Literacy and Identity

I am a true believer that teachers have a major impact on how students feel about school. A “bad” teacher could ruin a student’s experience for life and vise versa for a “good” teacher. I put these two qualities into quotations because there are many different definitions for these two broad qualities. Students learn different ways, and when a teacher doesn’t help their students learn in ways which work for the students and the teacher themselves, than many students will give up and believe they just aren’t cut out for school. Whereas the “good” teacher will find a balance that allows for the teacher to teach to the best of their ability and for the students to comprehend and engage in topics discussed. Now to achieve being the “good” teacher, there are many different techniques and the teacher must find what works for them and what they are comfortable with, aka finding their teaching identity. As Williams would say, “we face problems as teachers when we try either to (a) perform an identity that is incomprehensible or inconsistent for our students or (b) inhabit an identity that we know our students believe a teacher should have but that doesn't work for us.”

In my 13 years of formal schooling, I have encountered many different identities, in which each one affected me in different ways. My senior year in high school I had an English teacher who only taught intense, advanced placement classes. Yet somehow I managed to be enrolled in her only regular English class. Lucky me. She was our seemingly all knowing, ruthless commander. As I would define her: a “bad” teacher. She made me so nervous, to the point where I was scared not to do my homework in fear she would call me out on it in front of the entire class.  I was too scared to raise my hand to ask a question or go in after class to talk to her. The most important thing she taught me the whole year is that I want to be nothing like her when I teach and that I never want to have another teacher like her.

Since I did have her so late in my schooling career, she didn’t have much effect on how I felt about school as a whole. Yet I do feel that if I had a teacher like her in my prime learning years, then I would absolutely be turned off to schooling completely. Luckily throughout years of experience, I have learned how my teachers work within a few weeks of being in class. And I had her identified way early on and could adjust. Williams sites some identities that I can relate to my other teachers or stereotypical teachers, such as friend, coach, talk-show host, counselor, cheerleader, and the commander. All of these teachers with different identities and different teaching methods that they believe work the best.  But which identity is really the best method? They all use different methods that reach their students in different ways. Is there an identity that reaches students more effectively than the others? I suppose it all depends on the combination of the teacher’s individual identity and the mixture of students that sit in their classroom.

In Class Quickwrite 9/5/13

                While reading about Rodriguez literate life, I found some similar aspects in my own literate life. My parents were always very supportive in my schooling, they knew, like Rodriguez’s parents knew, that a way to a good future was a good education. My mom has her high school diploma and some credits in college but she mainly took over and learned from my grandma on how to be a paralegal. She has a very good job but there is no way I could ever get a job like hers without a degree now a days. Kind of like Rodriquez’s mom, she had experience rather than an education. My dad came to America after graduating high school in Canada. A couple years later he graduated from SJSU and later on went back to college online to get a marketing degree. Because my dad did so much schooling, he expects me to do the same.

                Yet even with my dad’s education and my mom’s experience, they still could not help me with my homework. Which I almost felt a little good about; I knew something they didn’t know. My parents never had to check that I did my homework or wonder if I did badly on my tests. They knew that I would get my stuff done and if I was having a hard time, I would tell them.  I prided myself in getting good grades and having my parents proud of me so I did what I had to in school to make that possible. So when it came to getting good grades in high school to eventually get into college, it was all up to me. I could have slacked in school and just simply passed my classes to go to the JC in town or I could have strived to make it to a four year university and my parents would have been proud either way. My older brother went the JC path in hope of playing football, as I went the more educational pathway and made it to a four year university. This reminded me a little of Rodriquez and his parents. They seemed to be proud of him just as long as he was getting an education, like his siblings were. But he strived to go to that better, higher elite school. Everyone takes different pathways based on what’s better for them and works for them.  I’m just so thankful that my parents would have supported me in whatever path a chose.

Wondrous Words

For my book club I chose to read the book Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom by Kate Wood Ray. In looking in the reviews for this book I saw nothing but positive feedback. A first time teacher explained how amazed she was by how much this book changed and improved her concept of teaching writing. As someone who in a couple years will be a first time teacher, her comment really influenced me on choosing this book. And I hope this book can help me as much as it did her. Another reason why I chose this book because a different review made this comment: “Katie Wood Ray has made a very readable, very usable book to help teachers teach students to ‘read like writers.”  The very readable comment almost sold me to this book. For this assignment I wanted something I could easily understand, not a book I had to evaluate every line. Also I didn’t quite understand what it meant by “read like writers,” so I’m interested to read the book and find out. As well as having great written reviews, this book got 5 out of 5 stars, rated by mainly those in the teaching field. So it must be a great, informative read. I also chose this book because if I do end up finding this book helpful, Kate Wood Ray has written other books that are probably just as helpful that I can read as well. Therefore he teachings don’t just end with me at this book, I can continue to grow as a teacher with her other books.

