What It Means To Be Literate

This article, The Greatest Art for the Littlest Readers, shows how important illustrators are to children's books. They are able to bring the book to life with pictures, paintings and drawings. Students, even those who are struggling readers, can predict, explain and understand what an author is trying to convey.
I remembered reading a book called A Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The pictures in the book were colorful, expressive and just as important as the words.


Literacy From Wikipedia
After reading this article, I believed that literacy is the ability to read, write and communicate in today's society. I will also add that being computer literate is a necessity in today's society. A literate person has more doors of opportunities open to him/her professionally, economically and socially than a non-literate person. Many jobs require not only a college degree but that you have to be computer literate as well. For many of those who are illiterate, the world is closed to them. Most are stuck in low paying jobs and face untold financial and social challenges. Their ability to advance in the society is seriously limited.


In this article, Silencing Teachers, I admire the author's bravery in standing up to the school administrators against the strict school curriculum. Administrators do not like teachers to stray away from the required curriculum. As a teacher, I saw how stressed and anxious many students, administrators and teachers were when the New Jersey Ask Tests were administered in March. The fear was well-founded because
if the students failed, our school would be labeled a failing school. This meant that jobs of administrators and teachers could be in jeopardy and funds could be taken away from the school. Those of us who taught special needs students were especially concerned since our students were functioning far below their grade levels. My hope is that teachers, parents and school administrators would be able to have an impact in persuading state and federal officials to not rely solely on test driven assessments but to incorporate creative and innovative appraoches to the teaching of children especially those with disabilities.