Literacy in ELA
In my previous post, literate was defined as having knowledge and competence. So based on this definition we can be considered literate across various disciplines and subjects. On a basic level, I am literate about history, math, and science, but I shine in matters of ELA. Smagorinsky and Flanagan (2014) suggest that ELA “was built on a foundation of three strands: reading (mostly of literature), writing, and language/grammar” (p. 1), which are traditionally what the discipline was geared toward, so while I am literate on traditional ELA standards I, too, am literate on the ways in which ELA can be constructed and examined in today’s society. For this reason, I will focus on literacy within ELA.
The three traditional strands of ELA cross all disciplines. One couldn’t possibly solve for “x” if they were unable to read the word problem associated with the equation. One couldn’t refute claims that the Civil War was not about slavery if they were unable to write an essay or speech. And surely one couldn’t explain the process of photosynthesis without language. It makes sense that without the basics of ELA, students would not be able to succeed in the other subject areas. So now that we understand the importance of ELA literacy across disciplines, let’s examine what it means to be ELA literate.
As ELA texts have changed so has what it means to be ELA literate. Years ago ELA texts were solely comprised of written text (fiction, nonfiction, speeches, and poems). Today we can add art, music, film, clothing, etc. to that list. All of these are texts can be read and examined. As a rhetorician I make meaning out of everything. So, while a piece of art may not include actual words, there is a message that can be inferred. In order to understand a song, I must be able to read the lyrics before I can critically analyze their meaning. Zehner (2009) asserts, “All teachers, regardless of content area, can use literacy strategies to encourage development of powerful thinking” (p. 40).
Today’s “literature”, though not as sophisticated as the works of Shakespeare, Hawthorne, and Homer are important and require a different ELA skill. We are bombarded by mediated literature that requires us to read, write, and speak in a way that is acceptable for that medium. As a ELA teacher it would be crazy to ignore the importance of teaching students how to read in short bursts when Twitter only provides 140 characters. Hawthorne is cool and all, but can his works be applied to understanding social media or even IKEA instructions? Smagorinsky and Flanagan (2014) state, “Now that many students… have the ability to compose digital texts, definitions of what makes a person literate in society have changed” (p. 2). And I couldn’t agree more.
My goal as a 21st century ELA teacher is to make sure that my students are literate with regard to reading, writing, and speaking across various mediums. In the Smagorinsky and Flanagan (2014) ELA chapter we are introduced to Blake Hartsman and his tenth grade students. Hartsman struggles to teach his students while dealing with the stress of administration, community activists, school board presidents, and other school and community members. Hartsman knows that he has to create a curriculum that teaches the material on the standardized test in addition to improving student grades while catering to his Native students writing concerns. In order to pacify the needs of everyone Hartsman creates a curriculum that examines structure, elements, and includes language and writing integration. During the poetry unit Hartsman’s foci include: understanding word connotations, and image, metaphor, and symbol interpretation. This six-week unit will teach the necessary content, provide students with an understanding of proper language usage, sentence structure, whole text, the writing process, and standardize test performance. Though only using written text (i.e., poetry) Hartsman is requiring the students to acknowledge imagery, symbolism, and interpretation and inference. These are skills that are necessary when examining traditional and modern texts.
Here’s an application of Hartman’s six-week curriculum used to explore the theme of race and racism. As a teacher I recognize that my students have differing levels of literacy, so it would be problematic to start this unit analyzing the 1712 Willie Lynch Letter, which is the end goal of the unit. This unit would start by examining art as a text including Patrick Campbell’s New Age of Slavery. The goal here is to teach critical thinking, inference, purpose, etc.
From there students would analyze Jay-Z’s The Story of OJ video. This video like the painting serves multiple purposes including: examination of lyrics, imagery, metaphor, and other literary devices.
From here I would begin incorporating actual text, but not traditional text. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin’s March is a graphic novel series that examines the fight for civil rights. Graphic novels are more accessible (if you are literate in graphic novels and comics) than traditional books and serves multiple purposes. Students would be able to survey written text alongside visual text and use the skills they learned from visual texts to make sense of written text.
The final teaching of the unit would examine The Willie Lynch Letter, which serves as an informational text.
Using various mediums will address the many literacies my students possess. Do I want my students to be able to master reading? Certainly! But if when presented with traditional literature a student utilizes skills associated with visual or another medium, then I am happy. For all intents and purposes that student is literate. So, when it comes to what it means to be literate in ELA I find solace in Scribner and Cole’s definition whereby, “Literacy is not simply knowing how to read and write a particular script but applying knowledge for specific purposes in specific contexts of use” (as cited in Smagorinsky and Flanagan, 2014, xiii).
References:
Carter, S. (2017, July 05). JAY-Z — The story of O.J. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM7lw0Ovzq0
Smagorinsky, P. (2014). Teaching dilemmas and solutions in content-area literacy, grades 6–12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, a SAGE Company.
Zehner, A. (2009). Not my enemy, but my friend: How literacy serves content-area goals. In S. Plaut (Ed.), The right to literacy in secondary schools: Creating a culture of thinking(pp. 36–48). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
