Before entering this course I took it for granted that literacy wasn't just text on a page. I took it for granted that literacy was something bigger than just reading words. I also thought that I should never have to wonder what literacy meant or what it meant to be a literate person. Because I never asked questions, I never thought about my answers. “Not just the text on the page.” You can't define something by saying what it isn't. It would be like trying to define a duck like this: it's not a pigeon. Leaving one to ask once again, “So what is it?” Furthermore, what does it mean to be “Something greater than just reading the words”? Looking back now, I never even tried to explain what that “something” might be. I was confident in knowing that “something” was there and could be safely taught to children. While my assumptions may have been a little naïve, I don't think they were too far off from those of other educators. I recently watched a video, “What Does It Mean to Be Literate in the 21st Century?” In this video, educators are asked, “What is literacy?” Most of them respond with the vague idea that there is something more than just texts and books (bibliosmartgirl). Like me, they don't go into detail about what "more" is. A few weeks ago I asked a couple of colleagues and a couple of people I consider extremely literate what they think literacy means. With the utmost confidence everyone gave me a very short answer that was based firmly on how well someone reads and writes. Again, like me, they did not expand their answers because the “something” or “more” was assumed to be embedded in the simple answer. But is it really like that? When we were asked, “What is literacy?” I wrote down a couple of vague examples, then realized I hadn't thought of...... middle of paper...... literacy.Referencesbibliosmartgirl. What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? (short version 8 min). (2009, November 29). YouTube. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn0_H-kvxkU Jager Adams, M. (2011). The relationship between literacy basics, word recognition, and reading. In S. Samuals & A. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (Fourth ed.). Newark, Del: International Reading Association. Kucer, Stephen B. (2009). Dimensions of literacy: A conceptual basis for teaching reading and writing in school settings. Taylor and Francesco. Kindle edition.Hull, G. A., & Moje, E. B. (2012). What is the development of literacy development?. Commissioned papers on language and literacy issues in the CoreState Common Core Standards and Next Generation Science Standards,94, 52.