My Literacy Blog

These last 8 posts have been a condensed version of my literacy history, and journey, throughout the course of my life.

The start of quarantine was a tough time for all of us. I decided to spend my time wisely in the house by listening to tons and tons of podcasts. Joe Rogan’s podcast, in my humbled opinion, is the greatest podcast. He touches hard-hitting topics, while also educating his audience of intellectuals. Like most podcasts, Joe Rogan talks about anything and everything that crosses his mind. He is not afraid to ask questions if he is unsure about something, and he isn’t scared to talk about controversial topics. He has visual content with his podcast, but I decide to listen mainly when I am falling asleep. It is sort of like having the TV on for background noise while you sleep, but in this case I am paying attention to what is being said because I am interested. I enjoy podcasts more than I enjoy reading because it extracts the hard part of actually looking at words and you can still enjoy and picture the story unravelling. Joe Rogan’s podcast is my source of aural literacy in the sense that I am learning from him just by listening to his voice. 

The very next year was my final year of high school. I knew I had to look for a class that I would enjoy so that I could bring the skills I learn with me to college. I decided on taking accounting. It was nerve-wrecking at first because I didn’t know if I would be any good at this completely new trade. Turns out I was really good at accounting, and I had no troubles the entire year. This outcome persuaded me to pursue finance and business. I am still unsure if I want to be an accountant, but I know for sure that these three business courses I took throughout high school helped expand my skills in financial literacy.

I included an audio that I discovered on The Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN). It was created by Abbigail Andrews, and she elaborates on how her soccer career shaped her literacy in multiple aspects. Reading is not just looking at words and making meaning out of them, but you can also read a situation/scenario, or you can read body language, facial expressions, etcetera. I played soccer throughout high school, and I can agree with the fact that you need to be able to read situations to play ahead of the game. It definitely helps to know where to run before the ball is even kicked. Another example is that goalies are much better at their position if they are able to read the stance of the opposing players and watch their footing before they take shots. Soccer may look easy, but it is definitely an advanced sport with many technicalities and scenarios. The better players have been playing all of their lives and know how to control situations better on the pitch. After four years of reading the positioning of players on the field, and also watching their body movements/facial expressions, soccer has really helped advance my skills in spatial literacy and gestural literacy in everyday life.

YouTube is a realm of endless possibilities. I began watching YouTube at a very young age, 10 years old if I remember correctly. I watched so many different types of videos I cant even begin to list them. Some major channels that I remember growing up with, and are still big channels today include Dude Perfect, Good Mythical Morning, and Crash Course. I decided to include Crash Course’s link because I have some fond memories of learning vital information on this channel. I used Crash Course to help prepare for a history test that I procrastinated in seventh grade, and they also helped me have somewhat of a clue as to what I was doing in chemistry in tenth grade. YouTube is a great resource because not only has it been a great entertainment platform, but the limitless sources of education is truly a gift. Crash Course’s videos include live multimodal texts. In their videos you can find visual, audio, oral, and maybe even spatial language as well. This gives so many different types of learners a chance to strive in their education. I continue to use Crash Course to this day if I don’t know a topic. Sometimes a video can help you more than reading an article or book.

It wasn’t until I was in fifth grade when I received my first smart phone. A whole new world had opened up to me because now I was able to contact my friends through a handheld device that fits in my pocket rather than the bulky device with buttons that always stayed on the port in the living room. If I remember correctly, my first touch-screen phone was the original Samsung Galaxy S. I used my portable cell-phone to not only text and call, but I was downloading music, and watching YouTube videos as well. Shortly after the cell-phone changed my life, I was introduced to the iPad. When I tell you I used that thing to shreds, I am not joking. I used my tablet and smart phone to do just about everything, from education to entertainment to communication. Years of experience has taught me to be more technologically advanced than older generations, while also having the ability to use technology to the best of my ability to ensure I get the most out of the resources in front of me.

As I matured I started listening to more and more types of music. I was introduced to the rap genre in fourth grade when I received my first iPod Shuffle for Christmas. This moment was the beginning of my “musical journey”. @Eminem is known as one of the most lyrical rappers in the game, if not the most lyrical. My first impression of Eminem was that I couldn’t hear a word he was uttering. It wasn’t until I started reading his lyrics when I started to really understand and enjoy what he was creating in his music. Eminem introduced me to so many different lessons in literature, including figures of speech, double entendres, words I have never heard before, and phrases I still use to this day. Listening to Eminem and reading his lyrics at the same time is an example of how I used aural and lingual literacies to be a multimodal reader.

Before I was able to read anything, including the easy-to-finish ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ books, I relied heavily on television. While I was growing up I didn’t have YouTube, or social media, or even a technological device to use to access things of that nature. The television was always on in my house. Even when we left the dog home alone we would keep the TV on for him. I have memories of watching cartoons on Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, PBS kids, and every other channel in between. ‘Baby Looney Tunes’ and ‘Max and Ruby’ were my favorite shows to watch, according to my grandma. I knew all of the channels and shows because I would always watch. As I watched TV I picked up on things, gained information, and generally learned stuff before I even stepped foot into a school. My grandma says I “questioned a lot of stuff”, but I feel as if many children do this. It is an example of learning using aural and visual modes of literacy.

Growing up I was a very avid reader. I remember all throughout elementary school I was always going to Barnes & Noble with my mom after a trip to the nail salon. What sparked my interest in books at such a young age was ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ by Jeff Kinney. I bought my first copy at a Scholastic book fair, and I even bought around 10 of the books in the series. These books were very easy to read, and were entertaining enough to have movies made too. I think that is a good enough reason to understand why I enjoyed these books so much.