Expanding Knowledge Through Literacy Activities

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            It is funny how we wonder why we learn certain things at school, such as math or English. A lot of times, we have to take classes that are not even for our major, so why even bother taking the courses? Even though we all think that there is not a point of taking certain courses, there is always a reason for everything. For me, English is not my favorite subject. It seems to me that there was not really a point of having English classes since a lot of courses look at the grammatical part of your writing. As I have learned on my fourth year of attending San Francisco State that now an actual purpose of taking an English course. When I first started out the semester, I thought that my writing was pretty good. As we started to write our blogs, I definitely realized that my writing was not as good as I thought it was. This course has taught me that writing is a continuous practice of always trying to improve. When having to reflect on certain readings, I look at how these literacy activities will benefit me in my career.

            With my previous blog, I have interviewed Dr. Autumn Drouin. I did not elaborate too much on her literacy activities because it was more of a complex subject to write about with what she does during her day. When she has mentioned that she had a lot of personal time to herself, it was not very surprising to hear that she does a lot of personal writing. Many people do not have time to write what is on his or her mind. In the current English class that I am enrolled in, every class starts with a free- write where we have free range to express what ever is on our minds for 10 whole minutes. I think when having this type of writing activity in my class helps my classmates and I clear our minds. I think the main idea my professor wants us to get out of the free- writes are seeking personal experiences and having to relieve ourselves with what we are going through personally. Who would have thought that personal writing would help someone who is in an older age range? At times, I do not like writing my feelings out just because it can be hard to reflect on exactly with what is on my minds. It comes to say that there is no limit to as what do, as long as it benefits you.  

            Reading and writing is an essential part to how we communicate with others in the world. Even though many of us are not planning to become famous novelists, it is important to practice literacy activities because it helps us practice analyze what messages or morals that people are trying to convey in their arguments. When writers read their own writing, it helps them see what their readers understand the purpose of their writing. After the college life, we all never stop learning. Whether we learn something that is school related or not, we all learn something new everyday. Dr. Drouin has told me when she became a licensed naturopathic doctor (ND), that people in her field never find a way to get around reading and writing since it is essential part to research. She told me that she is required to go to conventions every couple weeks and each convention is different. During our interview, she mentioned that she was in San Diego for a couple conventions. The one she attended was about different professions, such as neurology, recent research fields, including endocrinology* (study of hormones including diseases) and cardiology* (diseases and abnormality of the heart). Another convention she attended while she was in San Diego was about the history of alternative methods and trace back to the main roots of how alternative methods have originated and compare it with new methods used today’s society. Of course when we go to meetings, we all have to do some required readings and note- taking in order to retain what we have learned. Doctors, just like Dr. Drouin, have to do the same thing.

In the words of BruceWightman, Literacy promotes “basic scientific knowledge [that] can be imperative and is able to function in an increasingly technological society. Citizens need scientific knowledge to make better decisions in their lives.” I use some evidence that literacy is important in science, but if you think about it, medical research is based on scientific research. Practicing to have good habits of literacy activities will enhance our way of learning things and being able to understand how certain things in the world works. Without reading or writing, we would not be able to learn about things in the past. In order to become better readers and writers, it takes practice just like everything in life. I believe that the younger we start literacy activities, the more they are able to engage and explore with what they are interested in. Literacy is not important just for me or people in the medical field, but it is important for everyone.

*meaning that they are not exact definitions of what these fields are but are articles with current articles about the subject.