Digital Literacy

2) From Virginia Heffernen:

1.       1) To be quite honest, I thought my teachers in elementary, middle and high school prepared me very well for college. I never once thought that my teacher should do something different, nor did I think that there was a lack of technology. If I could write them a brief email, I would tell them to keep teaching the same way but to remember to look ahead for potential technological advancements.

2.      2)  In my career field, I don’t think I’ll be using or relying on much technology besides a cell phone and email. They’re both quite simple and self-explanatory so I think Oakland will help me with this easily (but maybe not the cell phone part).

3.      3)  I think I write the same, be it an email or blog. I write in a very direct way where I get to the point without the flowery bits. A more relaxed setting makes me feel more at ease but it does not change my writing style.

4.       If I was a teacher attempting to prepare future generations for super high-tech jobs, I would just try to stay on top of whatever technology is available for us to use and incorporate them into the class, be it labs or writing assignments.

5.     4)   I feel as though the author made a good point about how people not growing up in this generation think that the internet is a distraction instead of a useful academic tool. Let’s use writing as an example. Blogs would be extremely helpful because it makes the student used to posting their own work and get feedback from an audience. Therefore, I have to say that I agree with her on this point. 

Summery and Response: Mother Tongue

              Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” was about how her mother couldn’t speak English fluently by an average American’s standards even though Amy could understand the exact meaning behind her mother’s words. She talked a lot about her childhood and how her mother would not be properly treated because of her “broken” English and how Amy would usually be the one on the phone talking with doctors pretending to be her own mother. She even goes to say that she was actually embarrassed and ashamed about her mother’s English. In the end though, Amy describes how she loves the way her mother speaks and how much she was inspired by her to write books that everyone could understand. One quote I was really drawn to was one about her mother on page 117 that really reminded me of my own mother, “I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.”

                This passage really hit home for me because of my own mother and my experiences during my childhood. My mother was the only one out of her 6 sisters and 2 brothers to learn English and worked hard every day to master it. She even went to night classes where she actually met my father, who was her teacher at the time.  She moved to America with him and struggled with the language. She couldn’t seem to understand all the exceptions to the rules and the way the words looked didn’t match how they sounded. Nevertheless, she worked hard every day to try to blend her own “broken” English into a natural American born’s English.  I too find myself speaking differently to her than I would my peers so I felt a connection to Amy Tan in this piece. I have to say that I agree with her in the end because it’s the meaning behind the words that count, not the “broken” English.   

My World of Reading

Timeline

2 years old: Attempted to read books. Kind of hard to when it’s upside down.

4 years old: Was taught how to read Green Eggs and Ham by my mother. I HATED it. I hated the way the    words sounded out of my mouth and hated how they were spelled. I was always crying because I disliked it so much and my mother always got frustrated.

6 years old: I tried to stay away from books as much as I could. I didn’t want to read since it left me angry and upset, not that my parents tried to encourage me to read much during that time. My days mostly consisted with going outside to play and practicing piano.

8 years old: The first book I owned was a surprise gift from my mother.  It was from the American Girl collection and I honestly didn’t know what to do with it. I wasn’t a big reader at the time and I didn’t think that such a pretty book was meant to be read; it had a picture of a young beautiful girl on it and the pages were lined with gold. It wasn't until 2 years later that I actually picked it up and began to read it.

10 years old: The Accelerated Reading program at the elementary school got me to read again. At first, I really just wanted the points to get cool prizes but after the first few books I forgot about the points and just started reading for fun. The stories would take me outside my boring world and bring me to a land with such adventure and fun! I remember walking into the library and the librarian would say, “Getting another book today, Nicole?” I continued this process until elementary school ended.

12 years old: The summer between elementary school and junior high was the best. Because both of my parents worked, my sister and I spent the night at my aunt’s house and she would take us to the library every day. We would spend hours there reading and take armfuls of books back to her house to read some more. Out of everyone in my family, my aunt Julia encouraged me the most to read what I liked and to have fun with it.

13 years old: You would think that junior high would be a time to get serious in your studies since it sets the foundations of your work ethic, but I found that I didn’t have to study that hard to get the good grades I wanted. I did all my homework early and had tons of time to read. I would even pull all-nighters because I just couldn’t put the book down. Sure, I was quite tired the next day, but it was worth it to me.

14-15 years old: My mother started destroying/ threatening to destroy my books because I was reading more than studying for tests and homework. It made me scared to buy or even borrow books; I didn’t want the books to be harmed.

15-16 years old: I tried to read as often as I could but could hardly find the time once I started attending the Utica Academy for International Studies. It really made me upset because I used books as a stress release.

17 years old-now: I now borrow books from my friend since I see her more than the library. I really can’t wait until I have time to read again. I miss it so much.

Is Writing Important?

[In my opinion, writing is important because it makes others understand you.]  Actually, as a music student, I find that writing is difficult for me. I mostly find that what I can’t express in words I can express in music. Not only that, but I believe actions speak louder than words. Even though I say this, I can understand why writing can be important for academic purposes. While language and spoken words fade, books and writing last forever. For example, if there weren’t any books about the Holocaust, people years from now will forget and history is doomed to repeat itself. 
This is fairly difficult for me to talk about. Like I mentioned before, I usually use music to express how I feel so while I cannot tell exactly why I think writing is important, I do enjoy reading very much. They teach me about morals and bravery and the author takes me to a different place where the character’s troubles are my own and we go through it together.
I think that the kind of writing I’m going to be doing in my career is probably composing music, if that’s what I plan to go in to. I might have to do some essays about musical structure and analyzing music. Since I don’t know where my music career will take me, I cannot say for sure what I’m going to be writing in the future.
Has there ever been a time where I was misunderstood? Yes, but when I explain my true intentions, everything was cleared up. It’s not the words that helped the person understand me, but the actions I took to insure I was understood.