3) How do your definition and your understanding of the consequences of literacy inform how you teach/taught it?
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
As a language educator, I have considered myself generally aware (read: liberal) of the different ways that literacy can look. Like many of my language educator colleagues, I have struggled with the common discourse that defines literacy as merely ‘reading’ and ‘writing’, and in my school setting, ‘reading and writing in English’. Many students I encounter excel in these common literacy skills in a language other than English, but they are developing in their use of the English language. Many other of my ELL students have “limited native language literacy skills”, which places an even stronger ‘deficit’ label on them as they struggle to communicate in any recognized, standard language. Even with the knowledge and conviction that there are many ways of knowing and doing, this latter circumstance challenges me and my thinking on literacy instruction. I have trouble reconciling my ideological definition of literacy with the real-world realities of literacy that my students are facing and will continue to face. I feel the urgency to help these students learn to read and write as much as I sense their frustration in trying to master this foreign and difficult system.
I believe that my definition of literacy and my teaching are fairly well aligned. The components of critical literacy, the higher order thinking skills, and the writing I ask students to do all work towards building a "different kind" of literacy - a cultural or societal literacy if you will. It is, of course, important to me that my students can read and write, but it is also critical to me that they are equipped with the analytical tools they will need to navigate society. When I first encountered James Gee's definition of discourses 3 or 4 years ago, it helped me explain phenomena I had seen and beliefs I had held but could not yet articulate. Working from his definition, I believe, has helped me more intentionally choose instructional strategies, activities, etc. which emphasize this view and its consequences.
2 comments:
As a language educator, I have considered myself generally aware (read: liberal) of the different ways that literacy can look. Like many of my language educator colleagues, I have struggled with the common discourse that defines literacy as merely ‘reading’ and ‘writing’, and in my school setting, ‘reading and writing in English’. Many students I encounter excel in these common literacy skills in a language other than English, but they are developing in their use of the English language. Many other of my ELL students have “limited native language literacy skills”, which places an even stronger ‘deficit’ label on them as they struggle to communicate in any recognized, standard language. Even with the knowledge and conviction that there are many ways of knowing and doing, this latter circumstance challenges me and my thinking on literacy instruction. I have trouble reconciling my ideological definition of literacy with the real-world realities of literacy that my students are facing and will continue to face. I feel the urgency to help these students learn to read and write as much as I sense their frustration in trying to master this foreign and difficult system.
I believe that my definition of literacy and my teaching are fairly well aligned. The components of critical literacy, the higher order thinking skills, and the writing I ask students to do all work towards building a "different kind" of literacy - a cultural or societal literacy if you will. It is, of course, important to me that my students can read and write, but it is also critical to me that they are equipped with the analytical tools they will need to navigate society. When I first encountered James Gee's definition of discourses 3 or 4 years ago, it helped me explain phenomena I had seen and beliefs I had held but could not yet articulate. Working from his definition, I believe, has helped me more intentionally choose instructional strategies, activities, etc. which emphasize this view and its consequences.
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