My understanding
of literacy has evolved from my work and from the literacy education courses I
have taken over the past years. Before
beginning my TL diploma, my definition of literacy would probably have
consisted of the ‘ability to read and write’.
I understand that the world is continually gaining new insights into how
language is acquired, however, I believe that many would share in my previous
definition. Having children, I have the
opportunity to learn how their literacy acquisition is taking place and can
compare this to how it happened for me.
I have the responsibility as a teacher librarian of capitalizing on the
many forms that literacy takes to provide opportunities that will grab my
students.
I had an interesting conversation with my mother, and she filled me in
on some details of my childhood experience with literacy. Reading was introduced to me by my her. She would read picture books daily throughout
our young lives and novels up into our teenage years. When I was a young student in grade one I
could not read and I remember feeling badly that other children could. We did not have home reading programs where
books come home from the classroom to practice, as my son has today in grade 1,
or the noisy reading, that my daughter in Kindergarten has, where family
members are welcomed into the classroom twice weekly to share in the joy of
reading to each other.
My mother, having been a teacher, knew it was important to instil a love
of reading and language into us and so she came up with her own reading program
for us. We read a number of books and
she questioned us about them. When we
had reached a goal, we were rewarded with a trip to China Town to pick out a
special trinket. Once I bought Chinese
slippers and another, a fancy set of chopsticks. In addition to reading, my mother sang
nursery songs with us in the car which I believe contributed to my oral literacy
development. She told me that I won a
prize in preschool for knowing the most nursery rhymes. She believed in a home without television, and
so we did other things instead.
Apparently one of my teachers made a guess that
I didn’t watch TV because she found that kids who did, were not nearly as
creative. I do remember being addicted
to the young adult romance mystery series Sweet Valley High as a younger person
around the age of 12.
I was introduced to
Data Processing as a high school student, a course that taught basic coding
functions to run various computer reports.
Keyboarding and Typing were also classes offered in the early 90’s that
I remember friends taking, but I didn’t really have any experience with
computers until years later. It wasn’t
until I started college that I really began to work hard at my writing craft
through the assignments that teachers gave.
I struggled a lot with this and was placed in a pre-college level
preparatory English class to help me learn the basics of essay writing.
It was around the same
time in 1998 that I received a Hotmail account that I used to correspond with
family and friends during an extensive trip through Southeast Asia. I believe this also contributed to my writing
skills and digital literacy. Not much of
my reading or writing was online at this point.
The only thing I used computers for was for emailing and writing
papers. I developed a new found love for
reading at this time with all the novels I read over the 5 months I was
away. I think the experience of going on
this trip really helped me to establish a love for reading historical fiction
because I loved to read and learn about other peoples’ lives and
perspectives. One book that has always
stuck with me, I read while on that trip in Nepal. A Fine
Balance by Rohinton Mistry, offered the bitter sweet realities of four people
from India who all experienced life differently due to the caste social system. Historical fiction continues to be my
favourite genre and is what I am always recommending when I get the right
person.
I have never been much
interested in participating in or having an online presence. I have a Facebook account that I used for a
time when I was living away from home, but rarely use, and it is kept under my
maiden name for intentional reasons. In
my late 30’s I tried reading a few books on my iPad, but much prefer the real
thing. I am a digital immigrant and am
working tirelessly to keep up with the knowledge that comes by digital natives
honestly. I have had the opportunity to
watch my neighbour children as young adults try to navigate their lives on
social media and it worries me so. Teaching
media literacy is something that I work to educate students about in meaningful
ways, as I have seen if this skill is not acquired can cause devastating
problems for young people.
Currently my reading
relationship continues with my mom as I enjoy taking her book club
recommendations and discussing them when we can. These days, however, I am busier than ever
with work, courses and being a mom with two young children. Regretfully there hasn’t been much time for
pleasure reading. Much of the reading
and writing I do these days is course or work related. I email, search online for information and
text on my phone. When we holiday
however, I get serious about reading. In
fact, it is my favourite thing to do when I am not needed. I could sit there all day and read a book if
it so grabbed me. I will usually take 3
books with me on vacation if it’s a relaxing holiday. Much of that reading I do now is junior
fiction so that I can be effective in student advisory. For the most part I enjoy these books, but I
will look forward to having more time on my hands to read more of the
literature I enjoy personally when my diploma is complete in August. I have worked hard at writing and editing
over the past 20 years and have improved immensely from the many university
courses that I have taken.
Professionally,
I am expected to be a leader in the field of information and digital
literacy. It’s my job to create
initiatives that support literacy in the curriculum. I work to challenge and engage our learners,
to collaborate with colleagues by offering exciting learning opportunities as
well as to manage and evaluate the schools resource collections. With digital technology and ADST and at the
forefront of education, I feel that technology is an area, whether I like it or
not must be purposefully included in education.
I have also found the benefits of using technology to help me organize
my work online. Symbaloo has been an
extremely valuable web tool that I have learned to use and have shared with
others. It enables me to collect,
organize, curate, share and access online content and resources.
I use technology
to enrich a literacy activity that we may be doing in order to generate
enthusiasm. For example, in addition to
written/drawn responses to a story, I am including web tools such as Padlet as
a platform for students to engage with literature in ways that interest
them. Students get excited to add their
contribution to an online world. They
enjoy creating posts that answer questions, but they need to be modelled and
guided by the teacher in order for those responses to be meaningful and not
silly. This is where we can also teach
digital citizenship in a safe environment where the teacher ultimately has the
last say on what gets published online. Often
when we start a project, the students’ scope of what may be expected is smaller
than what the teacher may have in mind.
This may have to do with the level at which they are interacting with
technology at home unsupervised. I find
that when literacy activities include the use of technology, students are
engaged and excited to create these projects, but they must have specific
criteria that keeps their work on track.
