Literacy to me is first the ability to read and write. Second, the ability to understand what the words mean on a deeper level. For example, understanding the story and knowing the purpose of the words on the page.
One of my sponsors of literacy is my Junior year American Literature long term substitute teacher, Dr. Stiles. We did a lot of reading in that class, and he really helped me understand the importance and significance of many novels.
I was walking into my American Literature classroom once again, as I said hello to Dr. Stiles as usual. He was my favorite teacher that year because of how normal and down to earth he was. He was not afraid to make jokes in the class at a student’s expense, knowing that the particular student would be fine with it. He was a young and intelligent man with a great sense of humor. At the time, we were reading The Great Gatsby. Honestly, I liked the movie better, but the few pages of the book I actually read were okay. Dr. Stiles made me want to read those pages with how he described the different instances of imagery and foreshadowing that F. Scott Fitzgerald carefully planted in the novel. Dr. Stiles described the green light and the hot day very well to us, which gave me more understanding of how to interpret novels and see the different literary elements the author put into them. The reason Dr. Stiles is my most memorable sponsor of literacy is not because he taught me how to read, but because he taught me how to read.
