Course Work

I just finished the fourth unit of my course. I was waiting around for some people to finish Activity 5 so that I could respond to their answers. I thought that this might be a good time to share a typical assignment since people commonly ask me what the course is all about.

Assignment

As teachers, we are always concerned with the writing skills of our students. When not working on school assignments, students engage in writing that is uniquely different from classroom writing. We need to know and understand how they write and communicate outside the classroom in order to make them understand how to write for different purpose and audience.

1. Read the article on Wired Teens by Kris Axtman to understand the language used by students outside school. Then, discover what are Emoticons (emotions + icons)?

2. Based on what you read, define literacy as you understand it, in one paragraph.

3. Post your definition in the discussion list.

4. Respond to the definition of two other colleagues.

My Answer

Literacy is much more than the ability to read and write. There is more to literacy than simply being able to read words and scrawl them down on paper. To be truly literate, one must understand the audience and the purpose for reading and writing. A writer must know for whom she is writing and why she is writing, just as the reader must be aware of why the writer might be making particular choices. This deals with aspects of bias, construction, and aesthetics. Literacy is communication, and must deal not only with reading and writing, but all forms of communication such as information technology and mass media. To be truly literate, we must recognize that communication is different in different cultures and societies and that the definitions of literacy may change in these societies. Literacy is not only being able to communicate, but understanding that there is more to communication than words and meaning.

The Responses I Received

1) That is correct - literacy transcends beyond words and meaning. Literacy is multi-faceted and lends itself to a variety of interpretations.

2) I agree totally! In my definition of literacy, I address the fact that literacy is the ability to communicate. Therefore, the teens about whom we have read are very literate! I especially like what you said about understanding one's audience and being able to communicate specifically for that audience. It reminds me of our media discussions earlier in this EC - one constructs meaning in conjunction with the media piece itself. Therefore, students have learned to construct specific understandings in relation to cyber speech. Internet being the medium, teens have learned to function within this realm.

Someone Else's Answer

[I had in this space some else's work, but decided to remove it since I haven't asked for permission to publish it. Sorry. --Ed.]

My Response to Their Work

I have no problem with communication and the way that language develops, but I think that there is a tremendous problem if there is this drastic difference between the communication of young and old (for lack of better terms).

If we work with youth, we must become literate on all aspects of youth culture. We cannot be experts, but we need to know what's going on. Communication can be used as a way of marginalizing people. Those who don't know the lingo are excluded. This has been well documented throughout history. I think that young people love using this "chat-speech" because they can communicate with their peers while knowing that their parents don't understand what they are saying.

You need only look at the history of African-American music to understand the relationship between marginalization and the development of new forms of communication. Those who feel marginalized by society develop ways to express their discontent while functioning within that society (in order to avoid further marginalization). I found this at wikipedia.com with regards to spirituals:

"While slaveowners used Christianity to teach slaves to be long-suffering, forgiving and obedient to their masters, as practiced by slaves, it became a kind of liberation theology. The story of Moses and The Exodus of the "children of Israel" and the idea of an Old Testament warrior God who struck down the enemies of His "chosen people" resonated deeply with slaves ("He's a battleaxe in time of war and a shepherd in time of the storm"). In black hands and hearts, Christian theology became an instrument of liberation.

So, too, in many instances did the spirituals themselves. Spirituals sometimes provided comfort and eased the boredom of daily tasks, but above all, they were an expression of spiritual devotion and a yearning for freedom from bondage. In song, lyrics about the Exodus were a metaphor for freedom from slavery. Songs like "Steal Away (to Jesus)", or "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" raised unexpectedly in a dusty field, or sung softly in the dark of night, signalled that the coast was clear and the time to escape had come. The River Jordan became the Ohio River, or the Mississippi, or another body of water that had to be crossed on the journey to freedom. “Wade in the Water” contained explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture and the route to take to successfully make their way to freedom.[1] Leaving dry land and taking to the water was a common strategy to throw pursuing bloodhounds off one's trail. “The Gospel Train”, and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” all contained veiled references to the Underground Railroad, and "Follow the Drinking Gourd" contained a coded map to the Underground Railroad. The title itself was a reference to the Big Dipper, which pointed the way to the North Star and freedom." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituals)

I think that if we look carefully at communication from a historical perspective, we can draw many links to today's modern technology-inspired communication. We, as teachers, better be willing to learn, and learn quickly, if we do not want to be marginalized ourselves.