8/27/14

Part I- Response to the text

1. How does the text describe the term "literacy?" What does it mean to be literate?
Literacy, according to the text, is something abstract. It is something that is complex and
diverse. To be literate is something means to be well-versed in whatever if being done. For
example, someone who is well versed in coding and computers would be considered literate in
computer and technology. Basically, it have extensive knowledge about a certain topic.
2. According to the text, why might it be difficult to achieve academic literacy? What problem(s)
would you face?
Literacy always seemed to be defined by ones academic literacy which is something that is
hard to attain considering that that standard is set by a single person and is suppose to be the
overarching factor for all other people; in which case most people would not be considered
academically literate even if they have attended school. If the people attending school cant
even be academically literate, then there is no chance for people of different ethnicities and
races who may not be able to pay for education to achieve academic literacy.
3. What is meant by "situated literacies?" (Be thorough here, and please provide an example.)
A situated literacy would be something that I mentioned previously. An example would be in a
newspaper crew. Some people may be well versed in taking pictures and the various
exposures that would make the picture better while someone else could care less about
pictures and focus on the content that would be presented in an article. The way that
something is presented is different for each and every situation. A presentation that I would
present in front of my peers would not be the same as a presentation in front of a club that I
am apart of even if the content is the same.
4. Develop ONE critical question of your own that responds to a specific part of the text or a specific
point made. First, consider what it means for a question to be critical. Next, read the article and
try to develop a specific question that the class could really discuss or engage with.
Note: You do not have to respond to the question, only write it out and be prepared to share in
class; everyone will share.
If there are many different types of literacy, then is it actually possible for someone to be
completely illiterate? Literacy seems almost innate.
Part II- Activity:
Literacy can have many meanings; there are many types of literacy and things that you can be literate
in.
1. Take some space in your Daybook to describe one thing that you are literate in. It could be a
skill, a hobby, an interest, etc. Are you financially literate? Are you literate with technology,
gaming, a certain type of musicthe options here are limitless. This can be as broad or specific
as you need it to be to find something that works for you. It should be something that you know
a lot about that others do not, a community you are a part of that has its own discourse or
language; you also might be able to teach someone else the terms or information they might
need to know in order to be literate in the same area.
For instance, doctors know terms and use jargon that others are not aware of. As an
English teacher, I make jokes about grammar and literature that other English teachers
would understand and laugh about that just sound ridiculous to others.

2. Bring in a physical artifact that represents what you are literate in, something that plays a role in
that community or activity. For instance, I am somewhat literate in Glogging (Glogster.com) and
might show a Glog that I had made. I also used to be a dancer, so I could say that I am literate
in dance or in a certain type of dance. So, I could bring in a pair of dance shoes that I've
performed in.
3. Pretend you are giving someone an intro lesson into "how to be literate" in your area of
expertise. List and describe/define 3-4 terms that an aspiring insider would need to know in order
to become literate in the appropriate language of this field.
Note: If you cannot bring in a physical artifact (although you should try), you may print an image of the
artifact you would have brought in. AN IMAGE ON YOUR PHONE, LAPTOP OR IPAD WILL NOT COUNT.
It must be a hard copy of the image

The thing that I am literate in is the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. Most people will say that it is not a sport,
but it really is. I dont quite understand how something that, when played competitively, involves so
much running is not considered a sport. In this game, the fields are as long as soccer fields, but half the
width. There is a pull which starts off the point, and it incorporates aspects of soccer, football, and
basketball into one sport and the disc might as well be sometimes called a flatball. There are two
positions of handler and cutter, and the formations include terms such as ho-stack, vert-stack, apex, jcuts, flares, flick, dump, and so on.
A handler would be the person on the field who often gets the disc to feed to someone else. They are
the ones that throw often. For this position, their throws must be solid. Kind of like a quarterback in
football.
A cutter is similar to a receiver. They catch the disc and depending on their skill level, feed the disc to
another cutter, or reset (or dump) it back to the handler.
A vert or vertical stack is basically a formation that is parallel to the field or vertical in comparison to the
field. This requires two handlers and five cutters.
Ho-stack or horizontal stack goes perpendicular to the field or across it. There are typically four cutters
and three handlers for this set.
Open side and break side is terminology talking about 2 sides of the field.