Defining "Literacy"

My current working definition of literacy is that it "is the ability to read, write, comprehend, and think critically about texts in a variety of formats. It allows one to explore the world and new ideas in personal, academic, and professional contexts." Since TE 301 focused a great deal on literacy and its components, my defintion was more influenced by that course more than our last class session and its corresponding readings. My ideal literacy environment in my classroom would consist of a well-organized, labeled by difficulty level, library full of a variety of books, along with a special area of the room designated for reading that has pillows/beanbags, lamps and is overall cozy. Students would engage in free-writing in their journals, structured writing with meaningful prompts, and frequent poetry writing in their poetry notebooks. We would discuss the mechanics used, such as punctuation, capitalization, etc. As a class we would read stories and engage in critical discussions that allow them to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences with each other. I wholeheartedly believe that young students are capable of such discussions, as demonstrated in Leland's article "Out of the Box: Critical Literacy in a First-Grade Classroom," if they are given the opportunity to do so. I would explicity teach and model reading strategies, both regarding phonics and comprehension. Reading and writing and speaking would be incoporated into all other subject areas, not just skills used during a scheduled time of the day.

My current classroom is far from my ideal literacy environment. Although my students write a Morning Message daily, much of it is copied from the teacher's paper. When they are supposed to generate their own part of the message, they are unsure what to write about or how to do it. They lack strategies for sounding out words and spelling. Also, many of them need more practice with how to correctly form letters and use mechanics. During independent reading, many of them read books that are not at their appropriate reading level and end up goofing around and distracting their peers. I rarely see my teacher read to my students, which is something I would do on a daily basis in my own classroom. To them, reading is a chore and not rewarding experience, which makes me quite sad :(