Part One: What is Literacy?
We hear a lot about reading, writing, financial literacy, and digital literacy, but what do any of these words mean? According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the word literate means: an educated person, one who can read and write, a person having knowledge or competence.
UNESCO has a laborious definition for literacy, but the following will suffice for this post. Literacy is: a continuum of learning and proficiency in reading, writing and using numbers throughout life and is part of a larger set of skills, which include digital skills, media literacy, education for sustainable development and global citizenship as well as job-specific skills.
God bless teachers. A teacher welcomes an inquisitive little body into his or her classroom and transforms said wiggle worm into a literate human being with skills to function in the world of reading, writing, math, citizenship, and digital world communications! Teachers are not fairy godparents, but their abilities are mysterious and magical. How do teachers do it? I address the vocation of teaching in another section of my treatise (wink, wink).
As a speech-language pathologist, I work with students on their deficits, disabilities, or difficulties in communication. There is a tension between what is immediately necessary and what the future looks like. If I am doing my job correctly, I am as concerned about a child’s ability to get their needs met in the classroom today, as I am about them passing the driver’s test in 10-12 years. Neither of these milestones has anything to do with the ability to read War and Peace and everything to do with the ability to function in a literate society that depends on the written word and a social structure scaffolded around literacy in all of its forms.
How do we achieve the UNESCO definition of literacy? In my humble opinion, we start by cultivating a love of listening to stories. We once sat around fires and listened to stories. The campfire was the classroom. The instructional value in reading aloud to children cannot be overstated. In today’s classroom, the lack of ability to sit and listen is lamented by preschool and kindergarten teachers nationwide. Notice I didn’t say the ability to sit and do worksheets. I said sit in circle time with other wiggly, distractable humans and listen to someone read aloud a story.
People are not born reading and writing. They must be taught. It’s actually a fascinating process. I could go on and on….
The first step in teaching literacy is to develop an environment that promotes literacy. Is story time valued? Is the newspaper (digital or print) visible in the home? Are there books in the home, classroom, daycare/aftercare? Is time given to just read? Is there a computer or digital device in the home/classroom? Are children and caregivers telling stories and singing songs and reciting nursery rhymes? Are they washing hands to two rounds of the ABC song? Are they sitting around a table or sharing a meal together taking turns telling about their day? Have they been to the public library? Are they playing games that require sequencing steps, remembering items, using numbers or letters, and following directions? It sounds like a lot, but I promise you gentle readers, like I promise my students’ parents, these are things you do or have done at some point in your life every day. In the throws of the daily grind and hustle, we (self included) forget that there is intention learning behind watching caregivers make dinner, doing homework at the kitchen table, playing a game with a sibling, or any daily/evening/weekend routine.
Play is learning for children. We have forgotten how to play as grown ups, but if we bring back story time and mealtime and playtime, we are well on our way to success! We cultivate a spirit of community, listening, participation, and turn-taking when we listen to stories, tell stories, share a meal, play a game. As these basic “pre-literacy” skills are affirmed and established we teachers and caregivers can add next steps—letters, numbers, pictures, and experiences (vocabulary). Children don’t know how to spell McDonalds or Chick-fil-a, but they know the golden arches and the red chicken or spotted cows anywhere! They know what their favorite cereal box or cookie package looks like. A red stop sign in universal. Red. Octagon. White letters. Stop! Children may not know all their letters, but they learn to recognize their name in print.
Experience is the best vocabulary builder. Go to the zoo, the museum, the park, the beach, the lake, a restaurant, the grocery store, the doctor’s office, grandma’s house, on a hike, ride a bus, take the subway, take a taxi. Think of all the words exchanged, recognized, and printed in these exchanges! When we as teachers and interventionists talk about environmental factors or enrichment affecting a child’s learning it is the lack of, or access to life experience with which we are concerned. Schools take field trips and provide PE, music, and art in an effort to level the playing field. Lunchtime, recess, library time are universal environments that all students benefit from. Participation in all of these activities is so important that therapists are almost never allowed to schedule therapy during those times!
Life experience is such a great teacher for students of any age. The first time I had to use a TTY device for my client with the inability to use the phone because of speaking and hearing difficulties was a daunting experience. Taking my mother to the hospital and finding our way through the labyrinth of elevators, hallways that look the same, and indecipherable signage was an eye opening experience. Even a literate, mobile, not-exactly-docile person as myself had enormous difficulty getting us to the right place! Going to the DMV to get a “real id” will certainly convince a person to keep personal papers in order in a fireproof box! The amount of experience and functional literacy expected by others for seemly normal tasks is enormous.
Think about your life and what you do everyday.
Going to the airport…
Using the Uber app…
Ordering a pizza…
Driving to/from home…
Now reflect on what skills were needed to perform those tasks–even minimally. Literacy is so much more than reading “Dick and Jane”.
Stay tuned as I get into the weeds of how a classroom should function versus the daily reality teachers face. It’s dark and daunting, but not insurmountable. Until next time friends.
Love You and Literacy with my whole heart, Marla
Marla's Alphabet Soup 