When I first wrote the post, Circles of Literacy, a few months ago, I was thinking about the many different forms literacy disguises itself in. It grows with us from birth, and flows like a circle throughout our lives.
Circles of literacy expand, contract, and most importantly - connect - in different ways during our lifetimes. The more we build upon them, the stronger our reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills become.
Those skills have become essential to survival in this age of information. They help us to sort, prioritize, energize, inspire, and grow.
Like the fruits and vegetables we eat, the more colorful our experiences with literacy are, the more nourishment they will provide. We have the power to take our minds and bodies where we want them to go, if we only trust in ourselves.
It deeply saddens me to find that people of all ages think they don't like to read or write. They view these activities as work, because that's how it's been presented to them.
But it's never too late to put the color back into literacy. There's no line that ends. There are only rest stops.
So, if you find that you or your child need something to inspire a love of reading within yourselves, you might start with my 5 W's of Reading:
5 W's of Literacy © Dawn Riccardi Morris
Why read? © Dawn Riccardi Morris
What to read? © Dawn Riccardi Morris
Who to read with? © Dawn Riccardi Morris
When to read? © Dawn Riccardi Morris
Where to read? © Dawn Riccardi Morris
If there's anything you do for yourself, or your family this year, please find more time to read (If possible. You may already read too much, like I do). Read alone, together, inside, outside, for five minutes, for an hour, in pajamas, in a bathing suit, or waiting to for an appointment. Your way. Any day.
It doesn't matter what, where, why, when, or who with. Just get the ball rolling, and keep it going. And if you find someone's lost theirs, please bounce it back to them!
And that's all I have to say about literacy for a while now...
