My path to literacy has been a long one. I can recall learning to write the letters of the Alphabet from a very young age, and still own the book which I learned to read at the age of three, Teddy in the Garden. My literacy development was given a boost once I reached school, and has continued to get stronger ever since.

But what exactly do I mean by literacy? Is it leaning how to read and write English, as I always thought? No, it is much more than that. Literacy, as described by Luke and Freebody "is the flexible and sustainable mastery of a repertoire of practices with the texts of traditional and new communications technologies via spoken language, print and multimedia." (2000, p.9.) In plain English, literacy is about learning the skills to comprehend, and make meaning of a range of texts. These may be written, visual, audio and those of new technologies, like Blogs or webpages. Literacy development must encompass all areas of language and semiotic systems, not just that of the written word. Most importantly, it must produce learners who can interpret meaning from a range of semiotic systems (Christie and Mission, 1998, p.8.), like understanding mathematical symbols, decoding visual symbolism like street signs, and developing verbal literacy, by recognising tone and emphasis. What this means is that we are now required to develop multiliteracy.

With this definition I can see how multiliterate I really am. I am an enthusiastic cook, a Facebook junkie, and a student of ancient Greek literature. Each of these interests has provided me with a set of skills needed to decode the individual semiotic systems of each: The A-Z of the kitchen , the Web and The letters of the Greek Alphabet. So when I look back on my literacy journey I can recall several episodes in my development of multiliteracy.

As previously mentioned, the first was learning to write my name. I'd already leant the alphabet song,

	Disney - Alphabet Song .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

knew what each letter sounded like and looked like, but it was now time to learn to recreate the letters myself. I was four years old, sitting on the floor of my Nanna's living room. My older brother was telling me each letter of my name, and I was writing each down. I'd successfully written K A T, but instead of the next letter, H, I wrote an E.
My brother said “No that's not right, you need an H not an E.” I asked him what id written had spelled, and he simply said it was wrong.
Again I asked him what it spelled and finally he said “Kate”. Be it due to laziness or defiance, I decided then that that would do and ever after I have been known as Kate.

Prior to my literacy development literacy was seen as a psychological process, with success linked to one's psycholinguistic or cognitive ability (Anstey and Bull, 2004, p.20.) This teaching of literacy relied heavily on the use of graded readers. However when I started school there had been a shift “from cognitive views of literacy which were largely process-based, and therefore thinking orientated, to a view of literacy as a social practice.” (Anstey and Bull, 2004, p.20.) Focus was put on social relationships. This is a page from a workbook from Kindy. The word to trace was family and a social focus is evident. I started school in the USA, so yes, that does say "Mom" under the picture of my mother. The episode of spelling my name was also an example of the social view of literacy and literacy instruction. The practice of using all the language modes; reading, writing listening and speaking was a feature of this period of literacy instruction (Anstey and Bull, 2004, p.20.) This is an example not only of functional literacy, but personal too. It was my name I was spelling, and my identity I was developing, and I recall this memory fondly.

In this period of change towards the focus on social aspects of literacy development, a series of models were created to assist instructors. One of these is the Four Resource Model
This activity of learning to write my name is an example of the Code Breaker element. I was trying to decode the semiotic system of the alphabet to spell my own name.

Another recollection about my literacy development comes from high school and highlights development of one of my multiliteracies. I studied Photography in year eleven, and part of this subject was to create a series of photos which told a story without words (I tried to find them as I know they are around somewhere but unfortunately I don't know where). It was our job to portray mood, concepts and themes in the photos by means of their composition to tell the story. This is an example of visual literacy. Learning what certain lighting, colour, and camera shots represent taught me to create meaning in, and draw meaning from visual texts, and thus the semiotic system relating to them. This course also taught us how to use cameras and how to develop film, therefore adding to my repertoire a whole new set of skills for that particular multiliteracy. This kind of analysis of visual texts is an example of critical literacy. In the Four Resources Model it is the Text User who can use the visual techniques to create the text (photos), but it is the Text Analyst who can examine them and understand what is happening and why. The Text Analyst creates meaning from the images, and understands their intention.

Finally I will refer to the most recent of my literacy skills. My job as a Library Assistant has required me to develop many new skills. It has made me extremely computer literate; I learnt how to use the Microsoft Frontpage website writing program to write and maintain a library website and I already have one Blog for my library, (which actually shares the same name as this one). However most relevant to this assignment, I feel, is my knowledge of the Dewy Decimal System(D.D.C.) This is a clear example of a semiotic system where each number and decimal point represents a certain subject. It is a whole other language that I have taught myself to read over the past five years. Understanding that 800 means literature and that .994 means an Australian geographical sub-category are things I have learnt over time . When I look at a book am able to classify it based on Dewey. It was functional for me to learn this, as it was in my job. This too is an example of the Code Breaker, and points out that it is not just children who are at this level of literacy development. Gee discusses the terms acquisition and learning, “Acquisition is a process of acquiring something subconsciously by exposure to models, a process of trial and error, and practice within social groups without formal teaching” (1992, p.113.) Initially my knowledge of the D.D.S. was based on acquisition; I started to remember that the science books went on the green shelf. However eventually I needed to teach myself what the semiotic system was; it was one thing to just understand that 800 meant literature and 994 meant Australia. There came a point where I had to look deeper to understand why, if I was going to be able to use the knowledge practically. This is what learning is. According to Gee it is “a conscious process gained through teaching” (Anstey and Bull, 2004, p.8.) I started reading the major text that Librarians use to classify, Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index,
and started to see where things went and why. In reference to the Four Resource Model, this was me being a Text Participant and a Text User, I was understanding what the numbers meant, and was also seeing how they worked together to classify one book, based on its many subjects.

As can be seen my personal literacy journey has been as I said long, and is still ongoing. I learn more and more everyday about computers, education, library technology and even about English and literacy.

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