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Post by lsantana36 on May 24, 2016 4:30:32 GMT
I wanted to talk about the literacy practices of something that we all do on a daily basis but take for granted. A few years ago (2009 to be exact) there was a huge outbreak that shook up the entire world. If you can recall between April 2009 and April 2010 there where 73 million reported cases of the H1N1 virus (Swine flu). During this time anyone could turn on the TV and see a flu commercial and learn about a few quick precautions they should take to prevent infection. One of the largest precautions was to WASH YOUR HANDS, which is what I will be discussing today. Although this is a practice we all partake in more than once a day (hopefully), it is easily overlooked. However, as the title of this topic suggests "Literacy is everywhere" and there are even literacy practices in something as simple as personal hygiene.
First and foremost its important to understand when a hand washing is deemed necessary. Of course there are those obvious moments when your hands are covered in dirt and grime from being outside all day it's time for a good hand washing, but what if you've been inside all day? Most people wast their hands between 3 and 7 times a day, which seems pretty adequate. I'd say if you've been inside all day, its probably safe to say you should wash your hands every 6-7 hours or so, which is pretty manageable seeing as the normal, hydrated bladder needs to release every 5-6 hours. Then comes the real stuff- the actual washing!
The most important literacy practice of washing your hands is getting the water to a temperature that will kill bacteria. Lukewarm (or hot water if you can stand it) is perfect for the job. Once the water is at a suitable warm to hot temperature its time for the soap and scrub. This is where one can really tell if they're a hand washing insider or a hand washing outsider. Unfortunately, those who simply manage to get the soap in their hands and quickly rinse their hands haven't gotten the memo of what it takes to e a hand washing insider. In order to get rid of the viral germs on hands that may lead to sickness one much vigorously scrub their hands, wrists, and forearms with soap for a duration of at least 30 seconds. This process ensures that all germs have been destroyed. Finally, one finishes by rinsing off the soap with the lukewarm (hot) water and completely drying their hands, wrists, and forearms with a clean paper towel.
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Post by rachelmartin1 on May 24, 2016 13:34:55 GMT
I worked at an overnight summer camp multiple summers in a row. Campers came anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks, with counselors having to stay a total of 10 weeks (1 week of pre-camp and 1 week of post-camp). To get a clearer picture of what camp looked like imagine cabins, loud and smelly campers, and activities ranging from horses, dance, hiking, archery, and arts and crafts. There are so many aspects of camp that I could cover but I will cover two main aspects: the transition of becoming an "insider" and camp lingo.
My first summer as a camp counselor, I had to earn my way from "outsider" status to "insider" status. Some of the counselors had been there for 10 years: they had been campers, then counselors in training, and now counselors. The counselors that had been at camp for almost their entire lives took on an unspoken leadership role. They did not have to participate in the same training programs as we did; instead they were instructed to do other activities to help get the camp ready for campers. Whenever we had a question or did not understand something, we would look to these experienced counselors for direction and guidance. This transition to being a complete "insider" did not occur until you completed your first summer as a camp counselor and experienced all the trials and jubilations that come with the job. The next summer, I felt like a complete "insider" and took on the role that the more experienced camp counselors took on for me my first summer. It was an unspoken rule that once you completed your first summer on the job, you were truly an "insider" because you had the experience and knowledge to prove it. It was an honor and privilege to be able to take on the unspoken leadership role at training and guide the new counselors toward becoming "insiders."
Anyone looking in from the outside would not understand our camp lingo. There are names for every building on camp. For example, the "hide out" is the building where dance, drama, and puppet theatre take place. Also, the different age groups have specific names, and it is a rite of passage to move up through them. Trailblazers are the youngest girls, explorers are the 9-11 year olds, and pioneers are the 12-14 year olds. The cabins are named according to the age group and gender that live in them (e.g., Trailblazer Boys). Campers have to know which group they are in because a lot of activities and day to day things happen within the context of these groups. There are also names for the activities on the day to day schedule. An example is Camp Store, which falls in the middle of the day and is where campers can take a break and eat junk food before going to their afternoon activities. Another example is Waterfront, which is an activity that campers can choose that involves swimming in the lake. Being able to converse fluently with campers and other counselors using "camp language" is critical to camp running smoothly and the campers having a great summer. Somebody new to camp or from the outside would not understand where to go, what activity is happening, or what group they belong in.
