Teaching Literacy

It is true that there are “success guaranteed literacy programs” developed by people (???). Why would that even be considered a good option to rely on a program manufactured for profit as a main priority, and not for learning. In the book “Literacy as Snake Oil” by Joanne Larson, a teacher, Lynn Astarita Gatto, explains how her school began to mandate the use of a “literacy program” in order to pass state exams as per NCLB. She discusses how incompetent to program in teaching literacy and compares it to the way that she teaches, which has earned her many prestigious teaching awards. So being tenacious and passionate about teaching, she worked around having to use the mandated program only supplementing her unit with activities and stories from the prescribed anthology. It is so inspiring to learn about how she engages the students in a project to build a butterfly vivarium; creating an environment for immersion. The students get fully immersed into the project integrating so many aspects of literacy, math, and science; her students are creators of their own knowledge (they ask questions and research to answer those questions) and the teacher guides the students through their quest for knowledge. The teacher describes her teaching as response – collaborative which elicits analytical and interpretive responses, unlike the reading programs prescribed script of initiation, response, evaluation. She eloquently “bashes” theses prescribed literacy programs and shows through good teaching practice how a great teacher teaches.

As a future educator learning about and emulating great teachers is important in my evolution in becoming a good teacher; Lynn Gatto is a great teacher. I was so inspired when I read about how the students were so motivated to learn, read and discuss. Many students aren’t motivated to learn and school is just part of their day that they can’t wait until it is over; the only good thing is that they get to socialize and simultaneously are forced to learn. Lynn Gatto shows that learning and literacy doesn’t have to be that way and that it is so important for teacher to think outside the box when teaching and be innovative; literacy is something that students do not something that they practice to use later.

Future...

The overarching theme of my blog is teaching with best practices and keeping in mind that students are all different; they are diverse. I tried to tie in themes from the sciences, particularly biology within the blogs since I am going to be a science teacher, thus making the blog personalized. Furthermore, I have incorporated my perspectives on teaching biology to a diverse student population, particularly literacy. There are many literacies, and students will have various ones that they will bring to the classroom, which I will need to be aware and know how to incorporate them into my practices so to be an effective teacher. I will continue to blog about teaching, more specifically about biology; about my interests in biology and current issues surrounding teaching biology, such as the evolution versus creation issue. I may also delve into current societal topics in the sciences; for example new technologies, vaccines, diseases, etc…. I may also further expand my thoughts about the nature of dichotomies and how they are false; the world is not comprised of dichotomies but multiplicities. Maybe I will include thoughts about new works of literature that I will read and their connections to the themes in the blogs, themes of human diversity, multiple literacies, teaching philosophies, the curricula, critical literacies, epistemological diversity and neoliberalism. So it will be interesting to see how I continue this work in the future.

Teacher's Preconceptions

Teacher preconceptions affect student learning; it is inevitable. To what extent that they affect student learning depends on the teacher and how aware the teacher is of the preconceptions that they have. If a teacher outright feels that all students can learn and be successful then that teacher’s students will be. It seems to be difficult though to fully exude these beliefs when the statistics are the way that they are, for example knowledge of the achievement gap. It seems that if a teacher perceives a student to be lazy or slow then they will exude those qualities because that is what the teacher expects. As a teacher I will have high expectations for my students and that will influence their learning positively. I believe that all people can learn anything if they apply themselves and they are taught the critical thinking tools for higher levels of thought they can and will succeed.

Additionally when students feel that the teacher respects them, is fair to them and really has their best interests in mind students respond positively to the teacher. I do not mean to say that teaching is that easy, because being an effective teacher is easier said and written about then done – the true test is putting teaching philosophy into practice. Ultimately teachers need to be aware of the preconceptions and biases that they may have about students and work to eliminate them. Personally reflecting about them and how they can negatively affect student learning. For instance, when I was in a remedial English course when I first went to college the teacher was very positive and students responded and did well. Then when I went into English 101, the teacher labeled me as incapable of writing intelligently and had torn my paper apart on the overhead in front of the whole class – I was horrified – and since then I have a hard time with writing. I know that I can write well and convey content information effectively; however, I have grammatical issues which I continually work on. This example illustrates how a teacher’s preconceptions and attitude can negatively affected a student’s learning, she dismissed me as a horrible writer incapable of writing well and I now have a negative view about my work which took years to reverse. Teacher’s need to encourage students that they can and will learn and are capable of success.

