Keeping it Authentic- A Brandon Faust Blog!
What Are Authentic Literacy Tasks?
Authentic
literacy activities in the classroom are those that replicate or reflect
reading and writing activities that occur in the lives of people outside of a
learning-to-read-and-write context and purpose (Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall,
& Towers, 2006, p. 346). Therefore, authentic tasks are different from the
traditional “school-only” tasks, such as spelling lists and answering short
questions from reading passages, which merely serve the purpose of teaching students
reading and writing. Nevertheless, although authentic literacy activities
incorporate “school-only” tasks, these authentic literacy tasks must include
authentic purpose or function and authentic text, which is described below.
How Do You Determine if a Tasks is Authentic?
There
are two dimensions to judge the authenticity of a literacy activity:
1.
Authentic purpose or function- the activity serves a communitive purpose, to
inform oneself or to provide information for someone who needs it.
2.
Authentic text- the text must serve communitive purposes or functions outside
of a learning-to-read-or-write context, such as a newspaper brought into the
classroom or a newspaper written by the classroom. However, authentic texts
that are used without an authentic purpose or function, such as using the
newspaper for spelling words, does not qualify for highly authentic literacy
tasks.
In correspondence with the Chapter 8: Writing for Social Action, the three lenses for authentic writing and reading; (1) literacy in response to community need, (2) literacy as part of problem-solving, and (3) audience as integral to authentic writing, provides an entrance to exploring how authentic literacy tasks intertwines with writing for social action. When teachers choose texts, they think will be particularly evocative of critical conversation, they make it easier for themselves and their students to step into critique (Boomer & Boomer, 2001, p.123). For the first two lenses of authentic writing and reading, when educators select authentic texts for authentic purposes, the educator opens the gates for students to inform themselves on community needs, which may provide the foundation to brainstorm towards using literacy as part of problem-solving in behalf of the community needs. Additionally, writing for a better world take to forms: first, writing that is primarily reflective, a tool about for the writer’s thinking about her socio-political environment, and second, writing that is intended by people whose mind the writer intends to change (Boomer & Boomer, 2001, p. 123). Therefore, when educators provide the opportunity for students to write for authentic purposes, the students have the capability to not only reflect on the problem-solving process but given a chance to inform their audience in the context that strives to push their audience towards taking social action.
Questions
1. What is your previous experience with
authentic literacy tasks in your schooling experience? Do you believe it made
your learning more meaningful? Why or why not?
2. How would you scaffold learners to write
for social action? Why is this work important?
3. What would you do to combat one of your
student’s parent who insists that you are merely promoting social justice
warrior propaganda rather than teaching their children the fundamentals of
reading and writing?
References
Duke, N. K.,
Purcell-Gates, V., Hall, L. A., & Tower, C. (2006). Authentic Literacy
Activities for Developing Comprehension and Writing. The Reading Teacher,
60(4), 344–355. doi: 10.1598/rt.60.4.4
Bomer, R., & Bomer, K. (2001).
For a better world: reading and writing for social action. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
When it comes to literacy, I don’t remember much about authentic literacy tasks. I remember a lot of reading and writing in the classroom, book reports, spelling tests, and writing fake letters to people that we knew would never be sent out. One thing I do remember from second grade though, that I feel was the closest thing I had to authentic literacy, was Reader’s Theater. Every week, in second grade, we would learn a new Reader’s Theater script and the group who was going that week would put that play on for the rest of the class. By the end of the year, we had gotten into groups and created our own Reader’s Theater in which we would put on for our peers and the Kindergartners. I think because this is one of the closets things I had to authentic literacy, that is why I remember this activity so well. To me, this task was something that I could take ownership over, and it was something that we could use to talk about things that were important to us. While I don’t recall what my group wrote our play over, I think that the idea behind this activity was to be authentic as it introduces the ability to speak out in a new way. I think that my learning could have been more meaningful had more of my education been focused around authentic literacy though. Like the beginning of the article by Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, & Tower, I think many teachers have a misconstrued idea of what authentic literacy is, which is why I think that my learning could have been more meaningful. Even with Reader’s Theater, I still think that this could, and should, have been altered to be more fitting for authenticity.
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Duke, N. K., Purcell-Gates, V., Hall, L. A., & Tower, C. (2006). Authentic Literacy Activities for Developing Comprehension and Writing. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 344–355. doi: 10.1598/rt.60.4.4
Olivia, thank you for sharing your experience. Although I do not know how the Reader's Theater was specifically implemented in your class, I can acknowledge how this concept could become used to promote an authentic literacy task. For example, by selecting authentic text to educate the students about a community need or social issue, then providing the students the opportunity to write and perform a play to an audience based on the information learned, the Reader's Theater has tremendous potential for an authentic literacy task.
