"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). Please discuss what you do with various texts, how you make sense of them and how you use them to further your own learning.
Lately the majority of my readings are related to my employment. At work I try to use the information at my disposal to help further my clients' goals and needs. I often have to write summaries on my clients in the form of progress notes or psychosocial evaluations. I use the information gathered before my encounter with the client as well as the information gained from our sessions to paint a thorough and fair image of the client in order to figure out how to empathize, relate with and best assist them. I am often confronted with medical terms, social service acronyms or jargon that I am unfamiliar with and am always doing research on the side to understand a diagnosis, organization or entitlement program. I do this because I want to further my understanding of the field I am in but also for my clients. In order to make a proper referral, I need to be able to understand and explain it to my clients in simple terms. It is not unusual to have clients that simply sign any document placed in front of them with no understanding of what they have agreed to. It is my job as their case manager to make sure that they understand my role and their expectations while in the shelter and to provide the services or referrals to the services that they need. The bonus is when I can use that information to help not just one person on my caseload but several clients as well as my coworkers.
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