Public School and Public Places

Public space encompasses shared space that is owned by the people and is for the people. Public space isn’t necessarily free space in a sense that it is paid for indirectly by everyone however it is not for profit. The space isn’t owned by anyone and used to create a profit for themselves it is for free for people to use. For example, parks are public places without it being a public place it wouldn’t be equally accessed by all people because there would be a cost to use it; additionally, maintenance of the park may not be in the best interest of the natural flora and fauna or the area because it would be for profit. That is why public places are so valuable because they are not for profit; they are not subject to the whim of the market or the control of capitalism. Public places are another aspect out of the binary of market control, unfortunately with a crisis occurs in a public place the government opts to increase capitalistic control. For instance, if a park is unable to operate and sustain itself at the public level them a corporation may step in and take over – then it is no longer public space and open the all people.

Public schools are ultimately valuable because they provide equal educational opportunity to all and teachers can teach what they want and how they feel are best practices, in addition to state standards of course. However If schools become privatized teachers will no longer have that freedom and they will be keep their jobs based on how well they produce. How well they produce college bound students, not by any other measure and curriculums will become narrower and more standardized. Schools in poor communities will go out of business and poor families will be unable to afford a more expensive successful school, thus increasing the achievement gap which the U.S. is trying to decrease. Decreasing the achievement gap will not work by using market logic, public education is a whole other animal altogether and people in power are going to have to think outside of the box and outside of the binary of market and government logic to solve the problems with public education. Let me include that decreasing funding for school will not help to solve the problem either.

Teachers and the Curricula

I think that the standardization of the school curricula has disempowered teachers to some extent. The standardization of the curricula has taken away a lot of the creativity that teachers can bring to the classroom, which is what an all encompassing education should exhibit. Teachers worry so much about teaching so that students will pass the tests that they create a narrow knowledge base, which is something that they don’t want to do. It’s hard for teachers to balance educating for the test and education for knowing and thinking; it can’t be mindless test drills and repetition all the time. Students need to learn how to think creatively and critically in order to lead successful and productive lives.

These skills of thinking and reasoning should be taught and practiced by everyone in every content area. Moreover, although teachers may feel that they are disempowered in their practices as professionals they need to try and incorporate the creativity even though they have an outlined set of information that they need to teach in order for their students to pass standardized tests; ultimately re-empowering themselves. I am willing to push myself to make science meaningful for my students and to teach them a new literacy to include within the repertoire of literacies that they carry; this will teach them to be thoughtful, critical, and reflective individuals.

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is a term that I was wholly unaware of; I had no idea what it meant or what it possibly meant in the context of U.S. society. Interestingly, like the culture of power, neoliberalism gives a name to what happens and is happening in American society. Neoliberalism, according to Pauline Lipman (2008) in her work “Education Policy, Race, and Neoliberal Urbanism”, is “… an ensemble of economic and social policies that promote the primacy of the market and individual self-interest….” In other words, in our capitalistic thought, the only way to solve societal problems (i.e. economic, public spheres, schools, anything) runs along the idea of either increasing or decreasing government control in order to solve problems. Furthermore, to the detriment of public schools, using market logic to find a solution to every problem including the problems with public schools.

A prime example of this market logic is the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act, according to NCLB if a school is failing standardized testing they lose government funding as a punishment to do better next time otherwise they will have to close the school. Let’s think about this, why is this ridiculous logic for improving learning in American schools? Schools get funds from the community in which they are serving, thus if it is a poor community then the school will be poor as well and will not have the money to give students access to full educational opportunities – which is not the schools nor anyone else’s in the community’s fault. Wealthier neighborhoods, which in turn have wealthier schools, are able to afford the resources needed to successfully prepare for the standardized exams; thus they pass and are rewarded with government funding. Resources are very important and they include; teachers, computers, staff, facility maintenance, new texts and books, a library, among others and because the poorer schools do not have access to these resources their students perform poorly on the exams.

