Defining Literacy

When I think of literacy, I always just think of learning to read and write. However, my views on that have changed since working with students more and taking TE classes in college. I consider literacy a means of communication. It includes reading and writing, but also speaking and communicating with others. Today we consider people illiterate if they cannot read and write, however, most of these people are functional members of society and communicate well with others. Not all societies have a written language, but I do not consider these people illiterate. They still communicate and find ways to pass down their history and legends through oral history. I believe speaking is just important, if not more so, than written communication. So, in my own words, literacy is a means of communications between people, whether written, spoken, read, or acted out.

After last weeks readings, I found that I wanted to incorporate more into my definition of literacy. Especially after reading the Critical Literacy article. I always thought of culture as an important part of picking books, but this article shed new light on how it can be part of literacy. People learn about other cultures through talking to others and reading about that culture. When I think of it this way, that is part of my definition. I think it is extremely important to include critical literacy in the classroom. Students need to know about people different from themselves. Many people fear what is different, I feel that this is the problem for many cultural divides. By learning about other cultures and understanding them through literacy we will be able to understand and accept other cultures more easily. I also liked the Cambourne article. I liked the way he broke up learning into different conditions. It gives teachers a way to look at literacy learning and incorporate it into their classroom. I would not say this article changed my definition of literacy, but it defiantly gave me a way to make literacy part of my future classroom. I especially liked the conditions immersion and employment. Although these are conditions I have thought of before, I liked the way it was explained. If students are constantly immersed in literacy and doing activities involving literacy then they will pick up these skills.

My ideal literacy learning environment would look a lot like the video we saw in class. I have seen teachers have literacy in the class, but that teacher had it everywhere and I loved how she did it. I would want creative centers where the students are eager to do the activity. I would want them engaged in the activity because that is the only way they will want to learn the concepts. If students are not engaged in learning they will not learn as well. I also want the students learning from each other. This is because the teacher cannot help everyone at once. If the students are modeling for each other and helping each other not only will that build classroom community but it will help all students. I also want to have centers with activities that students can do at home. This way the learning will not stop at school.. The students will see that literacy is all around them. I know that I never wanted to learn anything that I would not need to do later in life. If students see that what they learn in class is useful everywhere, they will be more likely to find meaning in the concepts and learn them.

In my field placement, I see many of the aspects of literacy I want to include in my own classroom. However, I would probably include more. My CT does a great job of making centers the students enjoy and there are posters and literacy concepts on the wall. I feel like when we are done with the literacy block for the day we brush it aside and move on. I would like the students to understand that literacy effects everything they do. In class we discussed centers, I think my CT does a great job with centers. She recently created a new way of rotating centers that works really well. She always has two groups up front reading with her. One is reading directly with her and the other is reading with a group leader. The rest of the groups are in centers with literacy games or skill work that keep them pretty busy. I like the way it is set up and would probably use this method in my own classroom.