Weekly Reflection #1- Mary McIntyre

What counts as literacy?

Before I began this Literacy Specialist program, I would have defined literacy as the ability to

read. That was simply all it meant to me. Through all of our readings up to this point, and much

self-reflection, my definition has definitely changed. I realized that (1*)the word literacy is not

glued just to reading, nor is it something as simple as an ability that everyone eventually

develops. I believe that being literate is an ever-changing continuum, and is individually

defined. The best way I can describe literacy is the process one uses to make meaning, and to

communicate meaning in various forms throughout ones life.

Certainly a student can be word/reading literate, but couldnt they also be emotionally

literate? Is it possible to be musically literate? Financially literate? I believe so. Just as there

are different areas of literacy, there are different degrees of meaning-making; each as

individual as the person who is doing the making. In order to acknowledge literacy as the

(2*)flexible, undefinable thing that it is, we must recognize that literacy learning and mastery

occurs across a spectrum-and it is our duty to teach every student along that spectrum. In this

day and age of testing and accountability, this is a difficult thing to accept.

One thing I really enjoyed from this weeks readings is the focus on (3*)social justice,

and our duty as educators to ensure that our students do not have barriers keeping them from

successful learning. Its so easy for us to focus on the pedagogy, or focus on the testing, and we

lost sight of the fact that (4*)we do not all approach these lessons or these tests from the same

background. When I was an undergrad without any teaching experience, I did not fully
understand this. After a few years in the classroom, and especially now as a parent, (5*)I can see

much more clearly the divisions in our society that hold some students back, no matter how hard

they try, or how motivated they may be. If we can view these differences as beneficial, and

harness them to use for the benefit of the whole, (6*)we can affect changes one classroom at a

time.

Something I would like to study more is the difference in acquisition and learning, as

discussed in the Gee reading. Thinking back to my own childhood, there were many things that I

know how to do now, that I was never explicitly taught: how to swim, how to sit quietly at the

dinner table, how to make an awesome sandwich. I acquired those things through watching my

big sister, my parents, or people around me. There could have been a formal lesson on them, but

it wasnt necessary for me to pick them up. Likewise, there were many formal lessons on other

things that I had to study and practice in order to master: violin lessons, how to tie my shoes,

how to back cookies. I may have acquired those things eventually, but it was specifically shown

to me by someone else, and I learned them because I wanted to. (will have to discuss motivation

at a later time!) I hope to pay more attention to what my students know through acquisition, and

what they know through acquisition.

I believe that the readings and classes this week have been a great start, and have led me

to reflect upon my beliefs and practices in the classroom. I am looking forward to next week!