New Definitions
What does it mean to be literate? Being literate is being able to read. Right? Everybody knows that. That is certainly the simple definition that I would have held to when I started the MAT program at Clemson University. The first course that I took in the program is entitled “Fundamentals of Literacy.” I did not know exactly what to expect going into it, but I anticipated lots of theory about learning to read and why some students read better than others. I never would have guessed the actual definition of literacy would be challenged.
Prior to this class, I had never delved deeply enough into thinking about the definition of literacy for it to go beyond the ability to read and understand printed text. If one is able to read text, he is literate. But what does it mean to be able to read? Does it simply mean understanding the text? If that is so, then what defines text?
We began this course by reading Nick Sousanis’s Unflattening. That was really the first step in opening my thinking about literacy. Literacy began to take a new form in my mind. It is more than just reading and understanding printed text; it is observing, analyzing, understanding, and building upon information in any context within a culture. For example, while I was reading Unflattening, I realized that not only was I being literate in text, but also in observation of the graphics. The pictures juxtaposed with the text opened a new perspective that I may not have seen if the words had been isolated.
Therefore, to ask whether or not someone literate is really a much more complex question than I would have imagined it to be five months ago. This newfound knowledge is essential as I prepare to enter the classroom. Each student that comes into my classroom brings a wide range of literacies with him, and it is my duty as an educator to create a space that welcomes all of the cultural capital that comes with those literacies. One of the most important ways that I can do this is by developing a culture in my classroom that welcomes the voice of every student. As a social studies teacher, one of my ultimate goals is to instill within students the belief that their voices matter and that they have the ability to change the world. That begins in my classroom as I develop lessons not only based on what the students need to know but also what they already bring to the table via their personalized literacies.
Just as my definition of literacy has expanded, so has my definition of what it truly means to be an educator. Teaching is not just about preparing lessons, giving lectures, and doing my best to help students pass each assessment. It is about knowing each student; understanding what each student brings to the classroom; realizing that every student is literate in some capacity; and using that literacy to develop them into citizens that are able to and desire to contribute to society.
