Blog Post #2 - Who am I as a Writer?

I never particularly had a trouble time reading but for me writing could be challenging. It’s always amazing to come up with an idea and an outline but I always seemed to have issues completing and executing my creation. Writing takes a lot of thought and is a long process. My problem is that I hate to change my words, sentences, and structure. I’m good at taking feedback and criticism, that’s no problem! But I can have a hard time applying the suggestions to make my writing and story stronger. I’ve always seemed to think that it’s harder to revise my writing than it is to make the draft. This is something I have been working on during college, that is, to actually try and work on revising my work, so it turns out even stronger!

Right now, I work as a tutor for the SPARK Literacy Program here in Milwaukee through the Boys and Girls Club. The program works with kindergarten through second grade to get their reading, writing, and literacy levels higher. This job involves me taking a student from their class to the SPARK room to do a one-on-one lesson for 30 minutes about a topic they are still learning about and need more practice with. Here is a link to the SPARK page that shares a bit more information about the awesome work that's done: https://bgcmilwaukee.org/programs/academic-success/spark/ 

Working with young students at the start of learning letters and sounds, and introducing reading and writing, is very different from helping writers on their stories and work. I’ve only given very basic feedback to my peers in class about their work. I find myself having trouble to give feedback to others about their work because it can be hard for me to find imperfections about a story unless it is a grammatical correction. Mainly because I always think something is beautiful with how the individual created their piece in their own unique way. So, I’m going to take this opportunity as a writing coach to find ways to work with and help elevate these writers in their creations. 

 

This is the literacy collage I made that portrays me as a reader and writer: 

I enjoy reading many different genres of books but of course my favorite is fantasy and sci-fi. I really love Harry Potter! I started the trend late and first read this series my senior year of high school and ever since then I have found my passion for reading again! Some other books that I have resonated with and have impacted my way of life are Jane Eyre, The Giver, and The Little Book of Joy. Last year in my classes I have started reading stories by the author, Octavia Butler and found her stories and storytelling to be extremely powerful and moving. I also enjoy many different artists that have unique ways of using their words in their songs to tell a story. Some of my favorite artists are PinkPantheress, Mk.gee, Kendrick, Mac DeMarco, The Sundays, Blood Orange, and many more. 

Blog Post #1 - Online Literacy Engagement

At the very start of my technology journey, I downloaded all the apps and consumed the content of social media. I have Facebook to check in on my family members, especially the older ones. I used to have TikTok and swipe through the app almost every day. Since the pandemic it has brought me on a huge learning journey with observing different communities through the app, rediscovering my love of reading through BookTok, and watching political information and activism videos. As I look back TikTok has actually impacted my life in so many ways. Although last year I deleted TikTok as a way to decrease spending time on social media and my phone. From Boffone and Jerasa’s reading, I understand the huge benefit TikTok and BookTok has on adolescents because I had that same experience! I was encouraged to read in a digital space outside of school and pushed myself to purchase the books they recommended. This put me into a whole spiral of reading and buying books my senior year, and eventually helped me realize I wanted to be a part of the literature world. 

Without TikTok, I have resorted to my favorite app, Instagram. When I first joined Instagram I posted here and there but would mainly just view content from my friends and creators. Until recently I have found the joy in posting. I think of Instagram as my photo diary, so when I take a picture or resonate with a photo, I’m most likely gonna post it. My profile represents my personality and identity, and that’s how I want to be reflected in my pictures and throughout my page. It’s where I can be creative, artistic, and experiment. I try not to overthink when I post like I have in the past. I want my profile to show people the goofy, weird, cool, authentic side of me. My favorite part is when I hear “She posts a lot!” 

Instagram is also very similar to TikTok for me and personally I like it even better. I am still able to use reels and see similar videos that I would have seen on TikTok. Through suggested content and my algorithm, I am able to get news and information from independent journalists who post on Instagram, and from activist accounts. This helps me support their work, stay updated in what is happening in the world, and allows me to know what action I can do to help. A specific independent journalist I have been following on Instagram who creates content at every second of the day is the reporter Aaron Parnas. With his Instagram link here: https://www.instagram.com/aaronparnas?igsh=NmRoNzcxbXY5aWw5  

In this week’s insightful reading from Jenkins, I picked up on two new skills that are applied while I am in a digital space. The first skill is judgement. With misinformation, conspiracies, and recently ai videos, it is extremely important to make sure that everybody is checking information and sources. Even when I use my sources on Instagram that give me information and news, I tend to investigate myself and see whether or not there are sources, who those sources are, and any additional information I can find on the internet. This helps young people and anyone in general become critical thinkers and thinkers who are able to think for themselves. The second skill that caught my interest is distributed cognition. When we view content, how we respond to it can matter. The definition in the reading implies that we should “interact meaningfully.” (P 4). Usually, I will heart social and political posts so that I am supporting the creator and so that I am boosting my algorithm along as theirs. Occasionally I will repost important information onto my Instagram story so that others can have access and exposure to information. I notice many friends I follow do this action, and I appreciate it because it allows me to interact with it as well. 

It is important as educators to use digital media as a tool and resource instead of steering away completely and criticizing it. We should be applying student’s lives to their education and work, and the digital world is a huge part of that. Incorporating digital media will help students be more engaged and willing to work. This allows for creative outlets and ways for students to work outside of school. Although I do think it’s important to practice the same literacy skills without a screen. I admit I even struggled with this, I thought the work was boring, but with the right balance there can hopefully be a way to success in urban, English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms.