Stumbling from Point A to Point B

"How?"

That is the biggest question on my mind as I begin to think about implementing technology and ensuring student engagement in my future classroom.

Tracy J. Tarasiuk describes the dichotomy between the mindset of traditional literacy and contemporary literacy: "In [the traditional literacy mindset], scarcity and production of goods is valued.  This is the mind-set that exists in most large institutions, such as schools. The second mind-set (contemporary literacy) conceives of literacy . . . involving ICT. Participation and dispersal of goods and information is valued. This is the mind-set of our students."

So, students today are "plugged in."  They are more often to be found browsing the web than flipping pages in a book.  Yet, schools continue to teach a stagnant literacy that undervalues the technological literacy that students master.  Of course, this is ridiculous!  Literacy is evolving and expanding; schools are not.

This all makes sense, and I embrace the necessary changes whole-heartedly.  (The "changes" being the ends of the contemporary literacy mentioned above.)

However, as Tarasiuk so eloquently stated, "What we are less certain about, and certainly less knowledgeable about, is the particular focus that facilitative support should take."

In this lies my unrest.  I can define this contemporary literacy.  I can explain its benefits - referencing studies, models, and research in different scholarly articles.  I can argue a case for how it is better able to engage students than previous methods.  I have the theory down, but what does it look like in practice?

This ties back into a discussion we had much earlier in the semester.  We recognized that our classrooms need to be different than the English classrooms we experienced.  However, we expressed worries about returning to the old methods that we were taught with because that is what we knew.  I do not know what an English classroom based around a contemporary literacy looks like because I have never experienced it.

I like the Wiki pages and book trailers that Tarasiuk implemented.  I think the power of websites and other online resources is that they allow the students to create something, and through this creation to express their ideas.  It gives student voices a lot of power, particularly on a resource that connects to the entire world.

I gather that a lot of my unrest about working with a contemporary literacy will fade when I actually interact with it and experience it within my classroom.  This is humbling again because it reminds me that teaching will not be easy.  In order to be an effective teacher, I will not be able to slip into a groove.  Each year, I will need to be stretching myself to engage a new and unique group of minds that are a part of an ever-evolving literacy.  It is a beautiful and exciting future, and I look forward to it (despite the inevitable challenges).

Another challenge will be reconnecting students to literature.  Mark Bauerlein details the literacy gender gap; his research suggests that male students are less likely to read than female students.  One reason that he expounds is that schools push texts that disengage male students.  We have discussed this in class before, too, determining that it is most important to teach texts that will engage students.  Again, this is a challenge that will require me to move away from the traditional canons; I will teach students, not books.

I feel as though I reach the same conclusion with the completion of each post.  Teaching English is no cake walk because it is a profession that is always evolving to meet the ever changing needs of each new generation.