My Thoughts on Read 407

I don't think I knew exactly what to expect from this course. I knew that reading and writing were important elements of school and encompassed all the different subject matters, but I didn't see why a whole course was necessary on it. Throughout the semester the idea of literacy, what it means, and the depth of its use were of constant focus. It began to occur to me how narrow my scope was on what literacy actually was. I too often made the mistake of looking at reading and writing as basic parts of learning that all students should have mastered during the early years of their education. I realized I took forgranted that many students, while being able to read, might not understand the content or meaning of material, or while being able to write, might not be able to do so effectively. This course really helped me to realize how challenging literacy can be for many students and why it is so important to incorporate it in ways that help as many students as possible. I had previously known that literacy would play a huge role when I taught social studies, but I neglected to think of all the ways in which assignments might be confusing or ineffective for who students who struggled with literacy. I believe above all else this course has taught me to be more aware of how I use literacy in my classroom and to be more conscientious of the kinds of problems students might face with literacy (and also that literacy is not just reading and writing!).