Wednesday, March 5, 2014

SOLC 2014 Day 5: Reading and writing my way through my birthday

Things I have read so far on this day, my birthday:

  • The beautiful birthday card from my husband, left on the kitchen table, next to equally beautiful flowers
  • Several emails
  • Birthday wishes on Facebook and via text messages
  • Appointment reminders
  • A Lands' End catalog
  • Street signs
  • The menu at the coffeehouse where my friend and I met early this morning
  • Emails another teacher was showing me, to illustrate a point
  • My car audio system readout, identifying what song was coming up in the queue
  • The drive-through menu at Fazoli's for lunch
  • An entertainment magazine at the hairdresser's salon
  • The label on some new hair gel I purchased after my haircut
  • Even more happy birthday wishes on Facebook, as well as some interesting and funny stories
Things that I have written so far, on this day, my birthday:
  • A to-do list for this afternoon
  • A check, for my massage
  • Captions for posts on Facebook
  • My signature on credit card transactions
  • Lots of thank-yous for birthday greetings
  • More posts on Facebook
  • This blog post
All of this is ordinary stuff for me, and probably for readers of this blog. But these very same activities are difficult for a substantial number of students and adults who have learning disabilities, language barriers, visual impairments...or are simply illiterate due to life circumstances. 

Reading and writing are important.  Pass it on.

8 comments:

  1. Great reminder about the importance of literacy which many of us take for granted. Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

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    1. It was a good day to count my blessings; thanks!

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  2. I liked reading your lists of what you read and wrote through the day. I think this is a great activity to do to be reflective of our own practice and instruction, and it would also be fun to have our students do this activity for a few days to show how much reading and writing is a part of their lives! (Happy Birthday, by the way!)

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    1. Functional literacy is often glossed over when focus is placed on testing; as a special education teacher, it was a passion of mine to instill the need for literacy as a life skill for my students. And thanks for the birthday wishes!

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  3. Yes, reading and writing are important. And, just as important is recognizing how much of both we do every day that doesn't get validated. Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. Our lives would be so much less without literacy! Thanks for stopping by, Elisa!

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  4. Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.~Voltaire
    Beautiful, meaningful, poignant post. Perfect to celebrate...YOU! Jo Ann

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    1. Love the quote! Need to incorporate more dance into my life. :-)

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