Micah Rider

December 4, 2020

Literacy Position Statement

TLS 535

Students within any setting learn best when they are able to relate to and/or see

themselves within the situation and or material that is at hand. This is an aspect of teaching that

is stressed by many scholarly articles that are written about instruction within a traditional

classroom. Hoyte and Boutte explained that instruction procedures and formats tend to exclude a

child’s cultural legacy leading them to feel as though they do not belong and that they are

inadequate to partake in the instructional goals as they were not set up for them to succeed

(Hoyte and Boutte, 2018, 378). This article then goes on to discuss how different cultures affect

instructional procedures that are carried out with the children and or students. The example that

was given within this article was the difference between church and school within the life of an

African American student. The church would carry out discussions in an informal manner where

students could collaborate and share their ideas, where the school was more independently driven

in terms of communicating understanding. This misalignment can then lead to the

misunderstanding of how to act and communicate within certain spaces. Literacy development

not only involves how to read and write but also includes how to work with texts or other literary

documents to form a better understanding of what is going on. It also can encompass forms of

communicating understanding of topics and materials. Gee describes literacy and language in

this exact manner. “What is important in communication is not speaking grammatically, but

saying the ‘right’ thing at the ‘right’ time and in the ‘right’ place” (Gee 124). Gee goes on to
explain that it also matters as to “who you are and what you’re doing when you say it” (Gee,

1996, 124). The teacher needs to be aware of this linguistic idea that Gee brings forth in order to

set up an environment where the students feel comfortable enough to express their knowledge

and their learning in a way in which they are comfortable. Having one correct way of doing

something within a classroom does not leave room for the students to build on their own

knowledge and take charge of their learning experience.

In order for the learning process to be successful students have to be able to understand

what the overall importance is and be able to connect with the material. Being able to relate to

this material on a more personal level allows the students to make connections and make the

material more attractive to them. To help strengthen this argument, many people would say that

they tend to be attracted to things that either represent them, or have similarities to what they are

interested in. Turning instructional procedures and lessons for classroom instruction into

scenarios that can be related to will allow for the students to grasp a better understanding.

Haddix, Garcia, and Price-Dennis in Youth, Popular Culture, and the Media express how this

idea is important (Haddix et. al, 2017, 24). This article also addresses the importance of bringing

media into the classroom. Media and social media within this day and age for children and

adolescents is a culture in itself. Bringing media into the classroom and allowing them to use it to

represent what they know and what they have learned can help “highlight” and build a bridge

between the “disconnect that can occur between school, home, and their postsecondary lives”

(Haddix et. al, 2017, 27). Accepting this form of communication of knowledge and welcoming it

into the classroom can give the students more confidence in their work as this might be form of

communication that they are more comfortable with.

 Social studies and history like other disciplines that are taught within the school system

have their own literacy practices that are carried out. These disciplinary literacy practices are

actions that allow members within the social studies and history discipline to be successful and

do their jobs. It is stressed in many scholarly articles the importance of teaching students the

same disciplinary literacy practices that are used by professionals within the social

studies/history discipline. Some practices that are then used by historians that can be taught

within a classroom to help enhance the learning process are “learning to ask questions, critiquing

sources of information, considering multiple perspectives, judging the quality of evidence, and

forming reasoned opinions” (Annenberg Learner). Historians have to be able to ask questions

about the text they are reading and even ask hypothetical questions in order to gain a better

understanding of what was going on within the time period. All sources within history are all

written from a different perspective and it is important to be able to analyze and critically think

about the sources that are being examined in order to ask such questions. It is important to note

that just because a student knows basic literacy practices and even intermediate level literacy

practices, does not necessarily mean that the students have been taught how to use and

understand disciplinary literacy within any given subject matter, in this case history/social

studies. “Growth in one” discipline “does not necessarily translate into growth in” another

discipline, therefore disciplinary literacy instruction must be embedded into disciplinary

practices” (Buehl, 2014, 29).

It is also important to take note of the types of literacy that already takes place within the

students’ lives. Based on Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction it was observed that a

student at the adolescent age “mostly reads to find information” (Fisher and Frey, 2018, 150).

