As I watched T.V. the other day, I noticed a lot of sports like golf, basketball, wrestling, etc. and realized that I don't know how to play any of them let alone understand how they are played. I took this picture at the Twin's home opener this year and it is the only sport that I understand completely. Literacy is crucial to the understanding of how a game is played. Without it, it would seem that a bunch a guys are just trying to hit a ball. Literacy is also needed in order to read the score of a game and to understand the statistics (in any sport).

This is a picture of my cat and puppy looking out of my bedroom window. They were watching my dad mow the lawn...they love to do this! It makes you wonder what animals really understand about the human world, and about each other. I often wonder whether how animals communicate with each other. It has always been known that cats and dogs are enemies but these two usually get along. (We'll forget that as soon as I took this picture Howie, the cat, leaned over and hit Aurora's nose!)

Spanish Literature

This is a picture of both a Spanish and English version of the same book. By being able to translate book and such from the original language to another, or just being able to read it in the original language, there are certain cultural aspects one can learn.

For my Spanish class at Macalaster, I have been reading Spanish texts from Cristobal Columbus to more modern day texts such as, El Amor en los tiempos del Colera. I have been able to "read" but more importantly, aquire information about different cultures and cultural norms. I think this is why I feel so strongly on having true texts in the classroom. For me, it would be books originally written in Spanish.

I think this reading between the lines is a very important lesson to learn how to do. When reading a book written in Cuba in the 1950's, one can gain a greater and deeper look into the lives of people at that time. When we are teaching, there are so many ways to personally bring our students into the lesson, and this is one of them.

Recipes

I am the worst cook ever, so I rely so much on recipes and reading them word for word so that I do not mess up the dish. I went to the Guiness factory in Ireland and I appreciated their step-by-step process of how they made the Guiness. This is a sign about what goes into a Guiness. It is important that the recipe directions are clear and straight forward otherwise someone might create an unhealthy meal or just a meal that does not taste good at all. I think that literacy can be found in recipes because of its readability.

Gardening

As I was thinking about literacy this week,I began to think of the things that I am illiterate in. One thing that came to mind was my lack of knowledge about the earth and how to grow things. My mom, however, is extremely literate in gardening. I look at her garden and cannot tell the difference between a plant that has not bloomed yet and a weed. I do not know how much to water a plant, when to water a plant, how much sunlight a plant needs, or how much shade. My mom, however, knows the importance of all these things and more. She works on her garden all spring and summer. She knows how much care each different flower needs. Some plants are harder to care for than others (apparently). There are also plants that are more suited to Minnesota weather than other climates. When I look at my mother's garden all I see are the pretty flowers, while she is able to see and read so much more because of her knowledge about plants and the hard work that goes into gardening.

This is a picture of a laser instrument we used in my Physical Chemistry class. This is an example of how both prior knowledge and practice are important aspects of literacy. When my partner and I began our experiment, we really did not know anything about this particular instrument. However, we previously had used several other instruments in our chemistry classes which used lasers as well, so we were able to think about how there might be similarities to this particular instrument. Therefore, our background knowledge assisted us in learning something new. Furthermore, as our experience with the instrument increased with each trial, we became more comfortable and were able to complete our tasks much faster than the first time we used the instrument. As a result, we were able to analyze three different proteins instead of only one or two, which made our experiment more credible and thorough.

My Art, Your Interpretation

This is a photograph that I took last semester and it makes me laugh every time I see it. I posted it because I thought about it in regards to literacy and a lot of things came to mind. First, because the fact that I set up the scene and shot photo it has a different meaning to me. I know how it was done and I know why I did it. Therefore, it has a different meaning to me than someone looking at it for the first time. Then it leads me to think of the different kinds of reactions I would receive from viewers because of the background knowledge they would bring to looking at it. There are different kinds of background knowledge one could bring to this photo. If the viewer knew me and the kind of art I have made in the past they will interpret it differently than someone that does not know me. There are so many ways someone could interpret this photo and as an artist I am constantly thinking and analyzing how my work will effect my viewers.