1. Literacy: The Truth is Revealed By Megan Lambert

2. Literacy(n): The ability to read and write But is that the whole story?

4. These are all different definitions of literacy, and they just came from one class in A&M-Commerce.

5. John F. Swzed says all of the following are important elements of literacy: Text (what we read and write) Context (under what circumstances we read/ write) Function (why we read/write) Participants (who reads/ writes) Motivation (why we read/ write)

6. It’s more than this!

7. “Text” goes beyond classic novels and textbooks. It also includes: Signs Recipes Cereal Boxes Magazines T-Shirt Logos Street Signs

8. And how you use your literacy depends on who you are. Did you have positive literacy sponsorship in your life? Do you have access to text? What are your interests? For what audience are you writing?

9. We are looking at the words we read and write with different eyes And to be completely accurate, we must consider ALL of the literacies the English Language contains, including…

10. Computer Academic Old English SMS Language Film Literacy Texan Accents HTML Medical

11. They are all in English, yet I am not “fluent” in all of them. Even people who understand all of these literacies don’t look at them the same way. I look at SMS as annoying, but my classmate August Williams mentioned completing a final project involving it.

12. Unfortunately, sometimes we let our own interests influence how we research “The history I create in my mind is not, and can never be, quite the same as the history you create in yours.” “I do not do railroad history[…]” “When I went to college there was no women’s history.” “History is two things; the past itself, and what happens in the mind of the historian.” -Carol Kammen, On Doing Local History

13. “By ignoring the total story, by not probing for more than partial answers […] [we get] an incomplete history.” We owe an open, unbiased view of our subject matter to our audience, whether we are talking about history, psychology, biology, or astronomy.

14. So the next time you hear someone say literacy is nothing but this

16. You can let them know it is so much more

18. Ashley Ross. “Chapter 2”. Ecollege. Texas A&M University-Commerce. Web. 6 October 2011

19. Skylar Parkerson. “Literacy and Its Varied Meanings”. Ecollege. Texas A&M University- Commerce. Web. 6 October 2011

20. Rebecca Gilbreath. “Chapter 2”. Ecollege. Texas A&M University- Commerce. Web. 6 October 2011

22. Barton, David and Hamilton, Mary. “Literacy Practices.” Ethnographic Inquiries in Writing. 1st edition. Tabetha Adkins. Southlake, Texas. Fountainhead Press, 2010. 21-32. Print.

23. August Williams. “My Plans for Research.” ecollege. Texas A&M Unversity- Commerce. Web. 6 October 2011

24. Kammen, Carol. On Doing Local History. Walnut Creek, Canada: AltaMira Press. 2003. 47-114. Print.