Literacy is a concept that encompasses many complex aspects of thinking, reading, and writing. The media comes in many forms and is different for all groups and ages of people as it is put into context of the reader.
I do not know if I am doing enough as a teacher to make sure that my students are becoming as “literate” as they need to. However, this is one of the areas that I feel like I need to improve in. I hope that this class shows me more tools needed in order to make my students more literate.
I am thinking of literacy from the perspective of a first grade teacher
I think literacy is very important topic at this grade level. It will be important to use visual representations for my students to understand in order from them to figure out what words actually mean. In order to help students become more literate, I would have to encourage them to read more and more in and out of school, but mostly in a fun way. I will also have to model how to read properly and demonstrate good techniques of a reader.
A question I have from this viewpoint is: how do I manage to possibly create lesson plans that help out each individual learning style and intelligence level in my classroom focusing primarily on literacy?
E – That literacy is a HUGE concept that is tremendously important.
W – Am I doing enough as a teacher to make sure all my students are literate or furthering their literacy? Do I know enough literary tools?
N – Explore new ways and avenues to make sure my students become literate.
S – Literacy is a concept that encompasses many complex aspects of thinking, reading, and writing. The media comes in many forms and is different for all groups and ages of people as it is put into context of the reader.
Jeffrey Fisher 
Jeff,
Prior to thinking about making sure to teach literacy in your subject area, it is important for you to define what literacy looks like. A good place to start is to define the broad term of literacy itself. What are the “complex aspects of reading, writing and thinking.” Once you have defined the overall concept of literacy, think about what literacy looks like in your content area and at your grade level. Once you are able to start to think about and define literacy at these two levels, it will assist you in developing lessons and strategies to promote literacy in your classroom.
I think as we discussed via Twitter, I do not think you necessarily have to approach teaching literacy in isolation of the Content. The goal of your lessons then would be to develop lessons that help you address both literacy and the content.
I think I do a lot of “literary” activities in class, but I’m afraid that I don’t do enough. I think it every lesson there is some literary aspect, but I don’t feel like I do as much as elementary teachers. I wish I had more time to have the kids read, write, and reflect, but there is so much that I need to get through.
I’m sure that I will, through more years of experience, find a better way to approach this situation.