1. There is no certainty to what literacy is… we just construct an understanding of it and what it means for literacy instruction! LITERACY according to … Lori Lisi James Paul Gee Vivian Vasquez Andy Manning Paulo Freire Patrick J. Finn Colin Lankshear Allan Luke Jerry Harste
2. I am from… I am from… Bridal Magazines, wedding planners and baby books which guided me in preparing for the future and making decisions I am from… elementary schools and high schools; from anxious faces and beating hearts. I am from… Funk and Wagnall encyclopedia that had me asking so many, many questions. I am from… Mr. Whiskers and Treasure Box ; from worlds morphed into a myriad of different shapes and sizes. I am from… university bookstores and libraries where the lights never went out and people were always reading, searching, finding and then reading and searching some more! I am from …years ago and years to come; from learning to read and teaching to learn!
3. . I am from… I am from… bookmobiles and public libraries where Mischievous Meg came home with me for two weeks I am from… children and adolescents; from “I can’t find it, Miss!” and “I didn’t know it was due today!” I am from… reading student essays, journals, poems and other English assignments. I am from… planning differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all my students. I am from… Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys; from secret adventures that transported me to places I’d never been. I am from… reading Good Night Moon with my children, under the sheets in bed, with a flashlight.
4. Literacy is about… reading and writing language Social practices communicating culture knowledge freedom
5. Some say literacy is… “ Literacy is the reality that enables us to communicate our ideas/ understand the ideas of others through reading, writing, and oral expressions. It enables us to become critical thinkers, as we read and question. It’s about understanding mathematical relationships . -Informant 3 “ It’s knowing to read and write.” - Informant 2 “ Literacy is basic English communication skills developed through reading, writing, speaking and listening exercises. Most of our literacy students are illiterate in their own language due to a lack of formal schooling. Some of our students are from countries where English is their first language but they are unable to read and write. Both face the same challenges. It’s amazing to hear about the coping skills students have learned over the years to compensate for illiteracy.” - Informant 1
6. Which Literacies? For Whom? To What End? Race Power Discourse Culture Gender Class Context Conversation Consider this…
9. How do we teach Literacy? How we are taught literacy affects our lives! Teach working-class kids like rich kids -- in their own self-interest. ~ Freire
11. Status Quo Equity Social Justice & What’s the bottom –line? What concerns do we still have? Powerful literacy Transformative literacy Naive literacy Progressive literacy Traditional Literacy Non-Transformative literacy You again!! … and the dual continues!!
12. Who is the Literate Learner? Based on Freebody & Luke’s “four resources model”, 1990.
13. Literacy is… Understanding our “positioning” Social practice Being in the world Having freedom Taking social action “ Reading the word to read the world..." Freire
14. Types of Literacies… Cultural Literacy Do you understand text in relation to their contexts? Informational Literacy What information is needed? Can you locate, evaluate and use needed information effectively? Financial Literacy Can you make informed jugements and effective decisions about the use and management of your money? Media Literacy Can you interpret techniques and understand how media messages are constructed? How do media messages manipulate and affect societal development? Scientific Literacy Do you know and understand scientific concepts and processes? Critical Literacy Whose voice is being heard? Whose is being silenced? Digital Literacy What digital technology is used to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and create infomration?
15. Literacy is about rereading the world again and again and again!
16. "Every reading of the word is preceded by a reading of the world. Starting from the reading of the world that the reader brings to literacy programs (a social- and class-determined reading), the reading of the word sends the reader back to the previous reading of the world, which is, in fact, a rereading." -Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the City (1993, translated by D. Macedo)