This is a vicious cycle that continues to increase the gap between the poor and wealthy. Because the people in poor communities continue to get substandard educations forcing them into compliant minimum wage labor jobs, while wealthier communities thrive in the “knowledge is power” age acquiring high paying knowledge-based jobs. Students in the poor communities essentially are unable to compete with students from wealthier communities. Interestingly, mainly minorities and poor White people make up the poor communities further increasing the achievement gap – something the NCLB was enacted to eliminate. It is imperative to remember that there are many other ways to solve societal problem, not just the binary of market logic. I find myself that when I reflect on this idea of “other solutions” it is really hard and that I am so stuck in the “market logic” and I had no idea. I know that NCLB doesn’t work and is making the situation worse but what are the other solutions and what, as teachers, can we do about it.

Epistemological diversity

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy that deals with the scope and nature of knowledge. However, people and populations of people hold varying beliefs about what constitutes the theory of knowledge; this is called epistemological diversity. For example the Indigenous educational system and their epistemological beliefs are different from U.S. schooling. Indigenous societies have traditionally practiced forms of “informal” education; however, “informal” doesn’t make the education any less as functional or important. It just means that their education isn’t confined to institutionalized places and times, which makes it more fully encompassing and connected. The epistemology of indigenous societies is eloquently explained in the book To Remain an Indian by K. Lomawaima and T. McCarty (which will the text that I draw my understandings about indigenous education from in the rest of this blog). They discuss the history on indigenous schooling including colonial education and its harmful impact on the education of indigenous children.

In traditional indigenous educational systems the teachers are the parents, elders and the relatives; there isn’t a classroom in a building with a teacher with written exams and other “formal” assessments. Students are educated on being physically strong, being good mothers and fathers, being leaders, and being doctors; they are taught how to “pass” survival, which is higher stake then the SAT exam. Students are also taught based on age, level of knowledge and according to clan and rank; importantly is the practice of teaching according to the student’s level of knowledge. Unfortunately, in the institutionalization of the educational system in the U.S. students are being confined to a one-dimensional education and they aren’t being taught according to their levels of knowledge but instead to the defined level of knowledge that they should be at. This, again, corresponds to epistemological diversity because the educational system in the U.S. believes that students all learn in a certain set of ways not in multiple ways, while indigenous educational systems believe that students learn in various complex and multidimensional ways which is reflected in their “informal” style of schooling.

How will understanding epistemological diversity better improve my teaching philosophies? I think that understanding and recognizing that there is epistemological diversity is important in effectively teaching a diversity student population. In the sciences, mu content area, it will be important for me to remember although students need to pass the high stakes exam they need to learn as well. Further, “formal” education isn’t the only way that people learn; students have high quality learning experiences all the time not just confined to the classroom. This kind of education needs to be incorporated into the classroom experience, for example, in science education field trips and hands-on learning activities are important in students being able to fully assimilate the information and to be able to incorporate the new knowledge into their lives.

Critical Literacy

What is critical literacy and why is it so important for students’ futures to proficiently be taught critical literacy? According to Ernest Morrell et al. in the book Critical Literacy and Urban Youth the acquisition of the dominant critical literacies is pertinent for economic, social and political success. Importantly, Morrell et al. states that critical literacy education leads students towards engaged citizenship and personal empowerment. Critical literacy to me, as a future educator, is being literate in multiple literacies and in the dominant literacies. Being literate in the dominate literacies give these people the potential to shape language and thus meaning, consequently, the meaning of language are constructed within social and political texts.

The question is, what does this all mean to educators? As a future educator, I need to teach my students critical literacy; literacies that will empower them to be active learners and participants in their communities and in American society. Ultimately, learning critical literacy will give students the tools to apply their skills and knowledge so to influence societal change. For instance, in Critical Literacy and Urban Youth by Morrell et al. he had founded a summer seminar program called the Futures Project for underprivileged students in which they learned critical literacies. These students cooperated with teachers on projects pertaining to the sociology of education and the critical methods of educational research. Through these projects they learned critical theory, social theory, cultural studies, educational sociology, legal history, and qualitative research methodology. Ultimately they at the end of the project the students brought forth their findings to university faculty, community activists, delegates, media personnel, and elected officials. Notably, the topics for these projects focused on education and educational reform for the equal access to academic achievement for underprivileged groups. This all ties into what Robert Moses (Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project, see blog: Teaching Science to ALL Students) was arguing about, that underprivileged groups have been denied access to the critical literacies that will foster their economic, political, and social success.

As a future science teacher, I will incorporate critical literacies in science into my teaching. From Morrell at al. in Critical Literacy and Urban Youth, I will incorporate research projects that involve critical inquiry and group work. Importantly, the projects need to impact students’ lives in relation to community involvement and activism.

