Before stepping into our literacy studies class, I had no idea what to expect, just like I have no idea what to expect in any other class, but it sounded interesting to me. I had always thought as the majority does of literacy only being about reading and writing but something about the word “literacy” itself sounding so broad to me made me think that reading and writing could not even begin to cover what literacy is, and that’s exactly what we’ve been learning in class.

Literacy is not just about reading and writing, it encompasses so much more. Reading and writing themselves are not so black and white either. There are different types of reading and writing that one can do and they’re not the same thing to every person out there because we all have different literacy practices/skills based on our place in society, our ethnicity, etc. We are all on different reading and writing levels, and take different approaches and techniques when it comes to reading and writing. There is no right or wrong way to go about it. No concrete meaning that can be attached to literacy. No concrete set of rules that can be applied to our learning, reading, and writing processes. We have to follow what we feel is the right way to go about these things.

The fact that literacy is not black and white is liberating when one actually comes to term with all it has to encompass especially for those who have been told that they are illiterate or who feel that they can’t read or don’t know how to read and write, and those who have been placed on lower reading and writing levels that make them feel stupid. Having kids take standardized tests that rank them on their reading and writing skills and placing them into certain categories is a disservice to kids. It can hinder and discourage and even worse, instructors that feel that they can’t be helped and won’t be able to move forward from their low levels just give up on the kids and that’s so sad because every kid deserves a chance to better themselves intellectually and to be able to move forward. Everybody is literate is some way, shape, or form it just may not be the same as yours but that is no reason to write them off as being illiterate. Working in our book clubs and article groups, I felt a deeper and better understanding of this.

The book I read in my book club was “Just Girls” which followed two different groups of middle school girls and their literacy practives, while also giving the reader some background information on each of the girl’s lives in school and at home. The two groups of girls were labeled as the “social queens” and the “tough cookies.” The “social queens” were the popular girls in the school and the “tough cookies” were the more quiet, not so popular, smart, outcasts of the school. Each group had their own literacy practices, the “social queens” mostly read teen magazines and passed notes during class while the tough cookies actually did their school work and read books as opposed to magazines and they weren’t note-passers. What I got from the book is that literacy practices can be seen and made to create social boundaries. Certain literacy practices are associated within certain social groups and the priorites of each social group differ. For example the parents of the “social queens” (who come from money) didn’t worry much about their daughter’s literacy practices, saying that being socially involved in school activities and sports were just as important if not more important than being good in school, while the “tought cookies” parents were more or less opposite since they weren’t rich and thought having a good education would be beneficial to getting a good job and would benefit the family.

In my article group of hip hop and literacy, the literacy practices I saw were more of a means of self-expression. The kids in one of the articles that I read which is called, “A love for the thing…” by Susan Weinstien, all have their own styles of rapping and self-expression. The kids in the article are siblings but each of them raps about different topics or themes and have distinct sounds to them. This was the most interesting article that I read for my article group and it opens the possibilities to the use of what literacy practices can be and how literacy is used by different groups of people. Reading and writing is a means of self-expression and it is an indication to the type of person you are and can point out your likes and dislikes depending on the type of material you read and the style in which you write and express yourself, which in my opinion, is so vital to our literacy practices and ways of learning.

One idea that sums up what I believe literacy to be and that sums up what I have learned through out the semester comes from Gee’s idea that “literacy as the ability to read and write situates literacy in the individual person, rather than in society. The practices of social groups are never just literacy practices; they also involve ways of talking, interacting, thinking, valuing, and believing. Can not pull apart literacy practices from non-literacy practices.” (Yes I totally just took this from “Defining literacy… not an easy thing” post from Professor Jaxon, but anyways this all that has stood out to me in our class.

To sign off this post I thought I’d throw in a little treat, a “rap” or poem is what I think I’ll call it, that I came up with for my hip hop and literacy article group that I didn’t include in our presentation:

Music, lyrics, poetry

tell me what’s the meaning

an expression, escape from depression

tell me what you’re feeling

and get started on your healing

you can make and earning

but also use them for learning

-Danielle Mota

http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/Why_Online_Programs_Fail.html#unique-entry-id-114

I took a look at this article on the Hybrid Pedagogy site talking about teaching online, why it fails, and what can be done about it. One thing that I liked and agree with that the article addresses (in the first sentence of paragraph 4) is that “Online learning programs fail because they’ve been told, and they believe, they must operate within the same paradigm of learning and teaching that on-ground programs obey.” I believe this to be true for certain programs. Learning and teaching processes should be fun, creative, interactive, and different since people learn differently with different styles/methods so learning and teaching tools should not be cookie-cutter methods that may be boring and the same type of thing you see over and over again. I also agree with the article in saying that technology shouldn’t be heavily relied on to help learning but aid the instructor doing the teaching.

