Teachers Partly the Current Literacy Problem?

The following is a brief commentary on an article/blog by Allan Luke of the University of Queensland and Peter Freebody of Griffith University that can be viewed at: http://www.readingonline.org/research/lukefreebody.html


A principle idea that the article transmits is that literacy is in a state of constant change. A solid, immovable definition of literacy is not possible. Owing to the fact that literacy is partially based on multiple faucets of society - politics, culture, etc., and that these faucets are themselves in a continual flux, literacy transforms as they transform.

As a teacher, there is a disconnect between the literacy that I was taught as a student and the literacy that I attempt to teach my students. When I was in their shoes, my teachers instructed that the textbooks were an absolute authority in several ways. The books' facts were the only pieces of information that were important. Being able to competently read the book and grasp its concepts signified that you, too, were competent as a student. The accompanying assignments were book-based and the sole assessments. This all summed to a unilateral front that informed students their ideas, experiences and commentary held little value in comparison with what McGraw-Hill or Prentice Hall had already decided was worthwhile.


In the present, I have now assumed the role of the educator and am instructing (read: crudely attempting) my students in exactly the opposite way from which I was educated. Such a situation inherently begets disconnects between what I used to think was correct and what I've now learned should be considered acceptable. The current, loose definition of literacy permits students to have a voice via incorporation of their lives into the subject matter. In one sense, I believe that most of the difficulties that I face as an instructor practicing critical literacy methods stems from not having been educated in this manner. My gross attempts to fuse students' ideas and experiences with concepts in order to make the learning relevant has proved marginally successful; still, it is easy to see that students do make more connections to their learning when it is about something which they have prior knowledge.