and how I spoke to people.
• Another event that made me literate was watching movies. Believe it or not, but watching intense movies only mature people understand at my elementary level also taught me how to convey yourself. I used to imitate the people I saw in these movies I watched when I was six and seven years old.
• In fourth to seventh grade, my dad would take me along to business meetings with partners and others knowing I was listening. This taught me the language of business and how to interact with other officials of business.
• In seventh and eighth grade, I learned the literacy of values of electronics and the language of sales. This was an overlap of how I learned to be persuasive from the past.
• In my freshman year, my father and I would talk business and what certain things meant, like abbreviations and how to read deals and official paperwork.
• Sophomore year to present, I would read business articles that had to do with the legitimate corporate world, and how to sell things to kids like electronics. Also, I think of and research ideas for business with the "lingo" that goes along with it.

Through this time line, it is evident that my true literacy that I tried to target went beyond reading or writing fundamentals. Instead, they proved how I became a good speaker and businessman over time through these events.

Questions from Today's Readings

Questions from Today’s Readings:

1. When reading digital texts, there is a sort of way that people expect to perceive certain words. This is cool and dangerous at the same time. When reading digital text, there are many things that can affect the way a person reads or understands what is being said. For example, the same phrases with the exact same punctuation could be misunderstood dramatically. If someone were to say “Shut up!” it could mean two or more different things. Someone could take it as an excited positive remark about something unbelievable that just happened, or the person could feel like it legitimately means to shut up and leave the person alone. There is a huge difference between the two. In print, usually there is an explanation of the context by the writer. This allows the reader to know what is really being said so there is no misconception.

2. No, they are essentially linked because the participant must be as digitally and critically literate as the active person in order to understand what they are saying. If that person cannot understand how to follow what someone says on facebook or any other literature that use digital text, they would be completely in the dark. Also, through participating one learns by watching and reading what is in front of them.

3. Of course, it is actually very easy to nail what actions people like myself do that constitutes contribution, consumption, and distribution. When I like or comment on a status or photo, I am personally sharing my opinion of something with everyone else who can see it. When I deliberately scroll through my news feed, I am reading and consuming the work and contributed things my friends have to share with everyone else. Lastly, distribution is specifically tagging or posting a work on someone else’s wall. This aspect of facebook now makes me think of it as a giant hub with a collaboration of works coming together. It is a central station where millions of thoughts come together as one with every person’s thoughts included.

4. His definition of digital literacy is basically surrounded upon the idea of connection. The connection of ideas and new text language continuously changes as time goes on. Through a connection that is brought forward from the digital world, there is a digital world that keeps all who are in it informed.

letter to incoming freshman

<a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4042253/Letter_to_Incoming_Freshman" 
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Why is writing important?

Business! Let's get down to it. It is not easy to throw yourself out into the business world if you are afraid of being disliked, or you just don't know how to carry your personality in front of important people. Most say that public speaking is huge and quite possibly the most important part of the business world that I desire to be a part of. In my opinion, this is not completely true. Over the course of my academic and work life, I have found that I am a good public speaker and a passionate writer. When I write, I sit and think. I think of how small my life is and where I hope it ends up one day. I feel the whole world is this one inspirational story of hardship and disappointment that we all have to go through. One day, I pray, plead, and beg myself and whatever is out there that I reach what I want to do. People say, "Want to make God laugh, tell him your plans". I laugh in their faces and say I don't care. It is my life, there is only one dream of happiness I want to reach in paradise on earth. Writing right here, or anywhere, to myself makes me feel like I'm almost there. I can see it, its in my grasp! No offense to my professors, but I feel like I wish I was already there and all the time I spend in class is just wasting my time. I want to achieve what no man has achieved in this world yet! Writing is like a euphoric drug, that takes me to where I can find myself and what I want to be. In essence, it is through my writing where I will become a better public speaker, and hopefully an even better businessman.