Personal Literacy Development - Assignment Example

1 Personal Literacy Development 2 Summary Details The four types of literacy skills are the following: 1. Reading skills, 2. Writing skills, 3. Fluency skills and, 4. Reading readiness skills. Fluency skills are defined as follows: “Fluency skills are the ability to see larger segment and phrases as wholes as an aid to reading and writing more quickly,” (SIL, 1999). My strengths in literacy skills are the following: 1. Strengths in reading skills: -Ability to be able to recognize numerous vocabulary words. -Be able to decode the meanings of short phrases. -Be able to discern the overall meaning of sentences, paragraphs and texts. 2. Strengths in writing skills: -Be able to choose appropriate words, sentences and paragraphs. -To have the capacity to write legibly and coherently. My weaknesses in literacy skills are the following: 1. Weaknesses in fluency skills: -Difficulty in decoding the meanings of certain vocabulary words. -Difficulty in coming up with the usage of unique words. 2. Weaknesses in reading readiness skills: -Difficulty interpreting the overall message of texts and paragraphs. -Certain people being victims of a reading disability called dyslexia. Literacy dilemmas do not only involve children and young adults (Lombardi, 2010). Because of this reason, numerous people have had struggles to read (Lombardi, 2010). The following tips would definitely encourage readers on how to improve their reading and literacy abilities (Lombardi, 2010): 3 -Regularly read books and be a role model to other readers (Lombardi, 2010). -Work closely with the community library to promote reading and literacy (Lombardi, 2010). -Engage in regular discussions about reading (Lombardi, 2010). -Organize a book club organisation (Lombardi, 2010). -Work as a reading tutor or teacher in a local literacy program (Lombardi, 2010). -Talk to an adult literacy representative in order to enhance literacy abilities (Lombardi, 2010). Improvement in literacy skills among the population would produce more educated people in every local community. By becoming more educated, these people would gain more self-confidence, and hence, improve their self-esteem. The following conventions for punctuations are the following: 1. Observe proper punctuations at the beginning, middle, and end of sentences and paragraphs. 2. Give consideration to emotional expressions of the speaker when using punctuations. The following conventions for grammar, spelling, sentence structure, word choice: 1. Enhancing reading and writing skills in order to become more knowledgeable of these conventions. 2. Consult a literacy specialist to enhance such skills convention. I basically did some proofreading tasks during the editing/refining process. I realised through experience that people are more able to understand the concepts of ideas through proofreading. This has enhanced the communication of ideas through the implementation of more clarity and conciseness of the expression of ideas. Since writing each entry, I was able to 4 get more training in doing proofreading tasks, hence, enabling me to further develop my literacy skills since I first wrote each entry. I learned that proofreading is a bit time consuming, hence, numerous people does not like doing it. They feel they could have done some other things more productive than doing proofreading. At times, people think professional writers do not proofread. But, this is a very wrong notion. In order to be considered competent in professional writing, writers need to proofread. I also learned that proofreading entails writers’ dedications to their jobs. Doing proofreading tells the public the writers are very dedicated to their professions that they go the extra mile to make sure their work is polished after being created. I was also able to enhance my literacy skills through proofreading. My fluency skills in reading, writing and spelling were enhanced tremendously by doing proofreading tasks. I was able to become more sensitive in being more attentive to correct spelling words than I was before by doing this proofreading task. I was also able to enhance my reading skills by proofreading thoroughly. I was able to read faster and interpret the contents I read more accurately through doing proofreading. I was also able to write things faster in academic papers since I have had training in proofreading. In the past, I used to grapple a little with the words to write in an academic paper when I am under pressure. Now, I am more able to deal with that pressure smoothly and write down the things I need to write more spontaneously in academic documents. I was also more able to do less proofreading on the contents I wrote down since my writing skills have also improved tremendously. From this point on, writing never became a struggle for me anymore, and it is all because of proofreading training. Proofreading skills have also helped me improve my teaching skills that I aspire to improve to practice my teaching profession. Teaching and literacy skills go hand in hand. It is almost impossible to have excellent teaching skills without having excellent literacy skills. Because of this reason, every teacher education classes give primary importance on enhancing every potential teacher’s literacy skill. Through doing proofreading tasks, I realize my shortcoming of not being able to work on more to enhance my literacy skills when I was pursuing my degree in education. I wish I could have exerted more efforts in doing so. But, what is important now is I realize this and I am working on it to make it better. 5 In terms of literacy, I think I excel the most in writing. When I write down my thoughts and ideas, I am able to think about them in an instant and my thoughts just seem to flow smoothly and spontaneously as I write. I feel comfortable writing down my ideas and thoughts more than I feel comfortable expressing them verbally. Because of this reason, I believe I have excelled tremendously in exhibiting outstanding writing skills. My strengths in writing are the following: 1. Having the ability to effectively use various metaphoric words, phrases and sentences. 2. Being able to clearly and concisely express my thoughts, without ambiguity. I almost have no weaknesses in writing. Most likely, the only weakness I can think of in that aspect is I am a bit slow at times to write down my thoughts when I am dealing with stress. I overcome these weaknesses by doing the following: -Being more alert and attentive when I start writing. -Learn from my past mistakes I committed when writing. -Not letting stress affect me when writing. -Referring to the past knowledge I obtained from grammar, punctuation and spelling conventions. I am able to realize my strengths and weaknesses through observation. The more I observe, the more I get to find out about my capabilities and weaknesses. Answers to the quiz: I.- 1. The student’s work was hanging on the wall. 2. The children’s bags were cluttering the hall. 6 3. When will the boys’ bags be packed? II.- 1. C. An adjective 2. D. Hiding 3. C. adverb III.- 1. Adverb: damaged Adjective: badly 2. Adverb: very Adjective: beautiful 3. Adverb: read Adjective: pleasure 4. Adverb: incredibly Adjective: huge IV.- 1. is 2. A. cough 3. B. I made a pool for the fish out of stones and blue paper. 4. A.-Brick 5. D.-A dictionary 7 Reflections On My Answers While doing the quiz, I felt so comfortable and at ease. This is because the quiz to me is very easy. In the end, I feel proud of myself to have aced the quiz. I finally felt all of my hard work for studying is well worth it. I knew the answer to each question by using my past knowledge obtained from school (i.e., elementary and college years). Fortunately, I have not forgotten any of that knowledge. This means I would make an effective teacher as I obviously value education as proven that I have not forgotten my past knowledge. People always remember anything that is very valuable to them. The test results very well matched my expectations. Answers to quiz: V.- 1. B. forty 2. D. There’s 3. C. orchestra 4. B. coincidence 5. B. halves 6. A. receive 7. E. transparent 8. A. principal 9. B. principle 10. A. a lot 11. C. bilingual 8 12. B. accommodate 13. C. restaurant 14. B. reign 15. C. allowed Reflections On Answers I drew on my basic literacy skills knowledge when I completed the spelling quiz. I feel reading and writing skills are the most important literacy skills a teacher should possess. This is such the case as reading and writing are the literacy skills which are the foundation of literacy fluency and readiness. Books and other educational printed literature support this view. I developed these skills when I was pursuing my teacher education. I know this as I was being observant of my learning progress at that time. I can most relate to readings about fluency as I feel I have been developing my fluency skills more than any other literacy skills recently. 9 References: SIL International. (1999). What Are Flency Skills? Retrieved from http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/Literacy/ReferenceMaterials/GlossaryOfLiteracyTerms/WhatAreFluencySkills.htm Lombardi, E. (2010). How To Improve Reading And Literacy Encourage Reading? Retrieved from http://classiclit.about.com/od/aboutreading/ht/aa_literacy.htm University Of Ottawa. (2010). What Is A Noun? Retrieved from http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/nouns.html Read More

