Social Context in Literacy

Karen Au writes in Expanded Definitions of Literacy that, “reading and writing are used in ways appropriate to the requirements of a particular social context” (1993, p.24). This made me think of the social context in the classroom and the importance of building a welcoming and accepting environment that is safe for all students. The social context at home may be different at school in terms of which literacy skills are used. This can hinder or help students in their development but also reminds me of the reasoning for differentiation when teaching so that all students no matter how they communicate at home are supported in their strengths of either reading, writing, speaking, or listening, or develop the weaknesses. As the teacher I think it is my responsibility to help each student develop in all areas of literacy.

Furthermore in the section Critical Literacy she writes, “literacy requires not just that teachers accept students’ experiences but that they help students of diverse backgrounds understand their own experiences, as well as the experiences of others in terms of the dynamics of the larger society” (1993, p.33). This really resonates with me in supporting a democratic classroom and helping students to learn about cultures outside of their own and not just that they learn but that there is a level of understanding and acceptance. Social Studies is not the only subject that can help promote the idea of acceptance and understanding for all peoples and cultures. Literacy can do this too. Not only through reading about another culture but exploring our own personal cultural within school, home and the community through writing, I think, would be very beneficial to students.

In conclusion the acknowledgement of social context and what is necessary to communicate is integral to the development of literacy. To ignore this as a teacher would be a grave mistake.

Assessment

In Ranking, Evaluating and Liking: Sorting Out Three Forms of Judgment by Peter Elbow, he states that,”Evaluation requires going beyond a first response that may be nothing but a kind of ranking (‘I like it’ or ‘This is better than that’), and instead looking carefully enough at the performance or person to make distinctions between parts or features or criteria.” This quote defines for me the dilemma I as a teacher will face with assessment. I want to set standards and expectations that are upheld, but at the same time I need to make sure in my assessment of student work and thinking especially with writing that there is room for creativity. The 6 Traits of writing is a great guideline for evaluating students work but this evaluation should be ongoing and congruent with the development of the student.

Also I think as the teacher which ever “ranking”, as Elbow would call it, students may receive should not come as a surprise to the students. Assessment should be a combination of their own evaluation on their writing through a variety of communications through formal and informal conferences as well as a graded rubric of expectations. What kind of teacher would I be if I handed students expectations, a rubric, for an assignment but did not guide and support them to reach those expectations?

E and His "Just Right" Book

I met with E today and his "just right book" was way to easy. We read over 1000 words. He only made three errors. It is important to have student autonmy in the classroom but students still need to be challenged. When do is it ok for E to have a "just right book" and one that he is more comfortable with? The challenge is to find this balance so that students are still challenged yet have choice in the classroom. Will I be able to know my students well enough that all have a just right book but at the same to have books that they can read and just enjoy and be comfortable.

I know for myself I need to pick up a $6.99 romance novel that can be read in three hours which I don't have to use any brain power to read, after reading academic texts and informative articles throughout the quarter. Should students in the classroom be given this "time off" as well?

The Joy of Sticky Notes

Routman, in chapter 9, Writing Essentials, has a list of things that make a conference between teacher and student on writing productive and successful. At the far end of the list she put,"Don't write directly on the writer's paper. (Use sticky notes.)" YES!

At my dyad placement the master teacher has students use sticky notes for an array of different things. Specifically for literacy she has them use sticky notes to mark a place in their own books that they read on their own in the class and out the literary concept they have been talking about in class. For example if students are learning about plot summary they would then as they are reading their own book use a sticky note to mark a main event that happens in their story AND why they think it is a main event. Once students are done with the book they back and use the sticky notes as a tool for writing their plot summary. This was also used when I taught about character change. When students thought their character changed from an event they would mark it with a sticky note and write why on the sticky note as well.

Once students are done they leave their note book with the summary or character change or which ever literary concept was focused on opened on their desk before going to recess. The master teacher then goes around and checks their thinking and understanding responding back on the sticky notes they used in the beginning or getting a new one if needed. (Sticky notes are never at a low as their is a basket at each cluster of desks with sticky notes in it.)

The use of sticky notes as a form of communication with students on their writing is a version of the "simple" conference that Routman was talking about. This technique also seems to correlate with the direct instructional model as well! Their journal writing focusing on one literary concept is part of the guided practice when the teacher responds and part of their independent practice when they are showing their own thinking and reasoning behind their decisions on what to write about. I like the progression the journal and sticky notes provide by following the class reading a book together and focusing on the same literary concept with sticky notes as they read as a group.

