It takes two to

tango:
Combining social and academic
literacies in the writing classroom

Contentions
Learning is not isolated to the classroom; we

learn 24/7 from all sources surrounding us.

Trust between student and teacher is vital to
create genuine learning.
Students are more inclined to respect a
teachers knowledge if the student feels
his/her knowledge is also respected.
Children and adolescents must learn to
critically consume the information delivered to
them from all sources.

"His grandmother and I are raising him. I worry about

putting him into the public school system. I was a teacher
for many years. I've seen so much confidence destroyed by
the standardized system. Every human is born with natural
curiosity. I've never seen a child who wasn't inspired. But
once you force someone to do anything, the inspired
person is killed. I dropped out of school myself in7th grade.
So I know. I taught a GED course for years, so I've seen the
end results over and over. I've seen so many kids who have
complexes and insecurities because they were forced to do
something they weren't ready to do, and then they were
blamed when they weren't able to do it. What we call
'education' today is not organic. You can't take something
as complex as the human mind, compartmentalize it, and
regiment its development so strictly (Stanton).

"I was an English teacher. The demands of

the system required that I give out grades,
but I never felt good about it. How do you
grade someone's writing? Writing is about
revision. It's about access to self. If a
student writes a poem, and it's the best
they can do at the moment, how are you
supposed to compare that to the student
sitting next to them? How are you supposed
to give one a 90, and one an 85? (Stanton).

Contentions Continued:
STIGMA
There is currently a huge stigma against

adolescents and the culture/s in which they

thrive.
This stigma teaches that things adolescents
love are considered to have little value to
adults unless those things are validated by an
entity the adult values.
This stigma is perpetuated by a consistent
focus on the negative.

Related Reading
Regarding stigma: They notice that Figure 1 is a close-

up of an adolescent with acne, a sober expression, and

what the artist called a Justin Bieber haircut. Similarly,
Figure 2 depicts an adolescent with a shadow of a
mustache, a generic band T-shirt, and headphones. I
encourage students to evaluate whether these
portrayals are positive or negative and what messages
they send about adolescents/ce. Students observe that
their collective depictions of adolescents are not
flattering, that they reflect a relatively low opinion of
people of that age group (Borsheim-Black, 30).
Sociocultural diversity is a potentially powerful
pedagogical resource for many urban teachers,
just as it is a potentially powerful learning
resource for urban children (Haas Dyson, 167).

More Related Readings

Similarly, the teens cared about personal voice. As one

said, There are some things that you do because you,

like, want it to be you. Finding their own writing style
and capturing how they sound were very important to
the adolescents I interviewed and surveyed. Overall, I
learned that adolescents write a lot outside of school,
they adopt the conventions of their digital communities,
and they experiment with languageboth to be a part of
those communities and to create an individual identity
within them. In short, in the out-of-school context of
digitalk, teens develop two key writing skills that
composition teachers stress in school: an understanding
of audience and of voice (Turner).

What is social literacy?

Not just pop culture
Interest-Driven
Sociocultural learning: Sociocultural learning

theorists argue that within all social interactions,

learning is occurring at multiple, mutually
constitutive levelsthe personal, interpersonal,
and institutionaland that this learning can be
analyzed best as a process of shared activity
(Garcia).
[Student interests] are integral elements of our
identities thatwhen respected by educators as
serious attempts to understand, grapple with,
and take action in our worldhave
transformative educational and social power
(Garcia).

Comprehensive repertoire of
both communicative tools and
general knowledge which we
use specifically in social settings
related to our personal interests,
opinions, and endeavors.

What is academic literacy?

In short, anything the teacher teaches in hopes
that students learn.

How should Social and Academic

Literacy be combined?
Conscious and mindful transaction (Haas
Dyson, 166).
Employ the familiar to facilitate the unfamiliar.

4 Steps
Engagement
Building Connections
Questioning
Critical Consumption

Engagement
Dont try too hard.
Access what students already know; allow

them to fill in the blank.

Who are our
societys
heroes?
Who is your
favorite hero?
Why?
Are heroes the
focus in our
society?

The Problem with Engagement

A quick hook to grasp student attention is

tempting, but a one-trick pony.