Teaching Science to ALL Students

The issue with this is that the educational system that is in place hasn’t changed fast enough to accommodate for the change in the economy and the job market. The system still “weeds out” students from the math and sciences, which are now pertinent to economic success in the new economy of computers. This “weeding out” occurs not only at the secondary level but at the post-secondary level as well, seems even more so from my experience. However, the challenge for me as a future science teacher at the secondary level is that I have to adequately prepare all students for college level science so that they have the learning tools critical to preventing them from being eliminated from the math and science pool.

Interestingly in the book by Robert Moses, Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project, he compares the acquisition of math literacies for minority groups to the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. The correlation is that the fight for the right to vote and to have political power is similar to the now fight for the right of minority groups to be taught math and science. Moses argues that being taught math and science literacy is and should be as important as being taught reading and writing literacies, because of the need for “knowledge workers” in postmodern society. In being denied math and science literacies minority groups lose access to economic and political power.

Importantly, in order to be successful in the movement toward prioritizing the teaching of math and science literacies at the same level as reading and writing literacies students and communities need to be involved; they need to find a voice and be empowered to speak for themselves, as African Americans had in the Civil Rights movement (Moses). Science, which is intimately related to math, has historically been denied to minority groups. Traditionally, students with parents who are doctors they too will be doctors, same is true with scientists, chemists, physicists and so on. This tradition needs to be challenged and it begins in the classroom, with the teacher; as a future science teacher I will need to prepare all students to be successful in the sciences that I teach.

English Language Learners

It’s is obvious that there are many complex literacies that students need to navigate through in their daily lives. Additionally, English language learners deal with an even more challenging and complex array of literacies. This is also obvious, not only do these students have to learn a second language they also have to deal with the literacy challenges of their native language; in which they may or may not be proficient in. Ideally, English language learners become proficient in both their native/home language and their second language; however, this is not always the case.

In “Becoming Literate in a Second Language: Connecting Home, Community, and School Literacy Practices” by Mari Haneda, the problems with the school system regarding the education of English language learners is discussed. For instance, a Chinese English language learner was placed lower track classes in which he was only learning basic reading and writing skills, however, he was practicing complex literacies through the internet by creating his own website. Through the website he was engaged in multiple and complex literacy practices with people all over the world. The issue is that the educational system had labeled him and tracked him, keeping him from the opportunity to practice critical literacy – which he decided to get elsewhere.

There are many problems with the current educational system, particularly the practice of tracking students, tracking can have and has had deleterious effects on English language learners. As a future educator, it is important to remember that all students can learn and are capable of practicing complex literacies. Furthermore, bringing in their native literacies and culture into the classroom is a valuable teaching tool for all students.

English Language Learners

It’s is obvious that there are many complex literacies that students need to navigate through in their daily lives. Additionally, English language learners deal with an even more challenging and complex array of literacies. This is also obvious, not only do these students have to learn a second language they also have to deal with the literacy challenges of their native language; in which they may or may not be proficient in. Ideally, English language learners become proficient in both their native/home language and their second language; however, this is not always the case.

In “Becoming Literate in a Second Language: Connecting Home, Community, and School Literacy Practices” by Mari Haneda, the problems with the school system regarding the education of English language learners is discussed. For instance, a Chinese English language learner was placed lower track classes in which he was only learning basic reading and writing skills, however, he was practicing complex literacies through the internet by creating his own website. Through the website he was engaged in multiple and complex literacy practices with people all over the world. The issue is that the educational system had labeled him and tracked him, keeping him from the opportunity to practice critical literacy – which he decided to get elsewhere.

There are many problems with the current educational system, particularly the practice of tracking students, tracking can have and has had deleterious effects on English language learners. As a future educator, it is important to remember that all students can learn and are capable of practicing complex literacies. Furthermore, bringing in their native literacies and culture into the classroom is a valuable teaching tool for all students.

Gender and Literacy

I perceive gender to be a continuum and that it is unique to the individual. Gender “norms” are socially and culturally constructed within a given society. The gender dichotomy which exists in the United States is a false construction of gender when you reflect on and think about it. Think about your own experiences, how do you feel your “gender” is? Did you fit the gender dichotomy? Further, it is very intriguing to bring literacies and the construction of literacies into the mix because I didn’t think of gender and literacy as being related. However, it is clear to see the relationship between the two, simply because a person’s gender construction and how they view their gender and others gender is intimately related to the types of literature that they have been exposed to.

