The Complex Processes Of Literacy

 Exemplary literacy programs, which emphasize learning across the curriculum, are organized around teacher and student teams designed to meet the needs of struggling readers. Evidence that literacy is valued can be found in interesting and accessible materials, instructional methods, beliefs about literacy learning, school organization, and school culture. First, the amount of reading and writing required for successful academic progress in the middle grades increases substantially from that required of elementary school students. Second, content area courses such as social studies, science, language arts, math, music, art, and technology are likely to require that students read and understand texts in each academic area. These texts are primarily expository and often complex, detailed, and filled with difficult vocabulary.

The complex processes of literacy do not occur in a vacuum; they are negotiated within and influenced by a social and cultural context. Interactions with peers, teachers, and parents form the framework within which students in the middle grades practice and develop as literacy learners. During the course of early adolescence, middle grades students are deeply involved in the process of forming an identity. This identity formation affected by the developmental tasks of early adolescence, is constructed and constrained by literacy.

Literacy learning is a complex and fluid act; it is determined by the demands of the task and influenced by the communicative style and language experiences the learner receives in the home. Furthermore, as the young adolescent progresses through the rapid and profound stages of physical, moral, emotional, social, and cognitive development, literacy learning can facilitate the young adolescent's progress through these essential stages.

Effective literacy learning programs in middle grades schools are informed by the developmental tasks of early adolescence; they are student-centered, flexible, and responsive to students' needs. The responsibility for teaching and encouraging literacy learning is shared by all teachers and administrators; it is not the sole domain of those who teach language arts classes. Student writing is encouraged across the curriculum, and school staff members have been trained in writing strategies and assessment. Students are provided with school environments in which literacy learning thrives: A variety of appropriate and interesting text is available to them, and they are given regular opportunities to read and interact with other readers. Students in effective literacy programs are provided with knowledge about and practice with reading and comprehension strategies. In these programs, the needs of struggling readers are not ignored. They are provided with appropriate instruction by trained reading teachers who believe that struggling readers can become successful readers.

Too often school structure is determined by tradition and routine; it is important for school staff and administrators to examine the way students are scheduled, taught, and treated within the school program and adopt a willingness to change according to the individual needs of the students. Students should be allowed credible and autonomous voices at school.

School staff and administrators in schools that demonstrate academic success believe that all students can learn and that it is the responsibility of all those in the school program to facilitate that success. Time at school and staff expertise are used to the fullest: Students in homeroom or advisory group might be involved in remediation work, academic games, or school-wide silent reading. Teachers and administrators share knowledge and skills with each other, engage in ongoing assessment of student needs and ways to address them, and work together to design and redesign an effective school program.

Students in the middle grades progress through rapid and profound changes in development that define early adolescence. These changes affect every aspect of their lives and most certainly their school experiences. Young adolescents work through the developmental tasks of adolescence within a primarily social framework so there is a tremendous need to belong to a group, to feel accepted, to communicate, to compare, and to share with each other and members of the school staff.

trendingideas