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Post by jennie on May 24, 2016 22:11:27 GMT
A setting I wanted to share about is the performing arts theatre. I have not been fully immersed in this discourse since high school but I think it's a unique thing to share.
To be involved in productions you did not have to take any classes, however, the introductory drama course would be very helpful in acquiring the practices. For example, you will need to become familiar with stage directions. Whether you are an actor told to come more downstage after your entrance from upstage right, or a lighting technician being instructed to light the lower left vignette, everyone participating is expected to know the parts of the stage. Additionally, it is assumed that everyone has a back stage etiquette (no waiting or talking in the wings, you cannot touch the curtains, ect.). Certain phrases and terminology may seem foreign at first but become second nature. Whenever you hear someone yell "line coming in" (or even "line coming out") you immediately stop in your place because something on the fly system is being moved on the stage (could be a set piece, a backdrop, or a scrim) you must also yell back "thank you" so that the technician knows they have been heard.
As an actor you have to figure out where and how you will be mic'ed, how to do makeup appropriate for the stage and its lighting, when your "call time" is, and how you will recognize when you are about to be needed on the stage.
The technical aspects have even more specifics, the stage manager calls 2 cues (a 'stand-by' and a 'go') for every single thing that happens during a show, from the house lights going out to the curtain closing, and every set, sound, and lighting change in between. They communicate with typically two assistant stage managers backstage, a fly system, and spotlights on a headset, with sound and general lighting in their booth. Even learning how to use and store the headsets can be confusing. I was a stage manager for a show once without any prior technical experience and had to figure a lot of it out on my own. What washes and specials were, how to program cues, I had been mic'ed as an actor before but now I had to learn how to mic an actor. I was given the authority of dismissing the entire cast each rehearsal when I felt that everything could be left in a way efficient for the next time. And on performance day, the show was put in my hands entirely as my directors and teachers sat in the audience.
It is very common to ask the more experienced students loads of questions, and there are ways to prepare like taking classes, however for the most part you are thrown into an entirely different world and a lot of the fun comes from figuring it out.
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Post by colleen on May 24, 2016 23:44:32 GMT
I recently experienced an example of literacy when going to a salon for a haircut. It is not a literacy that I claim to be particularly proficient in (the process, the terminology, the techniques, etc.) – in fact, I claim pretty much the opposite. But in this instance I learned a lot and marveled at how different discourses appear throughout day to day activities. I went to a salon and the girl cutting my hair happened to be particularly chatty. We chatted about basic topics and then moved to the topic of hair and aesthetics - she got really excited when we started talking about hair. She started recounting numerous times that she had engaged in specific processes and used terminology that I really didn’t understand. She happily chatted on as if she was describing the weather outside though, not realizing how confusing it must sound to an outsider. I thought it was really interesting that although I have my degree and I’m going back for another, I could not relate at all to what she was talking about. Similarly, I believe that if I had started talking to her about 504 plans and providing students with a FAPE she would have stared at me blankly. Yet in regard to her own discourse, she spoke a mile-a-minute and with great passion.
It is just interesting how ingrained we become in our own discourses and how apparent it is when others mention a discourse that you aren’t familiar with. I felt hesitant keeping up conversation with her on the subject and tried to mention a few phrases that made sense in the context we were in (e.g., “My hair comes up really quickly, it lifts too much and they always need toner”) but knew that I had pretty much reached my limit of relevant terminology.
