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International Literacy Day
Today (September 8th) is the UNESCO International Literacy Day
What does literacy mean to you? Being able to read and write proficiently? Reading for pleasure, writing as a profession? Typing words or phrases into a search bar, being able to read the results underneath?
I am a lifelong reader, writer, and to an extent, a lifelong learner. I play Scrabble and Quiddler and enjoy cryptic crosswords. For a decade or so, I was an English teacher, then a Literacy Specialist teacher. Reading and writing are like breathing or walking to me. I cannot imagine life without them. Yet I have taught many students in my career who struggle with reading or writing, or both. The flow-on effects can be deleterious.
The theme of this year’s International Literacy Day is “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond”. If you do not have literacy, what challenges would you face in life, particularly as the world deals with the current pandemic?
I found this assignment from when I was doing a Masters in Literacy Education from ten years ago. I interviewed students and staff from the school I was working in about reading and literacy. These are some of the comments that I got from students:
“If I found reading difficult, that would probably affect me a lot…