Literature can cause both the acquisition and reinforcement of the gender dichotomy and it can also encourage and facilitated critical thought about socially constructed gender issues. Which is critical to remember as a teacher, literature has a profound impact on the gender development of children; for example, in “What they Don’t Learn in Schools” by Jabari Mahir in the chapter “Negotiating Gender Through Academic Literacy Practices” by Amanda Godley, two female students who had lived in other countries were case studies about how literature influenced their views on genders practices in the United States. At first one student described how she was “free” in the United States to wear makeup and dress provocatively unlike in her native country. However, after reading “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison the students had begun to reflect on, particularly one of the students in the case study, about how being “free” in the United States is really not being “free” at all. How women in the United States are enslaved by the ideals of beauty, the standard that a women will be more successful if she projects the culturally constructed ideals of beauty. This is an example of literature influencing critical thought and reflection on the issues of gender and its social construct.

However, this is not always the case, as in the same text by Jabari Mahir in the chapter “Practicing for Romance: Adolescent Girls Read the Romance Novels” by Jane Stanely, Stanely poignantly discusses to problems with girls reading romance novels. At first the thought is that “it’s better than reading nothing”, but is it really. No, these girls are reading these books essentially to try and understand male behaviors and how to be “good” girlfriends; however, these books have false information and greatly reinforce the gender dichotomy as right, when it is not. Furthermore they do not promote critical thinking skills or a reading challenge for these girls. As an educator, it is important to think why, why do girls read these books? In the chapter, it was pointed out that literature in schools centered on male characters mainly because the teachers thought that the male students will not be engaged if the reading is about a female character. But, what about the female students, do they matter? Or is it that only if you fit the feminine ideal of beauty as a female is the only way that you will be successful. It’s sad but true and as a female teacher I will always be mindful about the appropriate and correct ideas about gender and the affects that gender in literacy has on all of my students.

Permission to Fail

Some learners are reluctant to read and write, in which there seems to be a connection to schooling – maybe even an intimate relationship. Students not wanting to be in school or avidly hating the thought of school can be related to the school structure itself, not a problem with the student’s learning ability. The common thought is that students don’t do well or don’t read or write is because they are lazy or just aren’t smart enough, which is very problematic. Everyone has the ability to learn and wants to learn; however, if the school (and at the micro level the teacher) doesn’t foster a positive active learning environment in which the students are demanded that they succeed they are then giving students permission to fail – which is a passive learning environment. Passively the teacher or school doesn’t need to expend energy to teach students and consequently they are knowingly/unknowingly being given permission to fail.

In “The Skin that we Speak” by Lisa Delpit, this idea of “giving students permission to fail” is outlined in the chapter, “I ain’t writin’ nutten’: Permissions to fail and demands to succeed in urban classrooms” by Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, in which a student was actively refusing to read or write and continually the teachers would passively allow her to do so and would say “Okay, maybe you’ll feel like writing tomorrow”. This is what I understand to be passive instruction, the teachers didn’t actively demand that the student complete the work which would be a challenge and would require more from the teacher. Ultimately, this particular student was avoiding the work because she wasn’t able to read and had limited phonemic awareness, and of course, the teachers allowing her to continually avoid the work was not helping the problems that she had. Why this is so critically important to recognize as a teacher is because as this student continues through school her problems will get worse and will go unaddressed and unfortunately this student may give up on school, so to speak. This is an act of pushing students out whether it is knowingly or unknowingly by the schools, which again is important to recognize and understand.

Students shouldn’t “be given permission to fail”. However it happens and, again, teachers need to be “active” in teaching – they need to expend energy in order to get a result, and that result is learning. Teaching isn’t “passive”, because teaching passively leads to a lack of student learning and gives students permission to fail (which are also results, however undesired results).

Note: I used active and passive to explain teaching methods – active, in a biological sense, requires the use of energy to get a result and passive requires no energy.

Out of School Literacies

It is easy for people to forget, particularly educators, that there are many out-of-school literacies. Since being in the traditional school setting for a while I had forgotten about how influential and important out-of-school literacy is and, as a future educator, how essential it is for my students. What is out-of-school literacy? Doesn’t literacy learning only occur in the classroom? – No, not exactly. Out-of-school literacy is literacy learning that occurs outside of the structured schedule (curriculum) of traditional class and there are many examples of out-of-school literacy - these include art, music, any form of literature (i.e. graphic novels, books of interest), and movies (just to name a few).

