On Valuing Multiple Literacies - Blog Post #1

    Picture me, in middle school, immersed in reading some dystopian novel all my friends were into. The clamor of the classroom gives me comfort -- enough to lose myself completely to the fiction in front of me. My fingers slide behind the page, already anticipating flipping it, while my right leg bounces from the tension as the main character rebels against everything she’s ever known. My teacher gently taps my desk, telling me to come talk with her. She was recently told about a writing project I had completed and encouraged me to write a piece for a competition. Ecstatic and eager to please, I began writing anew that hour despite having gone through a period of self-doubt for the past few months. Such was the power of support from an authority figure on me (which I sometimes still feel even today). 

As a kid, both my motivation and pride were soaring from that conversation. However, I cannot help but think of this in response to our discussion this week about appreciating all literacies. Why was my friend, who was fantastic at creating art, not praised similarly for her project that included detailed drawings of the characters? Or what about the student who could type 100 words per minute, effectively finishing their project in half the time of everyone else? I am sorry that they were not recognized in the same way I was for their talents. 

I knew students so skilled in their chosen literacies that it was no question to our classmates that they were amazing, yet few teachers gave them compliments. Instead, a number of them would complain of their lack of attention in class or inability to complete tasks. I remember the teachers who used deficit approaches nearly as much as I recall the appreciative ones, and, having seen the negative effects on my wonderfully creative friend, I know which one is more productive. 

Thankfully, I have the opportunity to not act the same way in relation to my students and support their individuality. In Randy Bomer’s text, Building Adolescent Literacy in Today's English Classrooms, one quote stood out to me in relation to this topic: “We need a vision of a literate life....since it's the goal our students would have if they had the knowledge we do” (6). I think a lot of problems that lead to deficit thinking can be solved by truly respecting your students’ aspirations like this. They are going to be adults very soon, and they need to be treated like their hobbies, talents, and opinions matter! Instead of only elevating students who do well in academic skills, I want to bring attention to others through multimedia projects and focusing on the wide range of abilities that are useful in and out of school. How much more meaningful and exciting could school be if all kinds of literacies were praised as often as reading or writing?

In addition to this, I appreciate Bomer’s discussion about self-sponsored literate activities and connecting lessons to topics outside of academia in general. I was shocked by the statistic that “28 percent of U.S adults aged 25-29 have college degrees” (51). This is even more reason to promote what students enjoy as a means to grant them stamina for reading and writing on their own time along with college prepping. Using the workshop method of breaking up a class period would be fantastic for this! With individual research projects or small groups, depending on the nature of their work, students could have significantly more autonomy. Perhaps a unit planned around their future career where they research different jobs within their field or on learning a new craft or technique that they have never done before would be rich tasks that align with appreciating individual interests. In the beginning of the year, a personality test or a reflection on a student’s strengths could allow them to introduce their skills to me early on. My mentor teacher had them write a college entrance essay for this same purpose, and it worked very well! I might give that a try. 

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more informational rants that serve as my notes and reflections for teaching.