I was also able to enhance my literacy skills through proofreading. My fluency skills in reading, writing, and spelling were enhanced tremendously by doing proofreading tasks. I was able to become more sensitive in being more attentive to correct spelling words than I was before by doing this proofreading task. I was also able to enhance my reading skills by proofreading thoroughly. I was able to read faster and interpret the contents I read more accurately through doing proofreading. I was also able to write things faster in academic papers since I have had training in proofreading. In the past, I used to grapple a little with the words to write in an academic paper when I am under pressure. Now, I am more able to deal with that pressure smoothly and write down the things I need to write more spontaneously in academic documents. I was also more able to do less proofreading on the contents I wrote down since my writing skills have also improved tremendously. From this point on, writing never became a struggle for me anymore, and it is all because of proofreading training. Proofreading skills have also helped me improve the teaching skills that I aspire to improve to practice my teaching profession. Teaching and literacy skills go hand in hand. It is almost impossible to have excellent teaching skills without having excellent literacy skills. Because of this reason, every teacher education classes give primary importance to enhancing every potential teacher’s literacy skill. Through doing proofreading tasks, I realize my shortcoming of not being able to work on more to enhance my literacy skills when I was pursuing my degree in education. I wish I could have exerted more effort in doing so. But, what is important now is I realize this and I am working on it to make it better.                                                                                                                                          

In terms of literacy, I think I excel the most in writing. When I write down my thoughts and ideas, I can think about them in an instant and my thoughts just seem to flow smoothly and spontaneously as I write. I feel comfortable writing down my ideas and thoughts more than I feel comfortable expressing them verbally. Because of this reason, I believe I have excelled tremendously in exhibiting outstanding writing skills.

My strengths in writing are the following:

1. Having the ability to effectively use various metaphoric words, phrases, and sentences.
2. Being able to clearly and concisely express my thoughts, without ambiguity.

I almost have no weaknesses in writing. Most likely, the only weakness I can think of in that aspect is I am a bit slow at times to write down my thoughts when I am dealing with stress. I overcome these weaknesses by doing the following:

-Being more alert and attentive when I start writing.

-Learn from the past mistakes I committed when writing.

-Not letting stress affect me when writing.

-Referring to the past knowledge I obtained from grammar, punctuation, and spelling conventions.

I can realize my strengths and weaknesses through observation. The more I observe, the more I get to find out about my capabilities and weaknesses. While doing the quiz, I felt so comfortable and at ease. This is because the quiz to me is very easy. In the end, I feel proud of myself to have aced the quiz. I finally felt all of my hard work for studying is well worth it.

I knew the answer to each question by using my past knowledge obtained from school (i.e., elementary and college years). Fortunately, I have not forgotten any of that knowledge. This means I would make an effective teacher as I obviously value education as proof that I have not forgotten my past knowledge. People always remember anything very valuable to them. The test results very well matched my expectations.

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