In “What they don’t learn in school” by Jabari Mahiri (which is a collection of youths experiences with multiple literacies by professional educators), gives insight into the lives of “unschoolers” who practice a form of out-of-school literacy. They don’t go to school and don’t follow a definite scheduled learning like “home schoolers” do, instead they may research a topic/subject that they are interested in and create their own projects – a type of self motivated learning. I think that all students are capable of self motivated learning and practice it different ways.

Out-of-school literacies are important in identity formation for young people, I remember when I was in middle school I use to draw and create artwork – it was central to my life at the time and meaningful. Just as the students described in “What they don’t learn in school”, Peter Cowan in “Devils or Angels: Literacy and Discourse in Lowrider Culture” (a chapter in Mahiri’s book) explores artwork by Hispanic (mainly Mexican American) students and how it is central to their identity formations and is meaningful to them – a form of literacy. These students understand the meanings of their artwork and the connections to their everyday lives.

As a future educator it is imperative to remember that there are out-of-school literacies that occur in everyone’s lives – for example, I still enjoy creating forms of artwork, particularly paintings, and it is meaningful to me. Teachers can incorporate out-of-school literacy techniques in the classroom; for example we can learn from the “unschoolers” and incorporate meaningful projects – which can be done if we remain aware of what is significant to the students. This reminds me of how important it is as an educator to incorporate and connect relevant information to the topic/subject being taught so to cultivate their own self motivated interest in learning.

Languages

In evolutionary theory, all animals have evolved up to this point optimally and functionally for their environment ( a sea urchin is as optimally evolved for their environment as a human is for theirs) – no species is superiorly optimal/functional than another. Of course, animals continually evolve because their environment changes and evolves as well. Unfortunately there is a misconception that humans have optimally evolved and all other species are inferior - this is incorrect as explained why above. This is similar with languages, in the primitive language myth no language is more superior than another; they are functionally optimal for the needs of the people who speak the language. Some languages have a larger range of functionality; however, this doesn’t mean that the language is superior. In addition, languages evolve over time as well, historically English has evolved over time and is a conglomeration of other languages – the English language isn’t unchanged and wasn’t immaculate in its conception.

Other theories about language include multiple literacies and trilingualism. In multiple literacies, people go through their lives – realizing it or not – transitioning between the various literacies that make up our social world. Students need to learn how to navigate the maze of literacies in order to be successful (socially, economically, academically, etc…) in U.S. society. Furthermore, in triligualism – types of social literacies are isolated and identified. Everybody transitions between three major forms of their language; home, formal and professional forms of language. Which make sense when you think about it, because there are different forms of English that I transition through daily at home, college and work; this evidently lines up with home, formal, and professional forms of literacy. This is important to understand as a teacher because I will be aware that students will be learning how to transition and adapt to various social literacies, and specifically in my biology class they will be learning a form of professional English.

Literacy

The definition of literacy – where to begin – let’s begin with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of literacy; to be able to read and write (how simplistic is that definition!). Considering the course readings that I have completed so far for Issues in Literacy for Diverse Learners, literacy is complex and dynamic in nature and is much more than just the ability to read and write. Moreover there seems to be multiple layers to literacy which are all intricately interconnected. Of course being able to read and write is part of the definition of literacy; however, it seems to be only small component. Not only is a person literate in their native language – which is the language of their family/heritage – they also need to be literate in the formal language of their country, including social and technical discourses.

In “Looking Out Across Columbus: What We Mean by ‘Multiple Literacies’” by David Bloome and Patricia Enciso, they discuss the multiple literacies that are found across Columbus Ohio. Interestingly these concepts in Bloome and Enciso’s article are universal; the multiple literacies that are found in Columbus Ohio occur in other areas of the United States. And students learn these literacies through experience also from teachers, parents, friends, etc… and they continually spend their days “code-switching” between these discourses so to effectively move through the society in which they live.

