Reflecting

My interest of Literacy is fully dedicated to developing strong leaders through the path of literacy.  Through reading, adolescents are presented the opportunity to truly discover themselves, and also to empower themselves. When adolescents discover their love for reading at an early age, limitless opportunities are made possible, and the possibilities are endless.  I am fully determined to promote awareness of the many positive futures that can be made possible through reading.

The promotion of the awareness of literacy is a cause that is extremely close to both my family and I.  I have already had the opportunity to positively promote my platform in an effective way.  I have had the advantage of volunteering as a reading tutor at my church, as well as my community libraries.  Having the opportunity to see the success on these children’s faces makes my platform more than worthwhile.  I have also had the privilege of holding several benefit fundraising dinners at some my local restaurants.  I was very pleased with the outcomes, and all proceeds were donated to The Ohio Literacy Network.

Every person should have the opportunity to discover themselves and to strive for a positive future, and the root of this success stems from literacy.  Anything can be made possible through the success of literacy, and if more awareness is made possible, it will only continue to benefit our society.  The encouragement towards literacy will never stop because the success of literacy is a cause that will forever be essential to the achievements of our nation.   It gives me great joy in knowing of all of the positive futures that can be made possible when our society lends a hand towards literacy. 

Through these postings... I have presented multiple literary help sites, and my hope is that many people will find positive use out of them!

What I've Done

Through my interest in the success of Literacy, I have had the opportunity to volunteer, raise money, and more importantly, raise awareness.  I have had the privilege of volunteering at my community libraries where I serve as a reading tutor.  My duty at the libraries is to teach one child at a time, how to read.  It is beyond rewarding to see the amount of progress that each child makes, and also to see the pride in their eyes.  If I am not assisting a child on improving their reading skills, I am listening to a child express their passion and excitement for reading.  I have also held several benefit fundraising dinners at my local Applebee’s restaurants.  Applebee’s has been extremely accommodating and understanding of my passion to raise awareness of the importance of reading, and also to raise funds for the Ohio Literacy Network.  These fundraising dinners are a great way of my community being actively involved in a great cause, while at the same time, enjoying a great dinner with great company.  Applebee’s has donated 15% of every check from every table which presented a “Learning through Literacy” flyer.  I am very proud of the amount of funds that I have raised, and all proceeds were delivered to benefit The Ohio Literacy Network.  These fundraisers were extremely successful, and I strive to have many more in the future.   I have also held other smaller fundraisers to benefit The Ohio Literacy Network.  I have set up games in my local libraries.  For example, I have set up a poster board filled with riddles, and each guess at the riddle is one quarter, or donation.  When a person gives one quarter, they are given the answer.  If their guess to the riddle was correct, they get a lollipop.  Either outcome, they walk away with the satisfaction that they have just benefited a great cause.  I have also held a contest through my library that raised awareness to the importance of reading.  I am very pleased to say that this contest has actively engaged the kids of my community.  Since I absolutely believe that strong leaders develop from active readers, I held a contest, along with an incentive, that encouraged the kids of my community to get involved!  The flyer stated “Do YOU want to win a Chipotle Gift Card?”  The contest rules were that these kids had to write a short essay on how the person they are today today, and their goals today are inspired by a book they have read in the past.  The amount of contestants was very impressive, and this contest was extremely successful.   I feel privileged to have the opportunity to raise funds, and also to raise awareness of the importance of reading.  I will continue to positively benefit this cause that is so close to my heart, as well as the hearts of all Americans. 

QUIZ: A list of some fun stuff to test what kind of reader YOU are!

ALTHOUGH THESE QUIZZES ARE NOT NECESSARILY ACCURATE, THEY ARE FUN!

The results are meant to be fun and an interactive way in which you can read and engage your personal aspects at the same time!

Readers come in many stripes; some of us place more importance on our reading than others, and some of us are a lot more literate than others. But are you really more literate than average, or just more of a snob about your reading?

This quiz will tell you how you rank compared to other readers - are you more obsessive than the rest, or are you just faking it? Or maybe you're only just able to read well enough to take this quiz??

http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_kind_of_reader_are_you

This next quiz will ask you questions on how many books you read, what kind of books you like, and how often you read. 

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/QkBmkG/What-kind-of-Reader-are-you

Please be cautious of the "spam" ads that might pop up during these quizzes!!!

=)

Exploring the topic...

