The New Basics
Throughout the reading and class discussions, there are two key ideas that I continue to resonant with me. The first is the whole notion of critical literacy as the new basic and the second is the importance and value we as educators place on pre-package literacy programs.

As a special education teacher, there is no shortage of advice from colleagues about what my students really need. The advice is in evidently focused around teaching them the basics, which in many cases involves decoding and answering comprehension questions in a grammatically correct format. In Allen Luck’s video, he repeatedly stated that, although phonic may be necessary in our instructional practices, it is not sufficient if critical literacy is to be our main objective. Because of these ideas, I am in the process of transforming both my pedagogy and my instructional practises. I don’t believe that students with different needs/abilities are incapables of thinking critically. Yes, there is indeed no reason for my students to think critically if all they are doing in class is completing endless pages of sequenced skills activity pages. Instead, they, like all other students who have their own unique learning styles, should be given the same opportunities to question texts and to voice their ideas and perspectives. They need to be exposed to literacy events which are relevant, meaningful and practical to their lives. Just because students with different learning need may not accurately decode every single word on a page doesn’t mean that they are less able to think about and/or connect to the content. As educators we start where the kids are and facilitate their learning in an authentic manner. Special needs students are living in the same world/community as their peers, so why don’t they deserve to have the same learning opportunities as everyone else?

The second idea revolves around the pre-packaged literacy programs. I guess with the overwhelming curriculum expectations and our ultimate goal to create and foster critically literate students, teachers are searching for a program that encompasses all these objectives. Publishers, who are ultimately in it for the money, jump on this frustration and create programs that seem to address and satisfy all of our concerns. I think as educators, we need to really question the purpose of these programs and how the publishers can truly justify their claim that by purchasing the program, we are meeting every child’s need. As a school in a low socio-economic community, a few years ago the ministry granted us a lump sum of money to spend on our literacy initiatives to improve student achievement. We decided that purchasing a literacy program was a good start. I recall submitting and discussing this with a ministry representative who said that purchasing the materials would be fine as long as we didn’t give the teachers the teaching manuals. I have to admit that I was a little taken aback by that comment and really didn’t comprehend her position or motives. Now, looking back, I realize precisely why she was adamant about her position on the manuals. If our ultimate goal is to facilitate critical thinking, by starting at the point our kids are at, how can a manual be our guiding principle practice? We need to take our lead from the students we have, students who, as we know, are not all at the same place as every other children with different discourse and social practices. We want our students to be critical thinkers, but how each one gets there is dependent on the various paths we take them on. I think the question that we’ve been asked throughout the course, “How would you make this text a critical literacy piece?” is a fantastic way to initiate our programming. Allan Luke suggests that we need a repertoire of teaching practices and assessment. A balanced approach will enable us as educators to provide the necessary literacy events for our students to become confident and critical thinkers. No group of people (writers, publishers) sitting in a conference room can know what the students in our classrooms need better than us. We need to trust ourselves and our students that, given a nurturing learning environment and authentic learning opportunities, our students will rise to their critical literacy potentials.

