Personal+Philosophy+Statement++on+Teaching+Literacy+in+the+English+Content-Area

To engage is to grapple with material in order to foster understanding, to make meaning of things with true purpose and a sense of goals. In today’s school environment, students are sped from one subject to the next, buzzing through material with the minimalism they feel is necessary to gain what they need to do well in school. But what does that mean—to do well in school? Is it just about getting good grades? Is it just about accomplishing tasks needed to gain entry into college? What about once students are in college? What about once they are out in the real world, faced with an onslaught of changing challenges that they are wholly unprepared for? By learning literacy across the disciplines, and particularly in the English classroom, students will be equipped with the tools they need to engage thoughtfully with their studies, environments, and most importantly, their futures.
 * Philosophy for Teaching Content-Area Literacy **  **// In //**** English **

In __Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice__ (2007), Ellin Oliver Keene writes, “We ask students to do little more than (1) answer questions; restate, retell, or summarize text in some way; and (3) learn content-related vocabulary. And when they can do these things, we conclude that they understand” (Beers, Probst, & Rief, 2007, p. 32). When considering this, one realizes why comprehension is not a clear-cut thing, particularly in reading. Students face texts with the limited goal of doing well, and thus become complacent, perhaps even ignorant of how vital true comprehension will be in their lives. To learn is to gain content, to possess understandings, and with high-level literacy skills in reading, students will be able to navigate the complexities of their lives. They will not be intimidated by new genres and new types of information. They will be able to draw knowledge, and apply that knowledge to their thoughts and actions. If the purpose of reading remains to summarize chapters and list key facts and events, students will miss out on opportunities to synthesize meanings as they grow, and as the world around them develops. Without effective reading skills, students will not be able to engage with new content.

In “Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools” (2007), Graham and Perin explain that, “Most contexts of life (school, the workplace, and the community) call for some level of writing skill, and each context makes overlapping, but not identical, demands” (Graham & Perin, 2007, p. 9). It is a falsehood that writing is simply academic, and when students leave school with this attitude, they are seriously hindering their individual potentials. The world functions by means of communication, and people communicate through writing. If students’ classes, particularly in English, prepare them with the formal and informal realities of writing, then they will be better communicators and more productive people overall. Since writing is a form of expression, learning to write well will embed the foundations necessary for verbal communication. Knowing how to structure an essay on themes in a piece of literature is not enough. Articulating one’s personal viewpoints in a clear and concise way is vital for people to be able to digest those viewpoints. If high-level reading skills allow for productive thinking, then high-level writing skills emboldens one for effective actions. Teachers must view writing as the key to maneuvering toward desired ends, and if students have desires, they must be able to write in order to receive those ends. They must be able to write well to engage with their world.

Yet the reading and writing of literacy is not enough. Teachers must adapt their instruction of these skills for the 21st century landscape. Technology use is not just an option or preferment; it is reality. In their MIT report on using technology in the classroom, Klopfer, Osterweil, Groff, and Hass write about the current generation of K-12 kids, “Many students in this group are using new media and technologies to create new things in new ways, learn new things in new ways, and communicate in new ways with new people— behaviors that have become hardwired in their ways of thinking and operating in the world” (Klopfer, Osterweil, Groff, & Hass, 2009, p. 1). Rather than viewing technology as a burden to classroom instruction, or another skill to implement into the curriculum, teachers should view themselves as facilitators of what is already embedded in the lifestyles of their students. Technology has allowed the globalized world to become smaller, but opportunities are larger, so teaching students to reach for those opportunities with 21st century literacy skills is a worthy challenge. The English classroom, with a focus already deep in reading and writing, is in an especially primed spot to branch into how these skills play out in the technological world. Teaching reading should encompass media literacy, and teaching writing should strengthen precise wording and Web 2.0 skills. To engage with the world is to embrace where it is going, with what is to come, and the literacy skills of English courses are primed to prepare students for that quest.

Learning literacy across the disciplines, and particularly in the English classroom, students will be equipped with the tools they need to engage thoughtfully with their studies, environments, and most importantly, their futures. The future is the most important aspect of this challenge because it guides teachers toward what comes next. In the television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard would close each episode with the catch phrase, “Engage!” (Roddenberry, 1987-1994). He did this to signify the embracing of a challenge, to heighten the decision of propelling the ship forward in its trials, along on its journey. For students, literacy skills allow the information and ideas of life to flow and build, giving them greater potentials for understanding on their own respective journeys.


 * Sources:**

Beers, K., Probst, R. E., & Rief, L. (Eds.). (2007). //Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise// //into Practice//. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. Retrieved from []

Klopfer, E., Osterweil, S., Groff, J., &Haas, J. (2009). Using the Technology of Today in the Classroom Today: The Instructional Power of Digitals Games, Social Networking, Simulations, and How Teachers Can Leverage Them. Retrieved from []

Roddenberry, G. (Producer). (1987-1994). Star Trek: The Next Generation. Los Angeles: Paramount Television.