Overview: Improving your literacy in the 21st century includes traditional practices of reading, writing, and critical thinking; increasingly, you need to be cognizant of digital literacy as well to understand how others may view your work. By considering purpose and audience, the texts we create say much about who we are and our competencies.
The Home page of your portfolio is the first impression that readers see, and, as such, you'll want to leave an image/avatar that best represents you along with a couple of paragraphs describing yourself as a reader and a writer.
Below are a few things to consider:
The Home page of your portfolio is the first impression that readers see, and, as such, you'll want to leave an image/avatar that best represents you along with a couple of paragraphs describing yourself as a reader and a writer.
Below are a few things to consider:
- If you are asked to use Weebly in other classes, please feel free to add to the website that you've already created. I suggest creating main tabs that represent each course that you take. Another purpose of creating a digital portfolio is to incorporate your work in its totality.
- Write in the third-person point of view (i.e. Andy's first memory of reading... or Schoenborn's love of writing began...). Admittedly, this feels a bit strange, but your readers may not know who you are and writing from this point of view reads naturally.
- Please tailor your images to match your purpose and audience expectations. Be creative to draw readers in and help them make connections.
- If you need assistance, please use the Help button, ask others around you, or ask me.
- The example below follows the prompt "You as a Reader / You as a Writer" prompt, and will provide insight to your audience.
Andy learned to read much in the same way as he believes most people do: he was read to. Being read to wasn't the only thing that inspired him to value the written word, he also remembers watching others around him enjoying books. He remembers watching his mother and father shut off the television to read a book, newspaper, letter, or manual. Frequent family trips to the Farmington public library stick in his memory as well, because it was a fun place to be and he was exposed to the sights and (quiet) sounds of reading that brought joy to a diverse group of people. The reasons for reading are vast and varied, but mainly people read for enjoyment, information, or discovery. Reading always gives knowledge, and it is a powerful way to educate yourself for free. In order to be a good reader, one needs nothing other than curiosity and the ability to choose texts that interest them. Reading is the easiest for Andy when he can place himself in the moment of a text; the connections he makes to the subject matter allows him to invest in it. The hardest part of reading for him is when he comes across an idea that is not fully developed in his mind. He views this as an opportunity to learn something new, to alter his current perception, or to respectfully disagree. Many of the books that Andy chooses to read come from his love of classic literature, science fiction, and philosophy. He enjoys books challenge his perception of the world around him, and how characters interact with those challenges. At home, Schoenborn reads every night -- be it novels, short stories, or articles -- usually after dinner or before he goes to sleep. Andy believes reading to be the key to understanding who we are. Reading allows us to explore our passions, think critically about the world, and open our minds to possibilities we may not have considered.
Andy's ability to write developed naturally out of his love of reading. His imagination, and love for stories, led him to write about his own experiences through poetry and short stories. As a child, he loved to create comic books to blend artwork with the written word. He is not limited to creative writing however, he also enjoys researching because he loves to learn. Believing that people write to make sense of the world account for the reasons they write. Whether a piece of writing is handwritten, a work of art, digital, or media driven; Schoenborn believes we write to understand, to explore, and to explain the world in which an author experiences it. In order to write well, an author needs, first and foremost, to understand the purpose for the piece and the audience that may read it. According to him, an effective writer must know who they are, and be willing to share their ideas. Believing that we write to better understand ourselves, he enjoys writing creatively, reflectively, and digitally to help express the connections he makes. Andy usually writes about what interests him at the time. For example, if he is exploring how to best help students retain what they are learning, he finds that reflecting and writing about it helps to make his thoughts concrete. As a writer, he finds that although positive comments help his motivation to write, he is most helped by specific suggestions or questions that a reader shares with him after reading a piece. Schoenborn writes at home everyday. It may be typing a paper, jotting down notes, texting a friend, or working on a piece for publication. Much like reading, writing happens, too, when we do not necessarily think about it. Generally, Andy does not like what he first begins to write. He finds that most times his writing is a discovery of his thoughts, and it is through revision, examination, and support from writing groups that his writing begins to take off. He is aware that writing is a process, and one that is never really finished. |