Authentic Literacy

Generous amounts of close, purposeful reading, rereading, writing, and talking are the essence of authentic literacy.

I have recently started to pay close attention to the buds beginning blossom around Newberry High. It's spring and though the late freeze might have gotten some of them, others are filling out nicely. There's an interesting metaphor here, because what has truly caught my eye is the blossoming literacy practices around NHS. There are pockets of greatness that I'm starting to pay attention to. Sometimes accountability (the freeze) can get them, but most of the time they are strong enough to endure.

There are several teachers that are experimenting with supplemental texts in their content area classes. The human growth teachers are a great example of this--they have truly taken the concept of literature circles and made them their own. Some of the social studies teachers are beginning to dip their toes and experiment with the possibilities that YA lit can bring into a classroom. English I and II teachers have incorporated the Janet Allen curriculum which uses YA lit to teach the universal literary themes that used to be taught through classics that didn't reach a single student.

This is what gives me hope. We are showing promise. We just have to get it to spread. "Literacy liberates." We have to teach our students the value of reading in order to help them leave their current world behind. Schmoker points out that 40% of those born into the bottom economic fifth stay there as adults. Literacy liberates. It is what our students need to break the cycle.

Of course we can't do this alone and it is easy to use the lack of parental support and lack of time as a crutch. As a reason for not trying as hard as we can. We have to fight against this. We can't let anything stop us from being the very best teacher that we have the ability of being...and then going further. It really is never enough. But the rewards are endless.