I think that this example is a testament to how you can learn something new every day. While the most common method of learning may be reading about new information, how wonderful is it that you can encounter a wide variety of information just by speaking to those around you? It seems as though most people go to extreme lengths not to speak to one another but it is a beautiful idea that, as individuals, we can learn vast amounts of information from those around us. What better way to learn than to have someone who is passionate about their own discourse tell you about it? If nothing else, I left the salon appreciating how much the girl cutting my hair knew about her craft and was impressed with the zeal in which she described it.
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Post by jamestgardiner on May 25, 2016 18:08:04 GMT
I have grown up playing baseball. For 19 of my 23 years alive, I have been actively playing baseball. To me, it has become a secondary discourse that has shaped my primary discourse. I almost want to call it my primary discourse. Within baseball, there are a set of literacy practices that only people in the baseball community would understand. Baseball has a large number of spoken literacy practices to unspoken literacy practices. They involve the coaches, players, umpires, fans, practices, and games. One of my favorite literacy practices involves the unwritten rule culture of baseball. Yes, there are unwritten rules. Yes, if you break them, other players hold you accountable. A recent example of this literacy practice is when Jose Bautista, a big hitter for the Blue Jays, took out second baseman of the Texas Rangers, Rougned Odor. Bautista slid into second base late, with his spikes up. This practice of sliding is intended to break up a double play. However, it can be dangerous to the second baseman. Second basemen have completely blown their knees out because of a late slide. The late slide represents non-verbally that I do not like you and I want to hurt you. As soon as this happened, Odor landed a solid punch right on Bautista's jaw. Immediately both benches cleared for a brawl. One unwritten rule of baseball is that if two players from different teams get into it, then everybody is involved. After the brawl was over, there was still havoc to be reaped. This is because of another unwritten rule of baseball - that players on each team must stand up for their teammates. So, the Blue Jays pitcher preceded to throw a fastball at Prince Fielder, the Rangers best power hitter. The pitcher was immediately thrown out of the game. BUt, the next inning, the Rangers pitcher threw at Bautista. He did this because 1) he tried to hurt Odor and 2) because another pitcher had thrown at one of his players. After the game, multiple suspensions were handed out. Everyone involved expected this to happen because of baseball literacy practices. There are many more practices of literacy among the game of baseball, but this happens to be hotly debated practice as well as one of my favorites.
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Post by leighvand on May 25, 2016 21:17:04 GMT
I observed the literacy practices at a table in a restaurant. For starters, the amount of assumptions that go into being a customer really in any setting where money is exchanged for goods is almost unlimited. As a server, when I see people sit down at my table, it is a visual cue for me to mentally prepare myself to take care of them. The first assumption my customers have is that someone is going to come over and take care of them. When I arrive at my table, the people sitting assume that I will ask them what they want to eat or drink. I've been serving in this restaurant for over a year so my introduction is rather rehearsed, especially with customers I have a superficial relationship with. I also greet a table assuming that my customers know how to read and make sense of the menu. There are definitely times when customers still ask questions regarding food items or if things can be altered, but I've never had reading be an issue. Once we exchange words, the customers then assume that some how I will get their order to the cooks, that the cooks can read the ticket, make sense of the order, and make it accurately. Really the list goes on from myself being able to read my notes to put in the food, to me also being able to understand the cues of when a table is finished eating, to the customer being able to read and appropriately pay for their bill. These literary skills are learned through experience and practice.
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Post by Angelica on May 26, 2016 17:59:53 GMT
For this assignment post, I observed an ESOL class at ACE (Adult & Community Education) Leon County Schools. My friend is a teacher there who works with low-level English students. It reminded of the same literacy and social practices that I had to learn while interning last fall at a refugee resettlement agency in Jacksonville, FL called World Relief. In both settings I engaged with refugee adults who had varying levels of English. These are a few of the key practices and guidelines that I've observed and had to learn in serving refugees.
