Introduction
Exploring youth literacy traditions and sociocultural practices is a dynamic area where the interplay of personal history, education system, and societal demands is reflected. In Ma’ayan’s “Erika’s Stories: Literacy Solutions for a Failing Middle School Student” and Knobel’s “‘I’m Not a Pencil Man’: How One Student Challenges Our Notions of ‘Failure’ in School,” we can see how both Erika and Jacques navigate their literacy journeys in the face of their respective challenges and victories. Through their experiences, educational equity, resilience, and the transformational capacity of literacy in 21st-century education are evident. This paper explores the narratives of two young people, Erika and Jacques, through their literacy traditions, histories, and practices.
Analysis of Erika
In the school context and Erika’s everyday life, her identity and literacy are shaped by the environment around her. Apart from school, Erika shows up as a real person who is very much involved in the Latino community and many literacy activities. She is an avid reader; her favorite books are the books of historical fiction and magazines. Even though she is discriminated against in the school, Erika’s numerous literacy practices outside the classroom include writing notes to friends, exploring the internet, reading the Bible, and studying prayers. These activities go beyond academic assessment, serving as platforms for self-expression, connections, and sense-making. As quoted, “Erika was not silent because she was shy; she was silent because the school had no room for her words.” (Ma’ayan, p. 646). Inside the school environment, Erika’s literacy practices are deeply compromised. She is labeled a failure based on standardized test scores and class performance. Even though literacy education helps her think and learn beyond the school curriculum’s scope, her classroom disengagement may result from gaps between her lived experiences and the textbook’s content. The teacher’s inability to assess Erika’s skills due to her silence highlights the deficiencies of traditional assessment methods in identifying all forms of literacy.
The way Erika’s literacy skills are encouraged or curtailed can be seen in her interaction with individuals and organizations. Out of school, her family comes in very handy as they often play a huge role in promoting her literacy engagement through her grandmother and aunt who give her access to computers and computing resources. Besides this, she dedicates her time to church activities and communal parties that give her other voices and chances for reading and interaction. However, Erika’s family background, as seen through incidents of violence, poor conditions, and gang involvement, is also a barrier to her reading experience. These challenges often take the form of deprivation of resources and encountering traumatic experiences that can interfere with her studies and school participation. In addition, the effects of his father can also be a cause of seeing violence and inconsistencies that may negatively affect her education. “Violence was a force that ran through Erika’s life,” (Ma’ayan, p. 649). This demonstrates how the internal elements are overshadowed by the external factors in her literacy journey.
Within the school environment, Erika faces additional barriers to her literacy practices. The white majority among teachers and the absence of representation of educators produce a distance between Erika’s cultural identity and the curriculum. “Erika’s literacy practices were not recorded by traditional school assessments, ” (Ma’ayan, p. 647). This reveals that society did not recognize and value her multiple literacies. In addition, the school’s evasion to touch upon matters like sexual reproductive health and violence becomes a further exclusion of Erika’s experiences, impairing her ability to involve herself in daily discussions.
Erika’s intersecting identities, familial background, and school-imposed labels combine and influence her literacy experiences in different settings. This aspect of her literacy experience exploration turns out to be fascinating. Erika’s experience denotes various levels of marginalization in the academic context. Her family’s dealings with gangs and encounters with violence overlap with her concept of self, shaping her perception of safety and belongingness at home and school. Erika is being called an “at-risk” student merely based on her poor standardized test scores and academic performance, which only perpetuate the stereotypes and make it impossible for her to succeed academically. These interplaying variables combined to form the dynamic picture of Erika’s literacy practices, bringing to light the fact that there is a need for a holistic and culturally responsive approach to literacy education. By acknowledging and respecting Erika’s variety of backgrounds and cultures, educators can generate an educative context that encourages students like her to benefit from literacy at school and beyond (Moll et al., 2006).
Erika’s home and school interactions are an excellent example of literacy acquisition. Her story shows the inadequacy of the existing educational system, which mainly relies on standardized testing and does not acknowledge the specific literacy practices of minority groups. Being a literacy teacher, it is vital to apply a culturally responsive pedagogy that will not reject and value the existence of students like Erika. This implies the inclusion of culturally appropriate books, offering an open forum for discussion, and supporting students. Hence, they learn about who they are and what they are passionate about through literacy. The educators can narrow the divide between the students’ lived experiences and the curriculum, which would, in turn, make the learning environment more inclusive to those who speak a different form of literacy and encourage deeper engagement with the text (Bausch, 2003).
If in my class, I would take direct action to develop an inclusive literacy environment where differing literacy traditions, histories, and practices are appreciated and celebrated. In the beginning, I would use culturally significant texts that relate to Erika’s background and aspirations, thus giving her a chance to be reflected in the curriculum. Besides, I would set aside time for open discussion on some subjects relevant to Erika that touch her life, like family dynamics, cultural traditions, and socio-economic challenges that affect her community. Through linking her life experiences to the curriculum, I can create a more lively and inspiring learning space where Erika feels valued and supported in her quest to acquire literacy skills. In particular, the search for equity, inclusivity, and student agency would drive my approach as a remedial teacher. Erika would be an example of what a student could contribute to such a class.
