Meaning & Value

of Literacy
Dr. Will Kurlinkus
Lessons: This
American Life
• Skiing: we seek out flow states but
we also seek out points of validation
those moments when we know
we’ve learned. Often literacy doesn’t
have that.
• Swimming: Old school swim
teacher—throws kids in. He has
expectations-–often teachers don’t.
• Shooting (A Potato Gun): What is
something you nerd out about that
you’d love to teach?
• Cheating Handbook
Describe a flow
state you’ve
experienced
Flow in positive psychology, also known colloquially as
being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person
performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of
energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the
process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by
the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting
transformation in one's sense of time
—Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
What is
something
you’ve always
wanted to learn?
Two Steps Back—This American Life
What Do You Make of This?
Two Steps Back—This
American Life

• Q. Given that literacy is so deeply

contextual, temporal, culture
based, etc., is standardized
curriculum bound to fail?
• Q. What types of standardized
curriculum are needed? Report
cards--evaluating kids on things
they taught vs. vague school
district.
• Q. What do you remember about
middle school reading and writing
instruction? What was great—
what could have been better?
Locating the Meaning & Value
of Literacy—Jeffrey Grabill

• Literacy Studies:
1. Studies how people learn to read and write
2. Studies how people do read and write
3. Offers an argument about what literacy should look like

• What is literacy?
1. Autonomous Mind (technocratic): context doesn’t matter—top
down approach everyone should learn in this way. Still self
expression might find a home here—e.g. free writing might benefit
everyone.
2. Sociocultural & Autonomous: to be literate is to be culturally
literate & we need a common sense of community and culture vs. to
be literate is to be culturally literate and we need to be able to
known politics to overthrow those in power (but this overthrow is too
abstract)
3. Mind & Context: How do individual readers and writers function in
specific contexts? How do they interpret and respond to a context in
writing for instance. This is rhetoric, essentially—analyzing
audience standards and responding to fit. Meaning and
interpretation of texts is contextual.
4. Socio-cultural and Contextual: How do specific communities
make meaning and learn?
 • What is the Western District Community
Literacy Program?
• At least 16, withdrawn from K-12/no diploma,
need help in basic math and reading/writing
• Most people trying to get GED
Literacy And • Funded & testing coincide

the Western • How does adult literacy instruction

happen in practice?
District • Worksheets: write a definition of a word, given
an example, use it in context. Write a five
paragraph essay
• They are learning towards a test=useful but
boring
• Students like skills based things—why?