November Blog

The more I read course and personal material on the subject of literacy, the more it seems futile that there is any hope or answer to be aiding those who truely need. The myths, relationships, resources (that reach cultural, curriculum, and inclusive needs in the classroom), and government sanctions do not work in unison with each other. Everytime there seems to be a ray of light, a large ominous cloud seems to rain on that parade. And as soldiers in the field we are trying our best with what we have to complete the tasks given to us from above to best suit the needs of each student in our classroom. Frank Smith said it best to myself, we are "overselling literacy."
I am personally frustrated when I hear about the war against illiteracy and yet as a middle school teacher there are lots of children that can not read and adminstration and special education teachers and myself wonders what we can do? In large classes fewer programs that group like students how do we actually fight this battle. Everyday a child is lost in this battle because they just get pushed along, because of so many different factors. We want children to think critically about the texts they read, write and view, but first they must be able to read, write and view...shouldn't they?
I did like the view that we are only as literate as what we do. Many times eliteists think they are better then everyone; but give them a manual on how to fix a car engine and now it may be a new literacy that they would not be able to understand. Our literacy is located!
I guess what I'm really saying is students are not all the same, teachers are not all the same so one solution will never work. There should be a battle going on and that is one that is working on equity for all but not in just one small box. Solutions need to become more universaland flexible, not so cookie cutter. Its a shame that the people that sit in parliament and minitry positions consistently look at data and find out ways to improve data and they don't look at children or providing alterntive tests for those students whose literacies differ from the norm and the elite.