The goal is growth.
Some examples of ending with engagement:
Write a tweet about xyz
Create a vine in which you abc the 123

https://youtu.be/6ajTkKutAKk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmnI4IQ-ckQ

Building Connections
The art of asking questions.
Differs with every unit and every student

group.

Questioning
Revolve around the units theme and the

students needs.

Question the social aspect:Question the academic aspect:

Why do I like this?
Why is this in the cannon?
Is this something I want to How does this relate to my life?
like?
What do I gain or lose from this
Does this represent my
How do my predispositions on
values?
this topic affect my gains and
What messages does this losses?
send?

Critical Consumption
Largely out of the classroom (intrinsic rewards

and such)

Participation Activity
Retrieve your song lyrics and follow the
instructions on the handout.

On the back of your sheet

Write down a brief summary of what you know

Romeo and Juliet by

William Shakespeare
about

Beneath your summary, predict what you think

the theme of R&J might be.*

*In real life teachering, this would guide a 6 week

unit on decision making and different types of

love.

Write a short comparative essay describing how your text and the class
text do or do not illustrate your personal values regarding love.
Discuss as a small group at your table when youre done!

My process here
Yesterday, you were likely already a bit engaged

with my demo, because you were thinking about

how the song lyrics might be used.
Today, you built a connection between your
song (SL) and the play Romeo and Juliet (AL)
which we hypothetically traced, shared, and
evolved over 6 weeks.
You questioned your song lyrics and the class
text against your personal values.
Hopefully in the future, when you hear a new
love song, you will critically consume it
instead of passively consuming it.

Songs my Students chose

Love Story by Taylor Swift
Romeo, take me somewhere we can be
alone.
I'll be waiting; all that's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the
princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".

Story of my Life by One

Direction

The story of my life

I take her home
I drive all night
To keep her warm
And time is frozen (the story of, the story
of)
So I sneak out to the garden to see you. The story of my life
We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they I give her hope
knew
I spend her love
So close your eyes... escape this town
Until she's broke
for a little while.
Inside
Oh, oh.
The story of my life (the story of, the
story of)
'Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet
letter,
Written on these walls are the colors that
And my daddy said, "Stay away from
I can't change
Juliet"
Leave my heart open but it stays right
But you were everything to me,
here in its cage
I was begging you, "Please don't go"
I know that in the morning now I see us
in the light upon a hill
Although I am broken, my heart is

Cecilia and the Satellite by

Andrew McMahon
I lock myself in a hotel room
Been waiting all night for the walls to
move
I've loved some girls that I barely knew
I've made some friends, and I've lost
some too
Crashed my car, I was 17
My mother in the seat riding next to me
The things I've learned from a broken
mirror
How a face can change when a heart
knows fear
Through all the things my eyes have
seen
The best by far is you
If I could fly
Then I would know
What life looks like from up above and
down below
I'd keep you safe

Cherry Pie by
Warrant
Dirty, rotten, filthy,
stinkin...
She's my cherry pie
Cool drink of water such a
sweet surprise
Tastes so good makes a
grown man cry
Sweet Cherry Pie
Swingin' on the front porch
Swingin' on the lawn
Swingin' where we want
'Cause there ain't nobody
home
Swingin' to the left
And swingin' to the right
If I think about baseball
I'll swing all night yea

Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details;
provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning
and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or
informal tone).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7

Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums,
including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden's "Muse des Beaux
Arts" and Breughel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2.B

Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete
details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge
of the topic.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.9

Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Citations (AKA Future

Resources!!!)
Borsheim-Black, Carlin. Reading Pop Culture and Young
Adult Literature through the Youth Lens. English
Journal 104.3 (2015): 29-34. Web. 18 June 2015.
Garcia, Antero. Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom.
Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. Web. 20 June
2015.
Haas Dyson, Anne. Writing Superheroes: Contemporary
Childhood, Popular Culture, and Classroom
Literacy. New York: Teachers College Press, 1997.
Print.
Stanton, Brandon. Humans of New York. Tumblr. Web. 19 June
2015.
Turner, Kristen H. Think Your Kids Arent Writing This
Summer? Think Again. Writers Who Care.
Commision on Writing Teacher Education. Web. 18
June 2015.

Reflection Questions
Do you think the use of social literacy is

applicable within your classroom?

Are there any ways you might already be
using social literacy without realizing it?
What problems do you foresee with using
social literacy in the classroom?