Literacy is dynamic and ever changing so much so that we “code-switch” between literacies every day of our lives. For instance, when I am in a college class I use a different discourse than when I am at work at the Veterinary Hospital – It’s similar but different because there is a different audience. Furthermore, the discourses used in the above example are definitely different from the discourse I use at home (I’m from a working class family) – if I spoke the way that I talk in my college classes to my mother, she would tell me that I was talking down to her. My mother is a very intelligent women and hard working, however, very prideful – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

As a teacher, I never want to make my students feel that I am talking down to them as if they don’t have intelligence; because everyone has the ability to learn and I have more to learn from my students. Furthermore, I realize that my style of teaching is going to be a conglomeration of many teaching styles so to maximize effectiveness. Another important concept to note about literacy is that “standard English” is just the accepted discourse in the United States; meaning that it’s not a superior language.

The Culture of Power

It wasn’t until class (Issues in Literacy for Diverse Learners) that I learned a labeled name for the group of select people/culture/belief systems that maintain control over others (see it was more difficult to describe before I learned the term ‘culture of power’).

The culture of power controls and maintains power by implementing and replicating ideologies that preserve the idea that there is only one “correct” culture/language/belief system and all others are wrong or primitive. And the power of culture for the United States is mainly comprised of Western European/”Caucasian” belief systems. Interestingly the people who are in the culture of power don’t “see” it, and the people who are not in the culture of power are painfully aware of its existence. For example, the near extermination of Indian culture in the early history of the United States clearly demonstrates the culture of power’s ability to control and dominant. In “Learning ‘The Language the Presidents Speak’: Images and Issues of Literacy in American Indian Literature” by Kimberly M. Blaeser, she describes the concept of Orientalism – “my sameness and its otherness” – and how this idea maintains the superiority of Western European/Anglo-Saxon culture and the inferiority of all others. Making these distinctions and following the idea of Orientalism during the colonization of Indian nations justified the colonizers actions; they were doing “good” by converting the Indians because the Indians were classified as primitive, heathen, even subhuman. As you know, there are many examples of these atrocities occurring throughout history and I’m sure that you can think of many others, even many that are occurring today in modern America and around the world.

Obviously the culture of power is still influential and maintaining hold of modern society. As a teacher, I need to be aware of the culture of power and its expansive influences over my students’ lives, including my own. I need to maintain clarity of the culture of power’s influences on school districts and their policies and how it will affect student learning and intellectual/developmental growth.

Personally, I was aware of the culture of power, however, I didn’t have a name for it – it was (to me) the controlling ideologies and culture in society and it was just part of life. And that is exactly what the culture of power wants people to believe, which is why there is a culture of power. I’m sure that there are other countries with their own culture(s) of power, but who said that I, or even the United States, need to be like everyone else – all cultures and societies are different, however, variation doesn’t create inferiority; all cultures are equally valuable – no matter the differences.

What is worth knowing?

E.D. Hirsch felt that it was most important for a person to be proficient in the cultural literacy of the dominant society, and with this, he in collaboration with a few others (educated intellectuals) crafted a list of concepts, ideas, terms, etc… that all people should know in order to be successful (academically, socially, economically, etc..) in the Unites States. However, his list only created a known snapshot in history at the time that the list was made, and this is a major problem because what is worth knowing in any given society is always changing and evolving with time.

As a biology enthusiast/scientist (as I would describe myself), I can only give a few examples of what I think people should know regarding the sciences – particularly biology. I do not feel that anyone can say what is worth knowing to an individual; essentially, the individual knows and makes decisions about what is worth knowing for them. I think that given the resources, anyone can learn anything that is worth knowing to them.

General knowledge of biology:
- People should have an understanding of evolutionary theory – all misconceptions need to be eradicated.
- Basic anatomy and physiology
- Basic chemistry and math concepts
- Basic genetics
(I chose these because just understanding these basic concepts create a greater knowledge of how the human body works and develops, which would increase an understanding of good health. Moreover, an understanding of evolutionary theory and genetics would help to eliminate racism – since, scientifically, races do not exist; the idea of different races are socially constructed.)
General knowledge:
- How to read, think critically, make connections between concepts, and solve problems

I also feel that an educated individual should always challenge themselves by stepping out of their comfort zone – specifically, by studying a subject area that they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. Doing this can be a really great learning experience and will create new perspectives – you may even surprise yourself.

Furthermore, my list is subject to change and that’s a good thing. It’s difficult to assume what other people should or shouldn’t know; ultimately it’s the individual’s choice. And as a future teacher, it’s my job to give students the resources and tools that they need to be active, reflective, and critical thinkers/learners.