Literacy for Life: Best Practices for the Classroom Ann M. Johns San Diego State University

 How can we teachers most effectively provide for our students the literacy instruction--and the encouragement to continue-- that they will need for life?

 Multi-modalities: the visual, hypertext…  Abbreviated text: text-messaging and chat,  Information seeking and evaluation: on demand,  Collaborative reading, writing, and problem-solving--cross-culturally, and  Designing “texts” and sharing them with global communities.

Best Practices

 Who are our students? Are they literate in L1? How do they use literacies in their homes?  What is the nature of their previous literacy instruction?  What are their beliefs about the nature of literacy?

 In what genres are or will they be reading and writing?  How should they be approaching these genres, that is, what are they reading and writing for?  Who will measure their success and on what bases?

Human beings have only one stomach, one heart, and one brain…right? Not exactly. The cerebral cortex, the most advanced part of the brain, might be thought of as two structures, connected by a band of fibers called the corpus callosum. Each structure, or hemisphere, performs different tasks and is responsible for different functions. The right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere of the cortex and vice versa. Thus, the hand movements of right-handed people are controlled by the left hemisphere and those of left-handed people by the right hemisphere. Similarly, everything perceived on the right is processes by the left hemisphere. Whatever is received in one hemisphere is quickly transmitted to the other across the corpus callosum. Thus, we see a single visual world rather than two half-worlds. The two hemispheres not only control opposite sides of the body but also seem to differ in function. The left hemisphere is apparently responsible for language and logical thought. The right hemisphere seems to be concerned more with special relations, perception and fantasy. Fig. 1: Corpus Callosum

 Employ reading and writing practices that can be applied to multiple texts and contexts,  Promote reflection and metacognition: analysis of their own developing literacy practices,  Value rhetorical flexibility: drawing from past experiences but adapting them for current ones, and  Encourage student “research” into the literacies of a variety of communities and contexts.

 Making a plan for reading. “Selective and purpose-driven reading,”  Predicting content from the title and other features,  Noticing the text macro-structure; and how the writer leads the reader through the text,  Interacting with the text by highlighting and questioning,  Noticing how language (grammar/lexicon) is used by the writer,  Summarizing or paraphrasing sections of text,  Managing, analyzing, and synthesizing multiple streams of information, and  Applying the readings and other streams of information purposefully---to a variety of tasks.

 Create a variety of prompts and tasks, including scenarios for using texts,  Assign writing under different conditions (timed/untimed, collaborative),  Provide model texts for analysis. Show how appropriate texts can be written at the students’ level,  Encourage planning before writing,  Use student written texts for study of problems with grammar/syntax and vocabulary,  Remind students that they should be writer- responsible---and help the readers through the texts they write.

 Ask students to reflect on their own changing literacies, answering questions such as: o How was my writing process for this assignment different from my process on the last assignment? o What am I focusing upon as I read (or write) this text? o How have I improved as a reader (or writer)? o What do I need to continue to work on?

 Ask students: o What are my previous experiences with a text like this? How did I read this text? Or how have I approached the writing of this text? o How are the current reading/writing demands I face, using a similar text, the same as, or different from, my previous tasks? o How will I adapt? Who or what can help me?

 Students ask of a text which you, or they, have collected: o Why is this text valued in this context or community? o How is it used authentically by members of the community? o Who “owns” this text? o How is it organized? Why is it organized in this way? o How can I benefit from understanding or writing in this genre?

 Portfolios: Can measure student reading and writing under a variety of conditions and contexts.  Formative and summative assessments that count: For peer and self-review, For reflection and analysis, and For collaboration.

What will it mean to be literate in 20 or more years? How can we prepare students to meet literacy demands that we cannot predict?

 Rather than confining our students to limited views of literacy, we need to be encouraging rhetorical flexibility: reading and writing in a variety of genres, using a variety of technologies for a number of purposes—and empowering students to reflect upon their literacy experiences.

 In these days of rapidly advancing technology and complex literacy demands, we can’t have all the answers…  Instead, we need to encourage student independence, literacy research— and reflection.