DeleteOlivia, I as well didn't really experience authentic literacy in elementary school to what remember at least. I about the exact same assignments you did and it felt like we were apart of an assembly line each week. At the beginning of the week we would get new spelling words, focus on certain parts of a sentence, read a couple short stories out of the textbook and at the end of the week be tested over all of it, then repeat the same process with new information. I remember writing the letters to important people and always wondered if they would actually get sent out, and I remember at the end of the school year seeing the letters we wrote at the beginning of the year that were supposed to go to the mayor in a folder inside a drawer in the corner of the classroom
DeleteI don't remember participating in many authentic literacy experiences. In school we did a lot of book reviews/reports and at the younger age we did AR tests over books we read. I think teachers may have made an attempt, the finding spelling words in a newspaper rings a bell. However, I don;t think they were successful in creating true authentic literacy experiences.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response, Taylor. I agree with you that your educators' attempt to incorporate the newspaper to find spelling words was not a truly authentic literacy task despite using an authentic text source. My reasoning stems from acknowledging that the educators use the authentic text for a school-only purpose, such as learning to spell. How do you think your educators could have used the authentic text of a newspaper to make the task truly authentic?
DeleteGood post, Brandon. This is the first I have read about authentic literacy. After reading more about it, I failed to see any disadvantages to using it in a classroom. I believe this because when this tactic is used, all tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy are being met. For example, I like how you mentioned using a newspaper in your post. By using a newspaper, students are keeping a cultural competence, because the newspaper is specifically discussing what is happening in their community. Also, students are developing a sociopolitical consciousness because the newspaper will discuss issues surrounding the community allowing for the students to develop their own positions. Finally, I think this is also having students experience academic due to the other two tenets being met.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 1, I do not remember many experiences of authentic literacy being used in the classroom. However, there is one experience where my teacher brought in brochures of different small business in my town, and we had to go through them and decide which business we would visit and write a review about. This was a really good experience for me, because I was interested to read about the different businesses and what they offered. This experience also interested me to write as well, because I was putting in my opinions, but also backed my opinions up with details regarding the business. I believe this experience allowed me to experience academic success and be more aware of what my community offered through literacy.
To answer question 2, I would simply just present facts and allow my students to make their own decisions. I don’t believe in indoctrinating my students to think one way, because it I think indoctrinating students is very disrespectful and devious. However, I think it is important to present problems society faces. I think this can be done through literacy. Having students read short novels or picture books depending the age group and allow students to make their judgements that way, therefore as an educator, I would keep my opinion out of it as much as possible.
Thank you Billy for this intriguing response. I think you made an excellent point by stating authentic literacy tasks that implement an authentic text with an authentic purpose incorporate all three tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy. I also enjoyed your connection by stating how, through your educator's incorporation of authentic text with business brochures, you became more engaged in the reading and writing process, as opposed to the traditional school-only literacy tasks. Moreover, I believe you brought a good point about not indoctrinating students but providing multiple perspectives to students to allow them to decide for themselves while simultaneously recognizing the importance of presenting societal issues.
DeleteWhat would I do to combat a parent's insistence that I'm promoting propaganda rather than reading and writing fundamentals? I would show them the standards. My job as a teacher isn't just to show my students they can make a difference, but those teachings would be empty if I didn't also teach them fundamentals. Every time students are partaking in "social justice warrior propaganda," they are investigating, collecting data, researching, collaborating, planning and taking action, reflecting, and evaluating. Those correlate with standards for each grade and are applicable to other fields and in life. I also think making what students are doing more accessible for families to see and learn can also broaden their understanding.
ReplyDeleteI think this is great. Showing them these fundamentals show them meaning behind what they are learning but are also able to see why they "have to learn it". This is a way that can show why these social justice issues are a huge thing for our students to learn. Learning things that happen in the world that affect is important for them to learn.
DeleteTo address a parent who is less than enthusiastic about my lessons, I would explain to the parent step by step how my lesson teaches all students literacy skills and explain that at the same time, it reaches students who face these kinds of issues in their lives -- even if their child is not one of them. I would explain to them that we celebrate diversity in my classroom and that I want my students to grow up to celebrate diversity outside of the classroom. If the parents still did not agree with my lessons, I would incorporate student work with these lessons in my classroom newsletter. And, of course, at the end of the day I will have already explained all of this to my principal, who hopefully is on my side.
ReplyDeleteOne way to combat a parent that is set in their ways about this is to explain to them what is going on and that through social justice their student is still gaining all the necessary reading and writing skills. Sometimes parents can think that we as educators are brainwashing or wanting our students to believe how we believe. When in reality we are making our students more aware of what is occurring outside of the classroom and their homes.
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