Due to the fact that this observation was taken, it is safe to say that this is probably the case with
most adolescent age students. This is something that can be used to help further enhance

instruction because one is building on the prior reading knowledge of the student. Historians

within the discipline of history and social studies read primary and secondary sources to find and

understand information from the past to then share their findings and collaborate with others in

their discipline field. If students are already familiar with reading to find information, then this is

a concept that a teacher can build off of. Some students within their adolescence might also find

it beneficial to be involved and collaborate with other students. This is a concept within their

daily lives of literacy that they may be comfortable with. This is due to the fact that at this age

communication with peers and talking amongst each other to form connections is a concept that

is very important to them. Using these literacy techniques that students are already comfortable

with to build on their knowledge of disciplinary literacy can be very beneficial to their

understanding and their performance.

Literacy within the content area of social studies can be seen as being very similar to

literacy within the content area of English language arts. Within both of the subjects in a

traditional school setting, students are required to read, comprehend, formulate essays, and create

arguments. Not only that but within the content area of social studies students have to be able to

analyze primary documents. This can be a very daunting process for students who struggle with

reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. This type of work can even be daunting for

those who have high self-efficacy within these 5 aspects of learning anyways.

One aspect of history/social studies that could possibly be a little difficult for students

without a scaffolding process is understanding and interpreting primary sources. Primary sources

can vary tremendously, from newspaper articles, diaries, pictures, and even political cartoons.

Political cartoons are always fun to learn with but can be a little tricky, as they “highlight a
satirize the political and economic issues of the day” (Reidel, 2020, 89). Though they are fun,

they are not always straight forward. Students will have to be able to dive into the source a lot

deeper in order to be able to pull out a true meaning.

Another characteristic of the social studies classroom that many teachers should always

try and accomplish is creating an environment for a democratic classroom. Many heavy topics

will be covered within discussions or deliberations. This provides students with opportunities to

think and work together about difficult concepts or topics that have occurred or are occurring in

the real world (Parker, 2006, 12). This could possibly be a challenge for some students as sharing

opinions and respecting other’s opinions is something that is not really seen within society,

especially when talking about controversial topics. Participation, listening, comprehension,

respect, and even communicating are all aspects of a deliberation and discussion that can be

found within a democratic classroom. These aspects are ones that are taught by the teacher and a

scaffolding process with ample opportunities for practice should take place. “A teacher needs to

explain and model how deliberation can work, and children need the time and opportunity to

practice these skills, to stumble and then be helped back up on their feet” (Parker, 2006, 12).

Modifications for students that may struggle with literacy, reading, writing, speaking,

listening, and viewing, will need some more support and possibly modifications but are still able

to participate within these important characteristics of a social studies classroom.

 Work Cited

Buehl, D. (2014). Mentoring Reading Through Disciplinary Lenses. In Classroom Strategies for
Interactive Learning, Doug Buehl (pp. 28-45).

Fisher, D. (2018). Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction. In 1104157258 835542046

N. Frey (Ed.), Best Practices in Literacy Instruction (pp. 150-172).

Gee, J. (1996). Discourses and Literacy. In Social Linguistics and Literacies (2nd ed., pp. 122-
148). Routledge.

Haddix, M., Garcia, A., & Price-Dennis, D. (2017). Youth, Popular Culture, and the Media
Examining Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Histories. In Adolescent Literacies:
A Handbook of Practice Based Research (pp. 21-37). The Guilford Press.

Parker, W. C. (2006). Talk Isn't Cheap: Practicing Deliberation in School. Social Studies and the
Young Learner, 19(1), 12-15.

Reidel, J. (2020). Discovering Economic Concepts and Criticism in Progressive Era Cartoons. In
Social Education (2nd ed., Vol. 84, pp. 89-92).

Wynter-Hoyte, K., & Boutte, G. (2018). Expanding Understandings of Literacy: The Double
Consciousness of a Black Middle Class Child in Church and School. The Journal of Negro
Education, 87(4), 375. doi:10.7709/jnegroeducation.87.4.0375