NOTE: Sherpa Larry informed me that I was to be the Sherpa for this week. Here is his post, if you were unable to find it. Sherpa Larry's Post CLICK HERE
This past week, we have definitely read a good amount of information about literacy. While this information did not provide any methods or tips for how to incorporate literacy instruction into our daily lesson plans and unit plans, they have provided us with some challenges we may encounter in trying to aid our students in becoming academically literate in a traditional sense. As Anita wrote, there are a number of “disconnects” between schools/teachers and their students. Donna E. Alvermann and Patrick J. Finn discuss two of these “disconnects” which will more than likely impact literacy instruction and student achievement in school for us as current or future teachers.
Donna E. Alvermann’s article, “Multiliterate Youth in the Time of Scientific Reading Instruction” focuses on the digital literacies that many of our students will have. Students will be literate in more non-traditional ways that unfortunately are, at the current time, not valued in our schools because of the standards movement championed by No Child Left Behind. While I feel that we need to incorporate traditional literacy instruction into our lessons and units, we should also attempt to incorporate non-traditional literacy instruction as well, since it would yield increased student achievement as well as interest and involvement. I really like how Anita wrote that there is a “disconnect” between students and their teachers. “Alvermann talks about a widening gap between very digitally literate adolescents and adult teachers with a very narrow view—and blundered teaching—of what constitutes reading instruction; she talks about the ‘Institution of Old Learning’. Anita clearly summarizes Alvermann’s argument. Teachers need to value students abilities, instead of attempting to restrict them and limit them to only traditional forms of literacy. Every student has unique abilities and strengths, and it our role as a teacher to hone students’ strengths in order to help them achieve in school.
Patrick J. Finn’s article, “Oppositional Identity: Identifying ‘Us’ as ‘Not Them’ from his book “Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class children in their own self-interest” focuses its attention on the difference between immigrant minorities and involuntary minorities. Involuntary minorities are “people who became Americans through slavery, conquest, or colonization, and who are relegated to an inferior position and denied assimilation.” Finn’s argument is that as a result of this situation, there is an achievement gap between involuntary minorities and immigrant minorities as well as involuntary minorities and the mainstream culture. As Theresa said in her post, “Immigrant minorities want to be in this country and are happy to work towards conforming with the dominant society while involuntary immigrants view the dominant culture as opposition – having been culturally depressed and not willing to lose their overall identity as they do not see the likelihood of success even if they attempt to conform.”
Upon reading through the posts I can see some confusion as to the importance of Finn’s argument in regards to literacy instruction. As a future social studies teacher I can make a connection between what Finn is saying and literacy instruction. Teachers need to take note of the classroom and the students in their classroom on a daily basis. While we are required to teach certain content, we need to cater to these children’s interest as well as to value their heritage and culture. This can be done in English, Social studies, and perhaps even in a LOTE class. The problems with addressing Finn’s concerns in a Mathematics and Science course are that the content does not yield into incorporating a person’s culture or heritage background. As a result, the only way to curtail the achievement gap in my opinion is to limit our prejudices (and do not kid yourself, we all have our prejudices, we are all human). We need to keep our prejudices in check to ensure that we do not base our views of achievement on a person’s race or gender. Then and only then can we concern ourselves with addressing the achievement gap that Finn discusses in his article.
I would like to invite Amanda to be our Sherpa for next week 2/14.
3 comments:
Thanks for a good summary of these articles and an attempt to build some bridges among the diverse commentary that the readings inspired. I appreciate our comments about keeping our prejudices in check and value your own belief (which I also share) that it's somewhat human to have some of those prejudices. The first step forward is to figure them out, raise awareness, and try to locate them within a larger socio-historical context. I wonder if any of the math / science folks want to challenge or confirm Marc's assertion about your subject area and the place of culture within it? Just curious.
The teaching of math definitely provides the opportunity to incorporate diverse cultural practices into lessons. Here are a few examples: Using the ingredients in recipes from various cultures to illustrate measurement concepts. Using maps from various countries to illustrate the relevance of coordinate geometry. Using games of chance (e.g. cards, board games) to illustrate various concepts in probability and statistics. Using architecutal structures from areas throughout the world to illustrate principles of geometry and symmetry.
Great points in your post Marc! I agree that we haven't really seen any tips or advice of how to incorporate literacy in our content area yet, but I think its improtant to first see why literacy is important in the first place and what challenges face us in order to achieve our goals. Once we know that, then we can start looking at appropriate methods. It really is amazing what things students are capable of at such young ages in terms of technology, and we would be taking away from students if we neglected to incorporate that into our classroom or allow students to utilize their skills. That's not to say that all students are like that, so you can't abandon traditional forms of teaching, instead we need to mix it up to keep students interest and involvement as you said. Our class can be comprised of students who range from being practically Bill Gates and to those who barely even touch the computer. It is our job to reach all of them on their level. You made great points about embracing culture regardless of the subject are and suspending our prejudices. From personal experience I remember when I first moved to the country and how outcasted I felt in school. However whenever a teacher made an attempt to find out about my culture and shared information with the class it changed how I felt about being in the class. Students arent going to care if the teacher doesnt either, so we need to make intiatives and effort to value others cultures in our classroom and that will encourage students to do the same, ultimately creating a community within the class.
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