Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Summer 2011)

I completely agree with your statement about children not growing up in a “private bubble until they reach they magical age of kindergarten.” They have many different people, experiences, interactions and environments that help shape and influence them before they even reach the age of four or five. Instead of seeings these previous experiences as hinderances we need to find ways to use them to our advantage when they enter our classrooms. We have a lot to share with children, but we can’t forget all the wonderful things they bring to the table either.

I think you summarized the chapters and the article well, by saying that our classrooms should be reworked to include aspects of the students’ home and school literacies. It seems we are so focused on the reading exposure that our preschoolers recieve prior to starting to school, but we fail to acknowledge all the other "literacies" that our students bring with them to school. I think you made a good point about how teachers need to acknowledge all influences not as a detriment to their education, but as a resource that can be used as a supplement to our teaching. Home, school, cultures and classrooms may have to be reworked/re-authored to teach certain literacies. We have to be more aware of what our students bring with them in order to reach the whole student and keep them from failure.

Andrea,

I am so glad that you pointed out that this text reminded you of re-authoring. When I read the text, I did not associate re-authoring with it, but once I read your post, that is mainly what the text was about. The text is encouraging students and teachers to re-author not only their lives, but the community as well. A great way to re-author themselves and the community is to become more educated. Knowledge is power, and knowledge can change things. It mentions how some women dream of having classy, materialistic items, so they all need to work hard, get more educated, re-author their lives, and make their dreams into a reality.

Andrea,
I must admit I have never thought of literacy in the terms that were disussed by Hicks. Yes, I know that listening, speaking, reading and writing were all linked to literacy. But I had not thoguht of storytelling and front porch talking as a form of literacy. It make perfect sense however, because as we are listening we are predicting what we think will happen next, we are visualizing what is heard and we are using higher order thinking skills to make inferences.

Andrea, I agree with your statement that "they learn indirectly and directly from the people and interactions that occur around them and the situations in which they interact with others." Often times as teachers we view literacy very differently and forget that all these items factor into their progress in school. Students don't always come with a definition of literacy we think they should, but rather many diverse qualities that we need to take into consideration.

Speaking as a kindergarten teacher, whose students often have not been in school situations before, I can really see the value in learning about my students’ various discourses. Knowing about their lives helps explain so much about the way they learn, about the choices they make in school, and in their behaviors. Understanding “where they come from” helps us to plan academic programs that are appropriate for the individual students. It also helps us to help THEM as they learn to be a part of a new discourse.

I liked how you stated that children do not grow up in a private bubble until they reach the magical age of kindergarten. Often times, educators do not want to “take responsibility” for what their students are lacking in before they come to school. I know that I have been guilty of thinking, “wow, they should have known this before they came to school”. The truth of the matter is that the students in our classrooms are our responsibility, regardless of what they are lacking. We must work on growing our students while taking their backgrounds into careful consideration as we map out their instructional plan.

Andrea,
I'm learning first hand how your statement is so true that children learn from everything in their surroundings. My one year old is already picking up things that I know some kindergartners don't get! It's important to expose them to all sorts of people with different skin color, language, and dialect early on. I want my daughter to feel at home when talking to anyone and that starts at a young age. In that respect, she becomes literate of people, and how to "read" them. That is a priority of mine, but not all parents. THat is why we as teachers need to make exposure to differences a priority as well, so we can supplement what the kids aren't getting at home.

Yours is a lovely critique, Andrea. How interesting to connect re-authoring to Hicks's argument, but in a different way! Well done.