To be literacy literate

As an English teacher, I assumed I knew the definition of literacy.  I studied literature, written literary analyses, and even written analyses of Brazilian literature and I still lacked a full understanding.  Through my university classes, I mainly studied the written word.  Through the lens of a fuller understanding of literacy, I realize many of my classes lacked the well-rounded approach.  Well instructed classes could have become amazingly instructed classes with implementation with one or two of the methods I learned.  This may come off as hyperbole, but I believe it.  Having trained in the corporate world, I have seen the difference between mediocre, good, and amazing instruction.  Competence in tasks increases exponentially when a teacher applies amazing instruction.  As a teacher, I receive an obligation to use whatever methods to foster and ensure learning.

            Within the realm of critical literacy, I felt I had it made.  I have a few years on my peers within the education sphere.  Those several years of life experience could go to waste if I only rely on that lens.  To fully help students develop that critical eye towards the world, I must structure lessons that not only encourage or foster critical literacy.  Something I feel I will need to continually learn.  One idea uses world literature to create a focal point to discover multiple perspectives.  Take the graphic novel, Persepolis, and then use multiple other texts to create an environment for critical literacy. 

Once the students read the graphic novel, find articles, news reports, etc. about the contemporary history of Iran.  I looked at other lesson plans about Persepolis on the internet and found many lesson plans that really delved into the novel with graphic organizers and vocabulary tests, but I only found a few that implemented the use of multiple texts. As a teacher, I would need to help the students seek out materials that give various perspectives such as American, Middle Eastern, Iranian, outside the US.  Once several texts have been researched, the students could construct graphic organizers which talk the materials and organize them in credible vs. non-credible or biased.   With this many texts collected from different perspectives, a plethora of new vocabulary would exist providing a new for vocabulary instruction.  Students could form a word wall with the new vocabulary.  Each word they do not understand could be placed on the wall with the perceived definition granted from the context.  Another form of critical literacy could be discussed; did these words exist before the Iranian revolution in the American English vocabulary.  The students could do a podcast with opinions and perceptions of Iran before the lesson and then do a podcast after the lesson.  They then could compare the two podcasts and discuss what changed in their perceptions.  What fostered the changes of opinion and perspectives?  The students could then branch out and interview their families, friends, people in the community, religious leaders, and so on to see what opinions and perspectives.  They could then do a third podcast combining their changed or unchanged opinions and perspectives combined with the opinions and perspectives of the people they interviewed.  

These ideas would push the students to form an opinion perhaps foreign to them before the lesson.  The students could then look at the world around them with a deeper sense of evaluation or a critical literacy that forms an ability to create an individual opinion based on careful thought, research, and reflection.  I feel I could continue on and on with each lesson.  No lesson should exist in a vacuum.  It should push and pull and stretch the limits of the students' understanding.  I might not teach the next Hemingway, but I can help each student to become literate in the traditional sense and the sense of understanding fully the world around them. To become literacy literate, I must find the multiple perspectives from multiple genres and sources.  Maybe then I can start to scratch the surface of what it means to be literate and how to teach it.

            

First Foray into Podcasting

     As my first foray into podcasts, I took one of my writings from a Creative Non-Fiction Writing class at Utah State, downloaded some free software to record, and dug around in my electronics drawer for my old gaming microphone.  I found recording a podcast fairly simple and the Audacity software easy to use.  The whole process from finding my original work to final recording took a total of thirty minutes.  Now I have had many years of public speaking so recording a podcast came with relative ease.  A student encountering this for the first time might need to practice several times to get it just right.

     As a first endeavor into podcasts for my students, I would offer options of podcasting a published poem, short story, or they could podcast an original work.  Whichever option they choose, the podcast could exist as bridge into public speaking, a fear of many students.  As I recorded my own podcast, I thought through what this might represent for a student in one of my future English classes.  The shy student could use a podcast as a surrogate way to speak aloud in class for the first time.  The student who always clamors for attention could find a penchant for dramatic readings.  The potential of using podcasts counterbalances the pitfalls such as access to software and equipment.  This could be alleviated with access to computer lab which has its own of scheduling.  Managing a classroom of forty students with technical issues could present a nightmare.  A student might completely refuse to do the assignment out of fear.  Another student might use the opportunity to record something obscene and vulgar.  Designing a structured lesson around the podcast would be key to avoid many of these pitfalls.  I would need to allow time for the students to practice with each other or in front of a mirror at home.  I also just realized I would possibly need to allow certain students to do this at home instead of in the computer lab due to disabilities or extreme shyness.

     Besides podcasts, students could build a digital story using an animation website and use a recording of their own voice.  Using Youtube, students could build a slideshow of images and do a recording of a poem and short story to go with images to upload to Youtube.  They could also set some music in the background of their uploaded Youtube reading.  They could construct a reenactment of a scene from a play, book, or poem, record it and upload to Youtube as well.  With simple video editing software, amazing things can be done with minimal effort.  All these could help students engage with the text in a more interactive way than I did in English class.  The technology I encountered twenty-five years ago was a recording of Romeo and Juliet playing on a record player while the class read along.

     I think I could use technology to help guide students through the process of using digital text.  I could direct them to websites or Youtube videos that demonstrate the process.  I could build my videos or screencasts to illustrate the objectives of the project.  I think I would grade mainly on participation and effort because I have seen even with my own kids that a well-defined project can motivate students to engage in the work without realizing they are doing "homework."  As far as a final evaluation of their project, I would build a rubric centered around creativity and engagement with the work.  If I built a rubric with way too many particulars, it could destroy enthusiasm for the project so keeping it as simple as possible would be key to ultimate success.