Literacies and Education 2013

A few weeks ago I wrote about how, to me, literacy felt more integral to a universal "childhood" than any other label imaginable, since literacy, to me, so far, is about learning to communicate, express ideas, and _participate_ in society.  I've combined personal thoughts, class readings, and class discussions to (for the time being) produce one definition of literacy:  "literacy is the ability to communicate and participate in a given social order with either inherent or experiential fluency.” 

I drew a picture for part of my journal this week. I depicted a river, starting from its source and flowing out and changing. My idea is a way to visualize literacy, to give it form. So, I am started to  think of literacy like a river, it changes its path, breaks off, and will sometimes meet again. In terms of literacy we start with our mains source, or discourse and as we grow this changes and adapts yet all the while we still are aware of the first discourse that we learned. At times we lose some of out discourse and may be halted by a "boulder." Literacy is like a river, it is not stagnant but moving. 

This past week I read Noa’s Ark which, in my opinion was truly interesting. The author explains in his book how he and his wife decided to teach their daughter Hebrew, English and Spanish. What caught my attention was the fact that they wanted to teach their child three different languages. I thought to myself, can that be hard for a child to do as they grow up? For instance, based off of my experiences, I had a rough time learning English in elementary school as a second language and being able to flow between that and Spanish which, I spoke at home. But to learn three languages at a young age? I remember I decided to learn French in middle school and took it all throughout high school as well but that was because I wanted to do that. Meanwhile, Noa didn't decide to learn three languages she was just taught. Although throughout the text he mentions how well she has managed to make use of all three languages it makes me wonder what was Noa's "aha!" moment when she realize that she could speak three different languages?

In preparation for our upcoming paper, I have been thinking about literacy: what is means to be literate, different types of literacy, how we “gain literacy” and how our family life and experiences are intertwined with our literacy. Last summer, I worked for the United Way in Tucson and was asked to write a piece for an online journal about financial literacy and the support that the United Way offered. When I was asked to write the article about something of which I was not literate. Of course, I took the assignment with no complaints or questions because I felt that I should know and my ego kept me from admitting I had no idea about financial literacy. I myself am not financially literate. However, I am pretty technology literate which allowed me to research online about financial literacy. I used one form of my literacy to understand another. Now thinking back and reflecting on this experience, I wonder how many types of literacy there are. Are they endless? Can you be literate in music or dancing? Can one be literate in cleaning or cooking? Where is literacy different than having a knowledge of something?

Last week the word that resonated with me was language and I have more questions than answers…. How do we teach language? How do we include all forms, but also make sure we are teaching “proper English”? But what is “proper”? As someone who has grown up with my mom correcting how I speak and how I write, how can I connect with those who speak differently? I want to work with students and connect with them. However, we all come from a very different background. How can I inspire students who can’t connect with me?

Please use this space for this week.  Thanks.

Last Thursday in class, we discussed the journal entry about a first grade student who had been given a minor role in her school play because English was her second language, and therefore she was not as fluent as the other students. The writer of this journal entry describee this experience as a turning point that motivated her to develop her reading and speaking skills in English. While reading and discussing this post, I began to wonder about that pivital moment in every young students' life when they decide that it is time to commit to learning their language and to read. As a college student, I understand both the functional purpose and the societal norm that states that around the age of five, children should start to learn to read. However, when you are five, you are still oblivious to these societal norms. This is where my question stems from. What is it that inspires a young student who barely understands the importance of reading, to want to read? I believe that in the case of this specific journal entry, it was the realization that an inability to read English would socially separate her from her peers. This caused me to reflect on the ways that social pressures are present even at this early age. I believe that without the pressure/support/and desire to fit in with your peers (an innate desire) students would not be as motivated to learn to read, or for that matter, develop any other skill.

At our last class, one of my peers commented on my post about being given a minor role in my first grade's Peter Pan play. My peer's comment was that if my first grade teacher had given me a bigger role in the play, that could have potentially motivated me to practice my reading skills and become a better reader. I had never thought about it that way but I believe she's right. I then read the Jaschke, Leigh article about teaching adults in West Africa how to read through mobile phones. I found the article interesting because by teaching adults how read through mobile phones, they are not only becoming literate but learning how to function an important useful piece of technology. What makes this significant is that the program that makes it possible for these adults to become literate allows them to use a "practical literacy component tied to obtaining market information via text message". This component has been very beneficial for agricultural producers that from what I understood from this article is that in order for them to enjoy the benefits this component offers, it could be safe to say that this can serve as a motivator for adults to learn how to read. This then makes me think back to my own experience, what can we do as educators to motivate our students to learn how to read?

When reflecting on this assignment, one memory in particular came to mind. While my story is not specifically a story about a breakthrough or an epiphany when I all of a sudden knew how to read, it is a story of literacy, and ways in which my understanding of a storyline helped me play a role. When I was young I had a series of fairytale books. Out of all of them, my favorite was The Twelve Dancing Princesses. My older sister is twelve years older than me, so by the time I began to learn to read she was in college. I had always looked up to my sister and wanted so badly to impress her. During one of her visits home I went to her and informed her that I had been learning to read and had mastered this skill, which was far from true. I held my The Twelve Dancing Princesses book in front of my, careful to stare at the pages studiously, and recited the story from memory. While my sister was overly impressed, when she reported my success to my parents, they saw through my act. While this was only a temporary success, one could argue that although I could not yet read, I was literate. I was able to entertain my sister by telling her the story, while also demonstrating a certain cunning, although it was a deceptive one. If literacy here means judging my success at reading, I would have failed. However, if literacy had been considered my ability to entertain and communicate the story, it could be considered a success.