My big Ah ha moment in this article was the statement, "Students who acquired a label began to reposition themselves as being literate once the meaning of literacy was expanded (p71)". I have found that, in my own classroom, the biggest challenge is getting students to see themselves as readers. Once they see themselves as readers, there is no stopping them on their quest to read. One student that I had introduced himself as not being able to read. After showing him how he got meaning from pictures and the words he could figure out, he realized that he was capable to reading. Not only did he see himself as a reader, but he was a motivated reader who scoured any book he could find about cars to learn more about them.
This reminded me of a previous article (I can't remember which one) that talked about literacy as a social justice. This article hit that idea home for me when Chandler said, "Those who cannot understand them and the systems of which they are part of are in the greatest danger of being manipulated by those who can". This is the foundation of why being literate is so important for people of all walks of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment