My memory of literacy just occurred over my winter break in between semesters. Despite the fact that it was a very short break, I found myself very bored at home and wanting something to do. So, I began to thumb through old projects from elementary and kindergarten school days. I began laughing to myself at such the weird things I wrote and how they did not make any sense at all. For example, there was a simple sheet from kindergarten that was just a list of my favorite things (food, music, hobbies, and so forth). Considering the fact I was very young, I wrote some things down that did not make any sense at all. For example, as my favorite sport, I wrote ‘Suker.” If you couldn’t decipher at what I was trying to say, it was “soccer.”
The idea of how we develop into literate beings caught my attention when I was reading this. It just perplexes me as to how we can develop our minds and mental ability to become literate beings. Returning to the ideas of the class discussions, I am curious as to whether literacy is learned better from a classroom setting or just the surrounding environment and the places kids grow up in. I have never really thought about it, but the word literacy is a lot more than it seems.
I think you bring up a good question. Upon first thought, I think a classroom setting would be the best for becoming “literate”. However, I feel that the ability for humans to become literate and communicate effectively is a part of human evolution. Even isolated, 3rd world groups have people have been able to educate themselves as well as develop entire languages of their own. I would consider the Vai people, whom we discussed in class, to be literate and they learned most of there literacy from the surrounding environment, not from a classroom setting.
Coincidentally I also looked through my kindergarten archives this break and it really is funny to see how much we have grown since then. I think you pose a great question in your post as well. As an aspiring teacher I would love to say that people learn literacy entirely in the classroom but I think that a surrounding environment is the most influential teacher anyone can have.