Teaching to Learn

After having reflected upon the articles, the ideas that seem to resonate with me and linger in my mind relate to the questions, “What does learning really look like?” and “What is our role as educators?”
It is undeniable and even regrettable, that most, if not all, of a teacher’s program and board initiatives, are driven primarily by provincial test scores, cognitive ability tests and mandated ministry curriculum. The vast number of curriculum expectations forces teachers, as well as students, to get caught up in what seems to be a tidal wave where both experience an overwhelming sense of drowning, of being swept away by the tide. In this state of frustration and urgency to cover the curriculum and to improve test scores, some teachers may feel compelled to resort to the “teaching by telling” instructional method. They feel that this model may be the only and most efficient way in which the expectations can be covered in the least amount of time thus enabling them to plough through the curriculum in a timely manner. There is no time to allow students to figure things out, to explore various possibilities or to engage in meaningful dialogue. We teach, students listen, information is stored and then given back on demand. Neither teachers nor students can be content in this type of situation where learning is rather questionable. Consequently, teachers are often in search of the “holy grail”, a magical all encompassing one size fits all program that can address all curriculum expectations, as well as all students’ needs, in a convenient “fix-it” package. I recall the times in my own elementary school years when my older brother would help me with my homework. I recall getting frustrated and even angry when he showed me how to do something differently than my teacher. For me, as I’m sure for many others, it was more important to do it the teacher’s way and not understand than to explore a different possibility and potentially understand. The teacher’s way was always better. What a sense of power we felt the teachers had over us. In Lindor’s article, he states, “But he believed wrongly that his learning was the business of carrying out the teacher’s sequence. He believed that he was doing his thing (reading) badly because he was not doing her thing (phonics) well.” (Lindor, 604)
If we as educators believe our primary goal is to foster and promote critical thinking students, people who are encouraged to actively participate, question, challenge, influence and appreciate different perspectives in society, then, we must begin to transform our ideas about what we teach, how we teach and how we measure it. We need to re-evaluate what learning looks like in our classrooms and how we as educators go about creating an environment that facilitates critical thinking skills. Lindor reiterates this when he says, “We must begin to distinguish between the time honoured instructional activities of teachers and the timeless sense-making process of children.” (Lindor, 605)
Therefore, what in essence, should learning look like and when and where does learning count? We need to trust that students are always learning even when they may not be demonstrating it to us in our desired and familiar ways. Learning is about questioning old answers and coming up with new personally relevant ideas. Wenger states, “Learning is something we can assume-whether we see it or not, whether we like the way it goes or not, whether what we are learning is to repeat the past or to shake it off. Even failing to learn what is expected in a given situation usually involves learning something else instead.” (Wenger, 8)
What, then, is our role as educators? Traditionally and even to today, “We wish to cause learning, to take charge of it, direct it, accelerate it, demand it or even simply stop getting in the way of it.” (Wenger, 9) As teachers we need to think about relinquishing some of our control, power and authority over the curriculum and our classroom over to the students. We should begin with the child, not necessarily the ministry documents. We need to acknowledge, accept, appreciate, validate and empathize with the social practices and discourses our students come to us with. By providing meaningful and authentic learning experiences and encouraging students to make those personal connections, we are enhancing their learning. By providing a safe and nurturing environment, students are enable and empowered to question, challenge and reflect on their ideas and perspectives as well as those of others. We need to become facilitators, where students realize that we too are learning alongside them. This allows them to understand that teachers don’t have all the answers and that the students have the capabilities to transform their teacher’s perspectives and ideas. It’s essential that students see us figuring things out, at times successfully and at others unsuccessfully, as we move along our own learning journey. Fundamentally, we should support our students and ensure that what they are learning in the classroom is relevant and connected to their world outside the confines of our classrooms.
Transforming our ideas about what learning looks likes and what role we as educators play in that learning is undoubtedly a challenging task that requires our persistence, determination and dedication. However, it is and endeavour that has the possibility to lead to tremendous opportunities, for us and for our students.

Where I’m From

I’m from phonic charts
“Pig ---- P”
“Wheel ---- Wh”
“Fan ---- F”

I’m from basal readers
Such as Mr. Whiskers and Saturday Magic
And the endless accompanying comprehension questions.

I’m from spelling books
With units on making plurals
And underlining short and long vowels sounds.

I’m from the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys novel collection
That I read for pleasure just before bed.

I’m from reading Shakespeare
And then reading the Cole’s Notes versions
In order to understand what was going on in the text.

I’m from "listen to the teachers, they know best,

and they'll help you find your place."

Teaching School Discourse for Empowering Literacy

After having read and reflected on Finn’s Literacy with an Attitude, the major theme that resonated for me throughout the text was the necessity to explicitly teach school discourse so that every child, regardless of class or primary discourse, receives empowering literacy.
While reading Finn’s text, I often found myself connecting to many of the characters and situations within the text. I saw myself both, as the middle class student and as the educator teaching working class students. Many emotions arose within me while reading, two of which were anger and embarrassment. I found myself angry and resented the fact that my early education was founded on functional literacy because of my social class while other kids in the same city were receiving liberating and empowering literacy essentially because of where they lived and who their parents were. Finn revealed the fact that not everyone receives the same type of education. I thought my school experience was the norm and that my educational experiences mimicked those of others in the city. I know now, that was not the case. Now, as an educator in a low socio-economic community, I find myself, at times, subconsciously repeating the same mentality as those of the “working class” teachers in various studies. As a special education teacher, at times, I give my students what I think they can handle and the “basics” that they need to function in life. Obviously, Finn has turned the spotlight on me and now I am embarrassed and a little ashamed of the fact that I think and act in this fashion. However, in Finn’s text it states, “Savage inequalities in schools are not the result of a conscious conspiracy to oppress the working class. These inequalities are the result of system-wide, subtle mechanisms of which most of us are completely unaware and that can only be addressed through organized collective efforts.” (Finn, 190)

