Properly Literate

           Although the articles for this particular seminar appear to have been written several years ago, they are outlining issues within education that are still very much a point of concern.  If after all these years, the same patterns are still evident (low test scores among minority students, the need to strengthen skills in reading and writing, pedagogy that lacks emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking, etc.), perhaps it is safe to say that advances in education have been marginal at best (?) 
         I chuckle to myself when I think back to an interesting comment that was made by our school’s ELT (Early Literacy Teacher), about a year ago during a workshop that she was hosting.  She stated, with confidence and pride, that we have made so many advances in the way that we are teaching our students and the rate at which they are learning, that school boards all over the world are now looking to Ontario as a leader in education (pause and reflect here).  I hope not to be misunderstood.  I’m sure there are amazing things going on in the classrooms here in Ontario and across Canada, and as educators we have much to be proud of. However, I found this statement to be quite ambitious.
           I think there are several factors that have had a significant impact on how we approach education, and these factors have resulted in greater challenges and more hurdles that need to be cleared before achieving high levels of success for both teachers and learners.  For instance, as our population grows increasingly more diverse, the number of ELL students has also increased, and this has led to the need for several modifications to curriculum expectations. The same can be said for what seems like an increase in the number of special needs/learning disabled students. Another example is the introduction of standardized testing (EQAO) which has had a negative impact on the pedagogy of many teachers teaching grades in which the test is written. The bottom line – while we have an abundance of resources (books, graphic organizers, adaptive technology, etc.), I am beginning to wonder if these things are just creative/innovative ways to continue to dance around a prevailing and long standing problem – many of our students are not necessarily becoming better at reading and writing – we’re just finding ways to make it easier for them.
           I think back to the article Properly Literate, by Wayne O’Neil.  He suggests that reading without context is the beginning of the breakdown in coherence (pg. 77).  He went on to explain that proper literacy should extend a person’s control over his/her life and environment.  I have to wonder what sort of context I create for my students on a daily basis – especially those who are new to the country or who’ve generally had limited experiences.  In an effort to promote reading for meaning, as educators we must be mindful of the material that we have selected for use in our classrooms, as well as the criteria we have chosen for use in our evaluation. If not, we may be inadvertently creating a generation of improperly literate children who are just merely “following words across a page, and are getting a general sense of what’s superficially there.” (pg. 75) 
          The same can be said for writing.  Whether it is a matter of providing graphic organizers to ensure the correct formatting, or using sentence building programs like Clicker 5 - while these tools are quite helpful, there is a strong need to evaluate whether or not the actual skill of writing is being adequately developed.  Writing, like reading, must also be meaningful – it needs to be done within a certain context, and should have strong connections to each student’s current experience, as well as the experiences they are sure to have somewhere down the road. But the question still remains – how do we make our student’s better readers and writers? What type of pedagogy is guaranteed to produce this desired outcome? Is there one approach, or are there many?
           I`ve become a strong believer in the importance of critical literacy and giving students an opportunity to make strong connections to everyday life. But I often find myself at war with the phenomenon of standardized testing, large class sizes, feeling overwhelmed by the number of expectations that need to be covered, and the most challenging of all – what the school board/ministry suggests we should adopt as best teaching practices. I think our world might seem as though it has become more complex – but if we have a good understanding of the various social dynamics that are at play, the power relations that are constantly being developed, or the reasons why certain groups of people are more disadvantaged than others, our approach to society and how we identify ourselves within it, may actually be quite simple. As suggested in the reading “The Sanitized Curriculum: Educational Disempowerment in a Nation at Risk”, education seems to be lacking meaningful learning experiences – it is overly prescribed and does not honour the importance in developing a student’s ability to think critically. It’s also important to find ways to ensure that our students are feeling empowered, all students alike, not just the minority. This empowerment will limited feelings of inadequacy and leave students feeling confident and capable (Cummins, pg. 31).
            I feel extremely compelled to challenge my students to question, connect, relate and debate things that they see in the media, read in books, newspapers and magazines, or hear through word of mouth. The video “Voice and Choice” was an awesome example of this type of learning in action. In the conclusion of his article, “The Sanitized Curriculum”, Cummins offers some sound advice: “A practical “pedagogy for resistance”...would incorporate at least two immediate goals...rid the educational system of the straightjacket of standardized tests...and insist that any test used in the school incorporate the full range of curriculum objectives emphasized within an interactive/experiential model of pedagogy.” How do we put something like this in motion?