Body language and facial expressions are key. Since we don't speak the same language, I've had to learn to smile a lot to communicate my openness and desire to help them. But I've also learned that smiling too much in other cultures communicates other things. So being aware of what cultural practices are normal and appropriate to different people is important. If someone looked confused, sad, or lost it's because they probably were. I also learned that pointing to symbolic objects really helps instruction. If I was trying to relay that "Being on time for work is important", I had to act it out and point constantly to my watch and the clock in the room. We had a lot of different props in the orientation classroom at World Relief so we can act out what we were trying to relay. If I wanted the class to do something, I had to show them like charades, over and over again and give clear directions.
Be adaptable and learn when you just have to go with the flow. If you are comfortable and having fun, the people around you will have fun also. The office environment at World Relief was usually crazy, loud, and unpredictable because each person had their own needs. Each day was different and people were constantly going in and out of the classroom. I learned that interruptions were normal and sometimes we just had to change up instruction with a song or a game. My friend at the ACE class was really goofy and calming. She created an environment where it was comfortable to speak out loud even if you sounded "funny", which is often a hurdle when learning a new language and new practices.
Be respectable, do not pry into their history, and try to see what you're teaching through their perspective. This seems like an obvious practice, but the longer I was at my internship the more important I realized it was. Because I saw the refugees every day, sometimes I would forget that they have a life outside of the classroom and have had to overcome tremendous circumstances to even get to America. I sat in one mental health class with the refugees and learned more than I wanted to. It changed my perspective and expectations of them. These men and women have survived horrors I've never witnessed or felt. Even though I am always curious of their story it is disrespectful to make them relay their past. I learned not to hold anything against them and not to push if they didn't want to participate in small things like a class activity. I also realized many of my examples weren't as universal as I thought they would be. I had to remember that they were adults and my elders, so I had to look for ways to show my respect and honor for their age and other responsibilities.
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Post by hannahacree on Jun 16, 2016 19:58:16 GMT
I work at a pool as a lifeguard, and cashier. There are a quite a few literacy practices that are used to function as a patron at the pools I work, especially when you arrive at the pool and must follow the entering/paying procedure. We have many regulars who know the procedure, know the policies and pay no attention to any signs we have posted. However when someone new comes to swim, there is a plethora of procedures they must be made aware of, by means of signs posted, being verbally told by the cashier or a lifeguard, or by observing regulars and the procedures they follow. It is very rare for someone to know the procedures they must follow, like when the lane space changes, where they should swim for which activity, rules for borrowing kickboards, or sharing a lane; all things that are obvious to an employee or regular; experts or insiders of the swimming pool. I often see newcomers sitting back and observing what others do to try and help inform them on what is acceptable for them to do.
One particular example of literacy practices and the successful use of them, are the procedures for bad weather. When lightening is in the area but not close enough for us to close the pool, we are under a lightning advisory, the pool stays open, but we could potentially close at any time. When lightning is close enough to the pool to be considered dangerous we are put on a lightning warning and must close the pool. These terms are part of the everyday language of anyone who works here, we use the terms regularly and know all there is to know about the implication of those things, for example, the distance that lightning must be to constitute an advisory or a warning, and the procedures to be taken during each of those. Many of the regular patrons know and recognize the terms, they know they can still swim under an advisory, but cannot during a warming. Newcomers however rarely have a clue what these terms mean, or what they are supposed to do when we are put on an advisory or warning.
In regards to literacy practices, we have a sign posted in the front window when we have a lightning advisory or warming that indicates the time the event is over. The lightning advisory sign is yellow, and the lightning warming sign is red. People must be literate enough to read the signs, but must also know what these terms mean and what the implication of these terms are. Often times people start to walk up to the window and see the yellow sign, and turn to leave because they think we are closed when we are not. They recognize that a yellow sign may indicate bad weather, but are unaware of the worse red sign that indicates that we are closed. They may have prior knowledge about the use of these words and colors, but do not have the experience to know and relate these terms and color indicators to the correct procedure.
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