Hi!
I seem to have a knack for scheduling these discussions to start when my
son's athletic life requires me to drive many hours to cheer the team on
at far-distant away games (particularly ironic today because he has a
badly strained calf muscle and can't even play!). So while I'm off to
central New Hampshire, here are a few thoughts and questions to get things
started.
First, I feel as though any discussion of literacy has to, at some point
in time, discuss what literacy actually means. The article brings up these
factors (page 5):
- including purposeful social and cognitive processes
- helps individual discover ideas and make meaning
- enables functions such an analysis, synthesis, organization, and
evaluation
- fosters the expression of ideas and opinions
- extends to understanding how test are created and how meanings are
conveyed by various media
- builds on, but is not limited to, phonemic awareness and word
recognition
What are your thoughts and reactions on these points - straight-on
accurate, besides the point, good but incomplete, all of the above!?
Secondly, I find myself focusing on the specific strategies for adolescent
literacy outlined on pages 6-7 and focusing on:
- motivation
- comprehension
- critical thinking
- assessment
Again, what are your thoughts and reactions here? Where are your schools
particularly successful? Where do your schools need to be strengthened?
Are there other specific areas of strategies to promote adolescent
literacy which your schools are doing well and which aren't mentioned in
this article?
Thirdly, of course, if you have a burning question of your own, please
don't hesitate to ask it!
As a reminder, the article is entitled "NCTE Principles of Adolescent
Literacy Reform" and is a .pdf file downloadable at:
http://www.ncte.org/middle
See you this evening...
Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School
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