I signed up for an online class next semester and I have no idea what to expect or how the class is going to be set up. It will be my first time taking an online class and I hope that whatever is being taught, whatever it is that I’m supposed to learn is articulated in a manner that I can understand and that will have some form or tool that plays into my learning style(s). I think that as long as there is some sort of interaction with the instructor and fellow classmates, there shouldn’t be much problems with learning the material. That’s something that online programs and classes should definitely include and offer that could possibly make learning and teaching easier.

For my article group I chose hiphop and literacy. One of the articles that I read that I found the most interesting was the one titled “For the Love of It.” I really liked what the article was about and the study that followed three rappers and what hiphop was all about to them. Hip hop in terms of literacy can be an effective tool. Hip hop in the form of poetry and lyrics utilizes some literary practices that schools (in the subject of English) teach their students. Verse, rhyme scheme, metaphors, similies, etc. can be identified in hip hop/ rap songs as they can be in more academic or formal poetry. Students are using the tools given to them in a different way, a way that they can relate and express themselves, while showing that they do indeed grasp the literary concepts they are being taught. Depending on the content of their work (hip hop songs and poetry), they can also teach by presenting their own views of the world around them and painting their background, where they came from, which may be different from where their peers came from. Through the form of hip hop they are telling their story and shedding light on the issues that are important to them and that they have personally experienced, educating those that are not like them and come from a totally different walk of life. Until you read or hear somebody’s thoughts you have know idea where they come from, what they have gone through and have had to deal with, or what is important to them and how they view the world.

The book I’m reading for bookclub is “Just Girls: hidden literacies and life in junior high.” The first chapter was boring. The author just talked about how she went about her research, she didn’t really give information that came out from the research. It was more of an explanation of her set up than of the results or what she learned or gathered from her studies.

One thing that I found interesting in the first chapter of the book is when the author talks to both of her groups of girls that she is studying, the “social queens” and the “tough cookies” and asks both groups to tell her how they would like for her to present them and both groups of girls, even though they come from very different socioeconomic backgrounds (the social queens= the popular rich girls and the tough cookies= the smart not so popular girls), tell the author to present them as just girls, normal girls. It would’ve been a good idea for the author to get both of the groups definitons of just normal girls. How would they define what being just a normal girl as?

In the book the author writes about the buzz around the yearbook being such a big thing since mostly 7th grade and above get to oreder one. The yearbook is a distinction between the 7th graders and the grades below them; there is a sense of status surrounding the older grades and being able to order a yearbook. There is also a sense of belonging that follows the yearbook. Kids are always trying to find themselves in photos. The photos present a membership in clubs, which in turn gives certain privleges, awards, duties, and organization skills to those that belong to a certain club. High value is placed on extracurricular activities because participation, membership, competition, academic success, keep kids involved. The author points out that sports, drama, club activities are seen as cocurricular activities rather than extracurricular activities.

The yearbook is seen by teachers and staff as a symbol of solidarity among the student body but some students still see it otherwise, like belonging to a club and other students are considered outsiders when it comes  to who they will let sign their yearbook or whose yearbook they will sign because they still hold class distinctions among their peers. Observing both groups of girls during yearbook signing Tiffany (“leader” of the social queens) says that everyone wants her to sign their yearbook. Tiffany and her friends look to see how many times they are in the yearbook to get a sense of belonging, while Cleo (“leader” of the tough cookies) and her friends didn’t purchase and aren’t signing yearbooks because none of them were in the book anyway. Economic status puts a limitation on some kids and their families in the participation of school activities since they mostly always cost some kind of money to be a part of. One parent of a “tough cookie” girl said why does the school think that they have this kind of money? I agree that there is limitations that keep certain groups of people from participating in school activities and that schools sometimes don’t see that, it’s something that seems to go over their heads.

 

 

I really need to start or write these blog posts after I read whatever we are supposed to read because I only retain a whisper of what I read and then I have to go back and quickly skim through the reading again, but that’s not the point of this blog, I just thought I’d throw it out there and have it as some sort of mental note.

Okay, so, what I found interesting about Brian Street’s article is the use of the terms “literacy practices” and “literacy events” mostly because they confuse(d) me. What I got and what I think is that literacy practices are the ways in which a person uses his or her reading or writing skills, how they go about reading and writing. And what I got or what I think literacy events are a situation or event in which one reacts or uses their literacy practices to react or interact with a certain event or situation (does that make sense? I don’t know how else to word it). I know the terms go hand in hand but I’d really like a clear distinction between the two, or if I got it then cool.