Literacy, Schooling & Social Justice

                If I had to describe my relationship with literacy today on FaceBook, I would have to select the tab “it’s complicated”.  While reading the first three articles, I’ve come to understand that literacy is everywhere.  Everything and everybody around us has or is or will impact our literacy.  Our culture influences our literacy.  Our gender plays a part in our literacy.  Our teachers and their culture and their baggage impact our literacies.  Every waking moment of realization has a bearing on literacy.  Literacy is social and society is not neutral.  The words literacy and neutral are an oxymoron.  To teach literacy, we must constantly question what we do to maintain a fresh understanding of the various literacies surrounding us.  Literacy is constantly growing and changing.   Questioning what we do in our classrooms and our own literacy makes us better teachers and learners.  With literacy constantly evolving, we cannot settle with the status quo and continue to do what we always do.  Second guessing our practices will keep us evolving as well as our students.

I found myself really drawn to the analogy between technology and literacy.  This is possibly due to the complicated status with technology as well!  When we think about how technology has changed from the time we were in elementary/secondary school to now, we see huge advances.  A cell phone went from novelty to a common everyday tool.  Cell phones in classrooms were not a concern 10 years ago. Computers also went from these big clunky structures in offices to items we can now carry in our purses.  “Literacy is a technology.” (Luke, p. 141)  Literacy is similar in that sense.  It is constantly changing and advancing.  At one point, passing a test determined literacy and now we expect more.  Literacy is constantly evolving.  Can we ever catch up – with literacy or technology!??

A person is constantly using their literacy skills regardless of their participation in formal education.  Literacy is different depending on location, culture, economy, relationships and mental space.  There are so many variables to literacy that there is nothing universal about it.  A person does not need to have a bunch of books and newspapers lying around to seem well-read.  Everything might be on their ipad or laptop?  Literacy is found in various places – signs, symbols, technology, etc.  Literacy is no longer singular.  Books can no longer only symbolize literacy.  Going into a family’s home and not seeing a single piece of text, book, or newspaper does not mean that this family does not value literacy.  In today’s society, literacy can take place on a computer, ipad, xbox, kobo or another piece of technology.  From books to kobos and everything in between, literacy evolves and cannot be judged superficially.  A boy and a girl have different uses of literary tools, yet neither more literate than the other.  A multiplicity of literacies exists – depending on the lens of the individual.

The last readings got me thinking about how I like to learn.  When I think back to my fondest learning experiences, they were socially pleasing times.  I enjoyed the learning experiences when I was with a good social crowd.  I learned the most during those times.  So when Wenger ties learning and our social lives together, it makes sense to me.  I do not necessarily need to be in a classroom with friends, but I can be anywhere and learning as long as I’m socially comfortable and experiencing new events.  Communicating about my encounters socially = learning. Regardless of our age or where we are, we are learning.  This is a process that is difficult to describe because it happens automatically.  Most of us have trained ourselves to pick up on things, remember them and connect them to another part of our learning – make connections.  Nothing about this is systematic.  This includes learning from our mistakes.  We remember what did not work, and perhaps not repeat it again.  We do not have to be enrolled in formal education to be learning.  It is a social phenomenon and is also dependent on culture.  Dominant culture determines a lot of what the norm constitutes as literacy.  This is not right.  We should be teaching to challenge dominant influences and create independent thinkers who are ‘literate’ in their own right.  I think about all the students in my classes that come from various cultural backgrounds.  Some of them struggle to keep up with their peers, whereas they would fit in just fine in the country they came from.  Maybe this is some of the reason as who why students tend to socialize with those of their own ethnicity...just a thought.

At the seminar, I really enjoyed the activity on ‘I Am Thomas’.  It was fascinating listening and watching the multi-modal interpretations of the main character.  It was a good demonstration on how to integrate all key learning areas using a single story.  My group used play-doh to build our Thomas.  Each of us had a different interpretation of Thomas and each of us felt like we have taught or are teaching a Thomas.  I really liked the Math group’s interpretation of Thomas – the boy who doesn’t fit the mold.  Just like our students AND literacy – they are both up for interpretation and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. None of these approaches superior to another.

Why is the wolf always the bad guy??  (or should I say antagonist, since this is a literacy blog!)  Why is the little old lady always depicted the same way?  I suppose I could say the same for some students... Do they feel like they are always labeled a certain way?  Are they ever able to break the mold they are forced into?  What assumptions do we make about our students?  What assumptions do we make about literacy?  Something to think about...  I would love to do this wolf/old lady exercise with my English class next semester.

I guess what it comes down to is educators not being as close-minded about literacy as they have in the past.  What I appreciate about these articles is that it recognizes the need for family and community to play a role in promoting literacy-learning opportunities.  We need to move away from developing a ‘universal literacy program’, but recognize the multitude of literacies – in our class and in our daily lives.  I just struggle with what this looks like in reality.  Until next time, I continue my complicated literacy journey...