From all the readings, I have realized the importance of exposing our students to critical literacy and assisting them in becoming critical thinkers so that they can have access and success, both at school and in the future. How do we ensure that we are providing our students with the empowering literacy Finn talks about? We, as educators need to start our teaching from where the children are. Every child comes to school with a primary discourse. This unique and diverse discourse represents each child’s personal history and biography. What is suggested in many of the course texts is that we must sincerely validate each child’s primary discourse (which in and of itself may reflect some type of critical thinking) and use it as a foundational building block. By doing this, we are allowing our children to create knowledge from their experiences and their own lives which is essential and personally relevant to them. Validating and honouring children’s primary discourses also leads to a sense of reciprocal trust. Students trust that their teachers truly care about them as individuals and about their success and teachers trust that the students have the potential to succeed. As teachers, “We are here to consider how we can best serve the whole child in each of our students.” (Finn, 24)

However, let’s not deny the fact that school discourse and powerful literacy, unequivocally facilitates and fosters success in the world. Finn states that if primary discourse is in direct conflict to school discourse, this is when we encounter problems in our educational system. Children who don’t and/or can’t relate to the curriculum because they do not see its significance or purpose in their own lives or find it challenging to make personal connections to it, become disengaged and frustrated with school. Therefore, once we validate and incorporate a child’s primary discourse in our teaching styles, we must then explicitly teach school discourse. We have to engage our students through progressive education and we have to truly understand that traditional methods no longer suffice and cannot lead to critical literacy. Through progressive education, we are encouraging and enabling our students to become critical thinkers. The curriculum may already be set and we may not have any say in the content, however, the manner in which it is presented should be open for discussion, interpretation and it should directly reflect the diverse needs of our students. Also, we can no longer assume that powerful literacy is going to occur naturally. “Teachers teach performative and functional literacy and think it leads naturally to powerful literacy. They are baffled and blame their students when it does not.” (Finn, 127) When we explicitly teach school discourse and powerful literacy, we are giving all students an equal opportunity at an empowering and liberating education. What this means to me is that we, as educators, need to, at times, relinquish some of our power and agenda over to the students. This will help ensure that there is more collaboration between teachers and students which consequently will allow the students to realize that they have a powerful voice in their own education.

Fighting any injustice or inequality is not a one-person endeavour. For powerful literacy to occur, everyone associated with or has a vested interest in the education of our children, needs to work collectively with a similar mindset. It is very difficult to foster and promote empowering literacy when other members of a school community are promoting and teaching “old basics literacy”. As a regular classroom teacher, it was always interesting that early in September I could determine which teacher taught the students the previous year. Within our school board, as with many others, we are focusing on Teaching Learning Critical Pathways (TLCP). All teachers have been in-serviced regarding the process and the potential benefits that accompany such a process. Yes, indeed there are limitations and pitfalls to every new strategy or program that is presented as a “cure” to the literacy problem. However, how disheartening and even, shall I say narrow-minded, it is when we as educators outright refuse to implement any part of the process. Comments like, “That may work in such and such a neighbourhood but it’ll never work with our kids.” and “Let’s just teach these kids the basics and forget about all the frill.” truly don’t reflect an empowering and liberating education. Do we have the right to give up on our students and lower our expectations of them because of their social class and/or their learning disabilities? Not to see any potential or advantage that might arise from a new perspective reflects the idea that, “To be certain is to deny that there is space beyond the circle of our own knowledge.” (MacGinitie, 678) By thinking in this manner, we are continuing to create functionally literate student who may become disengaged in school and who don’t see the value or necessity for higher level thinking skills. How fair is this to our working class and/or low socio-economic students who may already be at a disadvantage? With this “old basics” mindset, are we not just perpetuating the same cycle and “self-defeating” attitude in our students and then becoming frustrated and anger when the same attitude resurfaces in the offsprings of our former students?