I became interested in finding out real world information on the extremity of this topic.  I decided to investigate the site "Yahoo Answers" 

This is a site where individuals anonymously or openly post questions in which they have on a certain topic. 

The topic that i searched was "Literacy"  in the open search bar on "search yahoo questions"

Of the first search I executed with simply the word LITERACY I found some of the following proposed questions within the last year:

How can I become a literacy tutor?

How can I become more informed on literacy programs in my area?

Is it important to be well educated in reading skills -literacy

How can I better improve my English skills?

How can I get affordable help on my literacy skills?

From the looks of these questions, i would assume that the need for more information on literacy skills is essential, and more people do want to find out way in which they can be helped.

Want to Volunteer?!

Have you always wanted to find out ways how you can help benefit your community and the literacy skills of your community?  Do you feel that if more people were taught the fundamentals of literacy, that our nation would be a more successful place?  There is a place that I discovered that allows young adults and adults to volunteer locally around in their neighborhood.

Over the summer, I volunteered at my local library as a reading tutor.  I found that this experience was beyond rewarding and really benefited my community in a positive way.  The number of children that i have tutored and the number of success stories was a reward in so many ways.  Looking towards the future, I know that if programs like this are continued, it will only serve to improve the knowledge rate and success rate of our nation.

No matter if you live in California, Ohio or Florida, all across the nation volunteers are coming together in efforts to benefit the literary success rate.

For more information on how YOU can volunteer in your community, please visit the following website:
http://www.literacydirectory.org/?op=ld&mode=volunteers

Looking to Literacy Beyond the Border

The Literacy Network Northeast (LNN) is one of 16 regional literacy networks in Ontario funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. This organization is based in Timmins, the Network serves eleven network communities from Wawa in the west to Temiskaming Shores in the east.

The Literacy Network Northeast, or the LNN, works very closely with government-funded Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Agencies that deliver free upgrading opportunities for adults who are of the three requirements:

• 19 years old or over
• Out of school
• Want to upgrade their essential skills for employment, further education or independence

They pride themselves on following through with the true definition of literacy.  Everyone deserves a fair chance at succeeding in their education, and no one should be left behind.  

For more information on this oranization, or how YOU could get more involved... please visit the following website for more details:

http://www.literacynet.ca/ 

So a question,

Do you think better literacy efforts are made in other countrys other than the united states?  If so, why?

Literacy is the ability to recognize, acquire and apply knowledge. It constitutes the wide range of skills necessary for improving one's quality of life.

 

Literacy is the ability to recognize, acquire and apply knowledge. It constitutes the wide range of skills necessary for improving one's quality of life.



Some FUN Stuff

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
A poem by Dr.  Seuss

I can read in red. I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.
I can read in bed, and in purple. and in brown.
I can read in a circle and upside down!
I can read with my left eye. I can read with my right.
I can read Mississippi with my eyes shut tight!

There are so many things you can learn about.
But…you'll miss the best things
If you keep your eyes shut.
The more that you read, the more things you will know
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

Words
A poem by Grandpa Tucker
There are some words so hard to read.
Some confuse like bead and seed.
Do you know of go and dough?
There's sew and sow, then there's so!

Sometimes a word is hard to spell.
But it's important for show and tell.
So work real hard to spell and read 'em.
'Cause all your life you'll really need 'em.

A mother's love, a sunny day,
A frisky puppy hard at play.
Words can chase the clouds away.
Without our words, what would we say?

If you read with your eyes shut you're likely to find
That the place where you're going is far, far behind
SO…that's why I tell you to keep your eyes wide.
Keep them wide open…at least on one side.

Independent Strategies
A poem by Jill Marie Warner

When I get stuck on a word in a book,
There are lots of things I can do.
I can do them all, please, by myself;
I don't need help from you.
I can look at the picture to get a hint.
Or think what the story's about.
I can "get my mouth ready" to say the first letter.
A kind of "sounding out".
I can chop up the words into smaller parts,
Like on or ing or ly,
Or find smaller words in compound words
Like raincoat and bumblebee.
I can think of a word that makes sense in that place,
Guess or say "blank" and read on
Until the sentence has reached its end,
Then go back and try these on:
"Does it make sense?"
"Can we say it that way?"
"Does it look right to me?"
Chances are the right word will pop out like the sun
In my own mind, can't you see?
If I've thought of and tried out most of these things
And I still do not know what to do,
Then I may turn around and ask
For some help to get me through.