Teacher Responsiveness in an Ever-Changing Classroom
Throughout this semester, we have, as a class looked into and investigated several questions. Those questions all were concerning literacy. Early on in the semester I learned that literacy meant a lot more than the standard being able to read and write. I found this realization both shocking yet breathtaking. It made me do a lot of self-reflection in regards to how I would account for students’ newly defined literacy in my classroom. It is going to require me to become more responsive to my students and see them each more differently.
To become a responsive teacher, I am going to have to reamin open-minded about the different ways students can show their knowledge through different forms. As stated earlier, literacy is much more than the ability to read and write. I have challenged several individuals to try and communicate through text messaging only using emojis. If you can get the reader to understand what you are saying and they can respond to your text only using emojis and you can understand what they are saying then both would be considered literate in that form of communication. There may be students that can draw, film, build, create, etc. and each one of those students is literate in their own way. It is my responsibility as their teacher to respond to this by developing lessons and tasks that allow for each student to express their wealth of knowledge in the best way that they can.
Lesson planning is crucial in being a responsive teacher to student literacy. I have seen how it is important to think about what is the learning goal first and not to start with the task. For a teacher when the goal is the focus of teaching then the task becomes not only more effective but easier to plan. In order to make this backwards thinking of planning effective, a responsive teacher has to be aware and take into consideration the cornicopia of literacies in their classroom. When the learning goal is established, a responsive teacher should design tasks around each individual literacy that is present in the class so that when the time comes for assessment then each student has an equal opportunity to display their knowledge.
Being a responsive teacher is important to me because I want to make sure that each student is recognized and able to contribute to the class. Each student may have different literacies but that, in no way, means that they are any less smart. To be a responsive teacher that is effective, I must be open-minded and able to readily identify the many different ways that my students are literate. To ensure that my students are gaining knowledge and learning I must clearly identify the learning goals. Once I have my goals established, then as a resposive teacher, I must create tasks where students that have different literacies can participate and display their understanding and knowledge.