From my personal experiences, I have come to realize what a challenging yet essential life skill critical thinking is. Therefore, if I, as a fairly educated adult, am struggling with the process of thinking critically, how much more difficult is it for our children? Shouldn’t we as professionals be the voice for our students if their parents are not able to fight the injustice or don’t even know that it exists? “Often, however, this anger if not driven in on ourselves, or converted to despair, can become an illuminating force: the terms of the struggles for equal opportunity ……” (Rich, 66-67)

If we accept and understand the notion that texts and the world are never neutral and that we approach every situation from our own position, we also have to understand that language is our most powerful way of expressing our ideas to the rest of the world. “Proper literacy should extend a man’s control over his life and environment and allow him to continue to deal rationally and in words with his life and decisions.” (O’Neil, 77) If this is what we want every student to aspire to, shouldn’t we, as educators, do everything in our power to help our children receive the empowering and liberating education they all rightfully deserve? Allow me to conclude with a quote that will forever remain with me and that continually encourages me to put my students first, “I’d like to hope that a child’s expectations are not determined on the day he or she enters kindergarten, but it would be foolish to entertain such a hope unless there are some drastic changes made.” (Finn, 25)

Reflection

While reading and reflecting upon the articles, some common threads seem to be interwoven throughout them. For me those common threads were the importance of being a critical thinker and the importance of validating people’s unique and diverse discourses. Both of these have the potential to lead to enhanced learning opportunities.
Throughout my personal school experiences, the measure of success was based on the ability to answer questions correctly, to acquire an enormous amount of information and the ability to regurgitate the information using the same paper-pencil assessment methods. Based on these measures, I was quite successful at school and I happily coasted along my educational journey. However, what eventually became interesting and extremely worrisome to me was the realization that, after having completed an exam, be it at high school or at university, the information that I had studied for endless hours, seemed to have disappeared from my memory. I often found myself wondering what would happen if I had to re-write the exam a couple of days later. Was my education real, authentic and meaningful? Obviously it was not. I indeed stored up a wealth of information but honestly speaking, I rarely saw how the information was relevant in my life. I often remember leaving my high school classes asking, “When am I going to use that information?” There was never a real need for me to be a critical thinker or to make any connections to the information presented because the curriculum as well as the teachers never demanded that of me.
However, through my professional teacher training and reading the selected articles, I have come to understand the value and necessity of being a critical thinker. Thinking critically is a challenging skill that requires being curious and open to an endless number of possibilities. Thinking critically means bringing our own discourse to new and different learning situations. Because the world is never neutral, acknowledging our own unique perspectives and biases, as well as those of others, enables us to develop a deeper understanding of the world and how we fit into it. While engaging in the readings, I am now trying, not always successfully, to reflect on them in order to make them meaningful in my life.
From my perspective, engaging in dialogue and interacting with others, has greatly benefited me in developing and enhancing my critical literacy skills. When conversing with others, we are making ourselves vulnerable by allowing others to look into our thoughts. I am learning how and why people interpret texts and/or the world differently than me. This interactive dialogue enables me to continually expand my learning, to re-evaluate my own ideas and to appreciate other points of view. My questioning skills are also developing because, through critical thinking, I’m asking more thought-provoking and open-ended questions that lead to more in depth and meaningful discussions.
Now that I’m beginning to see myself more as a critical thinker and to value all that is associated with it, I realize that I have a responsibility to share this skill with my students. As educators we are asked to take into consideration each student’s unique discourse and empower them to expand and deepen their understanding of the world. We are challenged to create a learning environment that fosters and nurtures diverse thinking and that validates differing perspectives. This atmosphere should be one of trust where students and teachers feel confident and secure about opening themselves up and sharing their ideas. An atmosphere based on mutual trust and respect, for people and their ideas, also facilitates interaction and collaboration.
At this point one has to ask, “How am I as a teacher, able to effectively program for each individual child’s unique discourse?” Indeed it is a difficult and challenging task to engage diverse students in critical literacy. It requires a great deal of time, effort and training and it must be a joint effort, both on the part of educators and students. Both must have a vested interest in attaining the goal. The students need to take initiative for their learning and become part of the decision making process. Educators have to invest the time and effort to incorporate meaningful and relevant learning opportunities so that students can make those essential connections. Educators also need the freedom to adjust and readjust their teaching based on the students they have in front of them. By doing all this, we are facilitating authentic learning so that our students don’t leave our classrooms asking, “What’s the point of that information?”