Analysis of Jacques
Jacques’ persona outside of school is represented as quite a complex individual deeply immersed in his family’s Jehovah’s Witnesses community and their business, contrasting with his inactiveness in school and the struggles he experiences. In the church and at home, Jacques is perceived as a knowledgeable and active member of different discourse and literacy practices, such as public speaking, reading religious texts, and discussing personal values and social issues. Moreover, Jacques demonstrates entrepreneurial skills by establishing a successful mowing business, indicating his adeptness in utilizing literacy for practical purposes. Jacques becomes disinterested and disengaged within the school environment, employing avoidance strategies and resisting conventional literary tasks. “He doesn’t like to write—it’s difficult because his spelling is poor. And for that reason, he avoids writing,” (Knobel, p. 407). His challenges in writing, spelling, and paying attention in class point to his academic literacy problems.
Jacques gets support and restrictions from different entities within or outside the classroom that shape his literacy practices and experiences. In the family and church community, Jacques is allowed to actively engage in literacy activities like public speech-making and discussion focusing on the teachings of religion. “Jacques’ father owns a successful earth-moving business and is an elder in the church,” (Knobel, p. 407). His dad’s engagement in the earth-moving business makes it possible for Jacques to use practical literacy, including taking the business basics, like creating flyers and posters, or even running his yard service. On the one hand, this community creates supportive spaces for Jacques, but on the other, he still faces challenges at school, where neither his oral nor written literacy practices are valued or recognized. His teacher’s observation regarding his reluctance to write due to poor spelling reflects a lack of accommodation for his needs and preferences in the classroom.
Three aspects significantly shape Jacques’ literacy experiences: his intersecting identities, family backgrounds, and labels from school. The Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation, where Jacques is a member, attaches great significance to literacy in the sense of biblical literacy and evangelism. This is embodied by his parents’ concentration on self-development and practical skills. It also aligns with his entrepreneurial life in a business where the skill is central in communication and decision-making. “Being a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses involves Jacques in a wide range of reading, writing, speaking, and listening practices” (Knobel, p.408). However, within the school environment, Jacques’ identity as a struggling student is “having great difficulty” with literacy, which is one of the reasons for his disconnection and marginalization. The discrepancy between his home literacy practices, which are colorful and fulfilling, and the school’s narrow perception of literacy only aggravates Jacques’ sensation of estrangement and insurmountable annoyance.
Through different lenses, Jacques’ life at home and in school demonstrates some vital activities related to literacy teaching and learning that a literacy tutor should acknowledge for the proper understanding of the student’s diverse literacy traditions and practices. As a literacy teacher, it is crucial to acknowledge the overlapping identities and personalities of students like Jacques and to build the learning environment most welcoming for their existence and experiences. This can be achieved through exposure to authentic situations and collecting reference points from students’ interests and mastery in different areas to make the education process exciting and challenging.
If Jacques were one of my students, designing a literacy-based classroom environment would have to be done using several teaching techniques that are supposed to join his home and school life. For instance, I would make the learning contexts close to real life by integrating them into the curriculum and let Jacques apply his practice and interest in business and entrepreneurship. This could take project-based learning where Jacques can apply his literacy skills to solve real-world problems or be involved in an entrepreneurial pursuit. Also, I would tailor my literacy instruction toward Jacques, giving attention to his strengths and weaknesses and scaffolding his learning, enabling him to realize his potential in diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Establishing relationships with Jacques’ family members and the community would also be critical, using their resources in a way that would help us build a comprehensive Literacy Education strategy that includes respect for his home literacy practices.
Conclusion
The case of Erika and Jacques’ literacy experiences allows the interrelation between sociocultural backgrounds, family interaction, and the institutions’ structure to be shown in the complex process of youth literacy development. Even within the educational systems, Erika and Jacques must withstand hardships and some forms of marginalization. However, the literacy practices they exhibit outside the education setting are diversified as a reminder of diversification. Thus, their narratives highlight the importance of the pedagogic approach that is culturally responsive as it bridges the gap between the lived experiences and student’s formal education. Teachers can address students’ diverse identities and capitalize on their strengths to create learning environments that welcome learners without limits, thereby supporting meaningful learning. As a way forward, the need to stand for the development of holistic literacy learning approaches that respect the individual students’ cultural markings and traditions must be emphasized. Such an approach would ensure equity and encourage empowerment among the students in the learning institutions.
References
Ma’ayan, H. D. (2010). Erika’s Stories: Literacy Solutions for a Failing Middle School Student. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(8), 646–654. https://doi.org/10.1598/jaal.53.8.3
Knobel, M. (2001). “I’m not a Pencil Man”: How one Student Challenges Our Notions of Literacy “Failure” in School. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(5), 404–414. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40017096
Bausch, L. S. (2003). Just Words: Living and Learning the Literacies of Our Students’ Lives. Language Arts, 80(3), 215–222. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41484131
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (2006). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. In Funds of knowledge (pp. 71-87). Routledge.
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