The book I choose for book club is Write Like This.  This was my second choice because my first choice already had seven members in it.  I chose the book Write Like This because it is based on a pretty simple idea.   The idea is that if we want students to become good reader and writers then they need to studey good writing, and, most of all they need to imitate good writers.  In the book description it compares this proccess to learning how to play basketball.   It says you begin by first carefully observing a person who already knows how too shoot a basketball.  The better the basketball players form is, the the more the person who is observing can take from the experience.   It is the same with reading and writing.  If students have a good writer to emulate then they can became more proficient writers.

 

Rodriguez described his experience in great detail.   He described himself as a good student.  He was eager to learn and was very successful in completing his work.  However he described himself as a very anxious student.   When it comes to reading he described himself as bookish.   He would have stacks of books from the library and he would be found reading them everywhere.  His father even found him reading in a closet one day.  He describes school as something that distanced him from his family which  was sad.  He even said “he takes his first step toward academic success, away from his family.”  Part of his success I believe came with his attitude toward his schooling.  When he was told to read something he would read it.   He also found himself participating in the classroom.

Neither of his parents had very much schooling.  He describes how he got frustrated with his father when he tried to help with his arithmetic homework.  Schooling must have been very difficult with having limited access to help.  He did have siblings that went to school that could have helped him but they seemed to just make fun of Rodriguez calling him four eyes.  His journey to becoming literate was much different than mine.   When I needed help figuring something out I could just ask my mom.  He did not have access to the same helpful resources that I had.

He uses a large range of vocabulary in his article.   Also his style of writing is easy/interesting to read.   Its not quite like the scholarly article that we read for last class.  

           He speaks Spanish as well as English.  His first language that he learned was Spanish and through schooling he was able to improve his English.  He was proud when one of his teachers told him that he had almost lost all traces of his Spanish accent.

In the article Szwed attempts to define reading and writing.  He talks about the importance of reading and writing as well as the many different forms that it can take. According to Szwed there are many purposes for reading and writing.  Szwed even says that illiteracy has a direct correlation to poverty.  

            Reading and writing do many things for me.  Without them I would only be able to get so far in school.  Also they help me in my day to day life such as reading a traffic sign.  Without reading and writing it would be hard to get by in this world.  

What I took away from reading Szwed is that reading and writing have many factors that affect them which is what makes them so complicated to study.  In the article is was said that “Reading and writing are affected by family life, work pattern, economic patterns, patterns of leisure, and a complex of other factors.”  This is so many factors that affect reading and writing.   Some students may be better at reading different things because of all of these factors.   Another thing I took from Szweds article is that there are 5 elements of literacy.  These 5 elements are text, context, function, participants and motivation.

             What I found interesting was when Szwed asked in his article if there is a proper way to test reading and writing.    I didn't know the answer to this question and would like to know more.  I would imagine it would be hard to test them accurately since there are so many factors that affect them.

            My literate life is composed of many different pieces.   I read many things such as emails, Facebook posts, and random articles that I find interesting.   Also I read books if I have time to do so.   While I was at Catalina Island Camps for the summer I did a lot of reading.   I read the books Holes, Wayside School stories, and two of the Harry Potter books.  Now that school has started I am reading my textbooks as well as material on Blackboard.   I write for many reasons such as to keep in contact with my buddies and to respond to emails I receive.  I also write in a journal almost daily to keep track of progress I have been making or not making.   I go back and read these journals frequently.
            Lunsford's article showed me that making mistakes in reading and writing is totally normal.   As a future teacher I need to understand that students will be making mistakes.   I need to keep up with the technology so I can understand why some mistakes are repeated.   Such as knowing that students may use the wrong form of a word. (ex. to, two, too).  This is a common mistake because spell check doesn't catch this.