Co - Opting Their Literacies

I think I'm getting it.

Or possibly not getting it.....?

I've found a number of interesting, challenging sessions here at NCTE in Nashville. I've had the privilege of seeing Scott McCloud yesterday morning speak about graphic novels, their relationships to comics, and a connection to things such as calligraphy and Egyptian pictographs. I also listened to M.T. Anderson, the author of Feed, among other things, talking about how an author constructs a world that is immersive, crafted, and well - researched.

But a few sessions I've been in have been disappointing. Sessions like "Using Hip - Hop to Teach "X." In other sessions I've heard teachers enthused and gushing about weblogs in their classrooms. My ears perk up and my level of hope rises, only to hear them go on to discuss how their weblogs are locked down and closed off from the general public. When they show screen shots of their work, we see a list of teacher generated prompts with kids simply responding to them.

Sessions like these make me think two main things. First of all, we still don't get it. We are still trying to appropriate the literacy practices of youth culture, and co-opt them for our own means. We use hip - hop to teach grammar. We use blogs to nitpick the ultra fine points of novels and to teach grammar. We don't honour the literacy practices of the people in our classrooms for what they are. To many teachers, they are not legitimate on their own. It is OK to sue blogs, as long as we are tearing apart their writing while we use them. We will teach them how to shoot video, but only for a "feel - good" unit, a reward if they work hard on the other stuff we want them to do. New literacy practices become the sugar which makes the medicine go down easier.

Second, we still crave control. We are willing to give kids the experience of blogging, if they are responding to a list of prompts. We are willing to use video if the videos are a series of X number of shots, each lasting no longer then X number of seconds. We definitely do need to teach structure and use frameworks with kids; they need a frame and a form to hang their thinking on, but to me, it smacks of assignments not changing. Are we still doing old things in new ways? 5 paragraph essays in video form?

Today is my final day in Nashville. Tomorrow will be a very, very long day as I leave the hotel around 6 A.M., fly to Minneapolis, Winnipeg, and then drive North for seven hours to return to Snow Lake. It has been an interesting trip, and a worth while trip. I have met a lot of interesting people, renewed some relationships from last year's NCTE conference in Pittsburgh, and made new contacts.

I'm glad to see more sessions on topics like graphic novels, video editing, and blogging, but now we need to move along our pedagogy to match the tools we have access to.

technorati tags:learning, literacy, NCTE, Nashville, change

Comments

[Stephen Downes]

Right. I see this over and over at conferences, in papers, even on blog posts. But people don't want to hear that they're not talking about blogging correctly. It's Blogging, and they're on a mission.

[Michelle Krill]

When I read your comment about blogging in response to teacher prompts, I see that's just what we're doing in our district. But, I have to say that as the technology coordinator for four elementary schools I'm using it as a way to get teachers to buy in to something new. They are always commenting on the grammar (or lack of it) that the fourth graders are using in their blogs. My comments back are to remind the students to proofread posts and comments for clearness before submitting.
Hopefully, I'm paving the way for these "new" technologies to create some type of change to our elementary learning environment.

[Clarence Fisher]

I am a big believer in the philosophy of "you've gotta start somewhere." My only hope is that schools don't "get stuck" on this level. It is a good beginning, and a place to get your feet wet, but ultimately, I would hope that peopl move beyond this work into something else.

[Darren Kuropatwa]

I've seen many a blog start with the teacher posting something for students to respond to and collecting their replies in the comments; essentially using the blog as a discussion board (a technology they may be more familiar with). If they stick with it, the practice grows. If it takes root they evolve the pedagogy and use it more flexibly in a variety of ways, not the least of which is giving the students control and voice.

Talking about "correct blogging" doesn't draw new teachers in, it is exclusionary. Educational blogging is still in its infancy. The "discussion forum" uses we see are likely just first steps on a continuum. In the same way we encourage our students when they begin to learn ("Way to go! You've got that bit down. Now let's see what else we can do with this ...") we should be just as encouraging with our colleagues.