This activity also creates a bridge between reading and writing by students having to write about what they read but in their own words. This reminds me of how sometimes to learn how to write well, we need to start with someone else's story before we can make our own.

Moreover because students need to be metacognitive when they are reading, I think it helps students to move away from learning to read and reading to learn, which in my opinion is one of the main reasons for teaching literacy; to support learning.

My New Reading Buddy

My new literacy buddy is awesome! E has two brothers and doesn't just like to read, he LOVES to read. Today we had a written conversation in which we do not talk but communicate by writing back and forth on the same piece of paper. I asked him if he celebrated Halloween in which he replied yes and that he was a vampire. Then I asked him if he got any candy which he replied (this makes me laugh again just thinking about it), bar graph! with an arrow pointing down to his bar graph of lots of chocolate and a small amount of other candy. Unfortunately he wrote he does not like chocolate.

I enjoyed this activity with my buddy because I was able to see his writing skills as well as breaking the ice and getting to know him better right away. He read to me fairly easily and I am interested to see what his "just right" book will be tomorrow when we meet again.

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamontt

Anne Lamontt writes on page 103 in her book, Bird By Bird, "If you find that you start a number of stories or pieces that you don't ever bother finishing, that you lose interest or faith in them along the way, it may be that there is nothing at their center about which you care passionately. You need to put yourself at their center, you and what you believe to be true or right."

I identified a great deal with this passage. It created a bridge for me from my experience as an artist and the struggles I have to the less understood struggles I have when writing. There are many times I will be working on multiple paintings at once and sometimes leave a painting alone face-up against a wall (I don't want to have to look at anymore) for months before I work on it again. Usually I don't work on that particular painting for awhile because I can't figure out what is wrong, and why I don't like it. Lamontt gave me the idea that I may not like this painting because there is not enough of myself, my ideas and beliefs in it.

Maybe this is why writing has always been a challenge for me. It is hard for me to put myself in my writing so when I do write creatively or not, the writing to me seems very contrived and incomplete. I need to do what I do when I paint; give the passage a break and come back with new perspective and the idea that I am going to put more of myself in it. Is this really what I want to say? What I believe? What exists for me?

With concerns to teaching, I think it would be very beneficial to my students to know that I struggle too and how I deal with those struggles. Also I would want to be able to give them the time to not be happy with their writing, walk away for a bit, and come back with new motivation to put more of themselves in it. Is this possible? If I'm teaching language arts for 50 minutes a day to 6-7 different groups of students is it possible to let them set it aside and come back to it next time? Or if I'm teaching 4th grade and we only actually have 4 hours of teaching time from transitions, specialists, lunch and recess and a need to teach math, science, arts, social studies, health, and other aspects of literacy besides just writing.

I think my answer to this dilemma of time is interdisciplinary teaching, where two subjects are taught at once. For example maybe after studying the planets and researching one, each student will write a creative story using aspects of their planet about what life is like on their planet. In this way I am combining their knowledge of science in a certain subject area with their skills of writing. Awesome! Even more, what if we make a class wiki or the students made their stories on a classroom blog (only if available through the school district server of course). Now there is technology too and way more excitement and engagement without being too contrived.

In the end I think it would be important to help students realize that the writing process is not something that comes easy or is quick, it takes time and dedication to an overall idea and belief. Whether the belief is policy on health care or that there are martians who swim on Neptune in a society similar to that of the story of Atlantis, students need to be able to feel that their writing is not something I as a teacher have contrived for them to do but is creatively their own!

Babies' literacy development!?

Babies May Pick Up Language Cues in Womb

NPR had a story today about babies and their tone when crying. It seems we start to develop language and perhaps literacy skills as early as inside the womb. Sweet! The study linked above studied German and French babies crying and found that french babies have a high pitch at the end where as German have a low pitch indicative of the native language spoken by the parents. Wow! The study points out that crying is not linguistic but that babies are able to echo the acoustic sounds they hear either in utero or very early on after birth. Amazing! I wonder how this then relates to the literacy development of a newborn. Does it play a key role or help language acquisition leading to literacy? The article talked about how it may affect bonding with members of the family as each group liked the pitch known for their language as well. Does it only have social impacts or any really?