The Achievement of Desire

How do we even begin to figure out how literate someone is?  As Szwed explained, they might be the schools definition of literate but are they street literate? With all the different definitions and meanings of the word literate, we can only really get a rough idea of how literate someone is with a few simple questions.  Questions such as: Did your family support/value your educational path? What are you experiences around reading? How often? Positive/negative? What level of access did you have to educational support? What is the literacy background of your parents? Do you speak any other languages?

In respects to determining Richard Rodriguez’s literate ability, I will use these questions. Although his mother and father could not help him with his homework, partly due to a language barrier, they always encouraged him and “at every graduation they were behind the stunning flash of the camera when I turned to look at the crowd.” They also paid his tuition to attend school since his mother never got the education she needed to succeed. I think it’s safe to say his parents supported him and best as they could. Although he did become the center of numerous family jokes. When he devoted himself to his studies, his family didn’t quite understand. His brother called him “four eyes” when he would come home with a bunch of books from the library. His family would joke around that when Rodriguez wouldn’t come when called, that he was hiding under his bed reading. This caused a negative experience between reading and his parents. Yet he still continued to constantly study and read.

“It was the nun’s encouragement that meant the most to me. (She understood exactly what my parents never seemed to appraise so well- all my achievements entailed.)” Rodriguez wanted to be exactly like his teachers; they inspired him. Which is one of the reasons why he wanted to become a teacher himself, he wanted to be exactly like his teachers. He can still remember today the compliments his teachers gave him, and it’s that access to educational support that Rodriguez thrived on. As for Rodriguez’s parents’ literacy background, his mother only has a high school diploma but in her own determination she taught herself how to type. His father left school to work under his uncle while he lived in Mexico. Once plans fell through he moved to America and attended school with Rodriguez’s mother but after a few years, he quit his dream of being an engineer and quit school. Since the Rodriguez family has a language barrier, except the children attended English classes so not so much them but their parents, Rodriquez found himself embarrassed by his parent’s accent as well as their lack of education.

I still find it hard to determine Rodriguez’s literate ability by answering these questions. His parents weren’t educated yet he still overcame that obstacle. Also he didn’t have the best experience with reading when being made fun of but he still continued to read. I don’t think literacy has really anything to do with family background or experiences, but what people do with those experiences. Whether they learn and overcome them or succumb and give up. Rodriguez had every reason to do bad in school and give up, but it’s his determination that made him succeed.

The Ethnography of Literacy

In Szwed’s article he states that we do not actually really know what literacy is, and I as well believe that we do not. While giving examples of different literacy he compares school based literacy and social context and functional use literacy with this quote: “A student who shows little interest or aptitude for reading may read Jaws in study hall.” (423) This quote made me think back to when I was in elementary school and failing the school’s reading tests. I had to read out loud numerous stories and then answer a couple questions. Yet when I would read, I wouldn’t pay attention to the context or I would be thinking of other stuff. It was almost like I read in auto-pilot. I found the stories boring so I lost interest fast, though at home I was reading books constantly. They weren’t books that taught valuable lessons like the stories they made us read at school, but they were exciting and something I was interested in so I paid attention to the context.  

I haven’t sat down and read a book for fun in a long time, maybe since middle school. But back then I would sit in my room in quiet and read for hours. I would feel so accomplished once I finally finished one but somewhere along the line I lost interest. Same thing happened with writing. When I was little I thought I was the best poet in the world and I also attempted to write numerous books. Now I only write when asked of me. Yet I do sometimes enjoy writing and feel proud of some of my work that I have done for previous classes. My research paper for my previous English class was one of the top papers and was chosen to use as an example for others for the following semesters. So apparently I’m not too bad at writing but I would never just sit down and write for fun. I look forward to seeing what my teachers thought of my writing and getting good grades on them. I need that feedback and feeling of accomplishment in my writing.

Reading Szwed just emphasized that there are always improvements to be made in teaching. New ways of doing things and a better understanding of how children learn can help teachers better help their students. This is something I, as a future educator, am going to have to look more into.