Where you are from and what do you do?
· I am from Buckhannon, WV and I am currently a student and full-time mom to my daughter, Katie, who is 17 months old.
What do you want to get out of the class?
· I want to find a way to mesh the idea of the new media age with my content area of Art.
Your definition of what it means to be literate:
· For me, being literate means that you possess the skills to be successful in the day to day aspects of life which include the ability to balance a checkbook, pay bills, apply for a job, read and prepare a recipe, the ability to navigate technology and make it work for you, lifelong learning, etc.
Go to YouTube and enter the search term "Literacy" and link me to a video that reflects your definition or understanding of what it means to be literate in the 21st century:
Great quote! So powerful! Literacy attainment is the primary function of schools! It is essential for democracy to work! Yet about only 50% of high schools students in West Virginia test at proficient or above. For many high schools it is around 30%! Why so students in West Virginia struggle with reading and writing? What definition of literacy do you think is enacted in schools? Is it more narrow than the one presented in the video? Why?
ReplyDeleteI believe that students struggle with reading and writing in WV for a variety of reasons. First, many students in WV do not have rich, background experiences on which to build when they are reading. Teachers need to, but often don’t, take time to build background for them; this puts these learners at a disadvantage. Secondly, for many WV students education is not a family priority and its value is not understood. Lastly, I believe that many of the students in public schools have parents who did not have “good” school experiences themselves, and this creates a disconnect between home and school for these students.
ReplyDeleteI believe that literacy in schools is currently related to reading and writing from textbooks. However, I do think strides are being made to move in the right direction, at least, by some teachers. It is certainly narrower than the idea presented in the video. I believe that many educators do not embrace the technology (texting, chatting, Facebook, etc.) that contemporary students use. They feel that it has no place in the classroom, but the reality is it is here to stay. It is my opinion that we, as educators, must make these technologies work for us. That is the only way we are going to create lifelong learners that are successful in the world of tomorrow.
I think strides are being made to improve literacy instruction in schools too! However teachers need to value the kinds of literacy practices kids engage in outside of school! Texting, chatting and Facebooking are reading and writing practices just like reading textbooks and writing essays are. Young people are reading and writing more than anytime in history! I think teachers can use kids enthusiasm for writing with digital technologies to help them build the academic literacies valued in school!
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