I am not sure if I am brain-dead from end of the year school stuff or what is going on, but I had to read this article multiple times to try and wrap my mind around the main idea. At first I was extremely confused by re-authoring. I thought it was going to be about changing text to make it more culturally relevant. As I read on I began to form an understanding. I think re-authoring is taking your two worlds- education world and real world- and finding a way for them to collide in a positive way. I think using other texts to develop literacy is a positive thing but I worry that so much emphasis is put on film, tv or music that children don't develop the skills necessary to read text. If you can't read, you can't survive in the real world we are trying to prepare you for. If we lean too much toward other outlets are we doing our students a disservice? I found myself confused at one point in this article, becasue I couldn't understand why the researcher was selecting such controversial material. Why were such negative images for black men selected? It didn't sound appropraite for adolescents. What I did agree with was the life skills the researcher was trying to instill in her participants:
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Community respect
3. Individual freendom
4. Acceptance of language
5. Text value
6. Cooperative authority
All of those things are valuable and should be reinforced in our students. This study did stress the importance of critical thinking skills. I just felt like this study entered dangerous territory with young people. I would not be comfortable using anything even similar to Hustle and Flow.
On the other hand, I truly enjoyed the Henry article. I understand "coming to voice" means that you find your confidence and your ability to communicate with others. That is truly important for all children. It doesn't matter if you are a black girl or a purple boy. I appreciate the research focused on black girls, but when I look past that, I see things I learned from this article will help me with all of my students. The researcher had a goal to help black girls. I want to help all my students find their identities. Your voice is what makes you- you!. Race, gender, asge- it doesn't matter, your goal should be to create independent, critical thinkers. The steps that were taken will work with all kids. Writing about experiences, peer conferencing and critical discussion is beneficial. It was also emphasized that all children need to be able to make connections to their literacy and text. Once these connections are made, the children will develop confidence in themselves. They will also be better with dealing with real world issues. Engaging in themes that are relevant is also important as children learn to appreciate their cultures and their lives. I also appreciate when Henry made it clear that simply providing text and books is not enough. Teachers must work hard to bridge gaps and help make connections.
Carol Sherrill
Comments (4)
I found the "Hustle and Flow" article a little difficult to follow as well. However, I had a different take on re-authoring. I thought it was more of a take on the students taking ownership of changing labels they may have. I felt that it was a way for the students to change the way they are perceived.
Posted by Odessa Scales | June 14, 2010 9:05 PM
Posted on June 14, 2010 21:05
I think that Odessa is right, I think that when you re-author you might change how you think of someone else. I do not think that we are doing our children a disservice if we lean towards other outlets. I think that we need to many outlets to help students in their literacy. Some students may not read as well as others but they may be able to interpret lyrics to a song or a theme in a movie. Then when you ask them to write about it they would do so much better than writing about the plot of a story. So I think that you need to expose students to all types of media and literacy.
Posted by Natalie Enns | June 14, 2010 9:41 PM
Posted on June 14, 2010 21:41
I agree with these ladies in that various types of media need to be incorporated into literacy instruction. I also think the use of the controversial materials were used as a hook to lure in the students. While we may find these subjects shocking or frightening to us, for many of our students they can personally identify with these topics and characters. Use of these materials may also give these students a new perspective on these subjects to provide new realizations that may affect their views on life.
Posted by Nikki Leggins | June 14, 2010 11:47 PM
Posted on June 14, 2010 23:47
I'm not sure that the school system is necessarily putting the emphasis on films, tv, and music as much as our society today. I think this switch in our society is one of the reasons we are having the discussion about ways to get students involved and get them motivated and interested in text. Using controversial material is one of those ways. I have always loved reading, but I can't recall a single book/article I read in high school, but I'm guessing if I was given the opportunity to read about and discuss the O.J. Simpsons trial that I would definitely remember that. I know we have always had students that didn't like to read, but I think with today's kids they are so used to being entertained that we need to find text that is equally as entertaining to get our students physically and emotionally involved.
Posted by Angie Sigmon | June 15, 2010 2:16 AM
Posted on June 15, 2010 02:16