Being a Good Reader

For this post I decided to give a more personal response to the readings, specifically Barton and Hamilton. I am not sure if this exactly kosher, but it’s the immediate response that I had to the readings.

One thing that I read over and over in the books I read for the book review and the Barton and Hamilton book was that people weren't viewing themselves as "good readers." "Apparently, the only real writing occurs in the classroom; the only real reading occurs when reading Shakespeare." (Sohn, Women of Appalachia, 115). I think that we need to re-think the idea of "reading" and "writing" instilled in us from the education system . Since there is more than one way to skin a cat I am sure there is more than one way to be a good reader, or considered "literate."

In light of this line of thought I decided to do my own "case study" on myself and Michael… cause those are the only people whose daily routine I know.

The use of literacy in my everyday life.

Lately the first thing I do when I wake up is look at my emails. I have no idea why. Like I am going to get anything important over night.
If I have texts I read them…
Then I get ready for work.
If I am making dinner in the Crockpot I read the recipe to make dinner, I always have recipes on the fridge and will usually look at them before I leave for work so I have an idea of how my evening is going to look. I always use a recipe--not matter what---not matter how many times I make it certain dish I use a recipe. If there were a recipe for cereal I would use it.

I drive to work, listen to music, read the titles and artists on my mp3 player
Get to work…start my computer and my day full of reading and writing begins.
On any give day I read recipes. I read instructional manuals, books, news articles, tweets, facebook statuses, emails, charts, etc.

Literacy in the life of Michael the Farmer

Watches the news. Does paper work… lots of it before going to work. Takes a look at prices of certain things before heading to work…

Who knows what kinds of things he reads at work. He uses a calendar and a white board to keep track of over 400 cows. He reads vet bills, feed bills, milk reports… all of these have to be quality checked.

He reads so many magazine articles and other publications relating to agriculture.

He reads bills, organizes bills an expenses and so much other stuff. His desk is an "organized disaster" it’s the one area of the house I refuse to clean.

He will spend hours on the internet reading up on machinery and other type of stuff. The amount of numbers and information he can retain is AMAZING.

Doesn’t read books….

So which one of us is a good reader?

I have to take notes on my reading for class and look over them in class in order to engage in a conversation about them. Until I started graduate school I wouldn't have referred to myself as a critical reader. I would have said I was an avid reader because I love to read ALL kinds of novels. Yes even harlequin romance novels. I have a collection of over a 1000 books ranging from Jodi Picoult to Janet Evanovich to Tamora Pierce to Shakespeare. I love to read.

Mike reads articles and newspapers, websites other stuff to learn about farm equipment and the latest farm practices. He doesn't take notes but at any given point in time he can recall any information that he has read. You can also give him any number between 1 and a 1000 and he will tell you if he has a cow with that number and if he does he will give you her complete history. Mike would say he hates to read and that he is not good at it.