Exploring Technology as an Access Point to Literacy

As I embark on my Teacher-Librarianship Diploma coursework, I've been asked "what issues, interests, or opportunities do you anticipate arising in your teaching in the near future?" My interests and opportunities are meshed as one: I am eager and passionate about sharing my love for reading and stories with students, and sharing my experiences with my colleagues so that they too may find the same success; I hope that the opportunity in the near future to become a teacher-librarian will aid me in pursuing those interests to the full extent. 

Issues in Teaching

When asked about the issues I anticipate arising as an educator, I thought of the issues that I am currently facing, as I don't expect them to disappear anytime soon. As an English 8 teacher for the last three years helping my students understand both the importance and joy of reading and writing has been a challenge. I know that technology can be an aid to help engage students in literacy, but for some reason I don't see students using the tools available to them as often as they could. Based off of my experiences, I believe that making use of technology could help 21st century learners improve their literacy skills and their literacy engagement.

Reading in a Digital Age

Reading is a significant aspect of my identity, and it is evident to anyone who walks into my classroom. From the classroom library, to the decor, and bulletin boards, my classroom is known to be a place where reading takes place. While some students are excited for all of the time they get to read in my classes, and are eager to share their experiences with me, others dread it. Those students return to my classroom library every day to grab a different book to "read" (ie. stare at and mindlessly flip pages), and wait for the time to be over. This hurts my heart, because I know that there is a book out there for each of them - we just haven't fount it yet.

For the last two years I've read The Crossover by Kwame Alexander to my eighth-graders, and they have been riveted. I've also read various picture books, and short stories. Each time I've come to the same conclusion: my students love to be read to. Knowing this, I am confident that those who are apprehensive towards picking up physical books would enjoy listening to audiobooks. In a school setting, they seem to be a hard sell though, and I'm not sure what the barrier is. I'd be curious to explore what the barriers are to students accessing audiobooks, whether physical or social, and then curate the different access points that are available to students through both their school library, and their local public library.

Keywords: auditory learners; accessibility; teenage psychology; audiobook apps; barriers to reading

Written Expression vs. Verbal Expression

I have a student - let's call them Kai. Kai is a quiet, reflective student who has learned to love reading. They judge whether a book is good or excellent based on whether they want to read it over, and over again. Kai is very introspective, and likes to communicate with their teachers their philosophical musings on life. In English class, in one-on-one conversations with myself they will make impressive analyses of character motivations, and how these motivations connect to the plot. They'll connect their reading to the greater world, and pose deep thinking questions. In this aspect, they are a dream English student. If you ask Kai to write those beautiful thoughts down though, or speak them into a talk-to-text device, they clam up and shut down. 

Kai is not the only student I've had that has been able to verbally demonstrate understanding, but has struggled with written expression. I know that there are technology resources available to help take advantage of these verbal abilities, like recording a video for Flip Grid, or making use of talk-to-text software, but I have often found that these students are also hesitant to make use of these platforms. I again wonder, what are the unseen barriers of these technology tools? 

It also leads me to ask many philosophical and pedagogical questions:

If a student is willing to speak direct thoughts to a teacher, but is unwilling to speak into a recording device, or write their thoughts down on paper, how do we help that student?

How can we emphasize both the validity of expressing oneself verbally, and the importance of being able to express oneself through written words?

Looking at educational values, what's more important? That a student can express themselves at all, or that a student can express their thoughts in a concrete written form?

Keywords: writing skills; written expression; verbal expression; 21st century learner; conversation as assessment; talk to text technologies; barriers to written expression

Topics to Explore

The educational landscape has changed significantly in the last decade (or so it feels to me). In terms of what we teach, how we assess, and who is sitting in front of us, the amount of change can feel overwhelming. This exploration today has led me to consider basic, yet all-encompassing and intimidating questions like: what is literacy? How is literacy changing? What does it mean to be "literate" in 2022? What will it mean to be literate in 10 years? 15 years? It seems to me that if we pigeonhole literacy as purely the ability to read and express ourselves in a written capacity, then we are excluding the abilities of a significant number of individuals. How can we define literacy so that we include all those whose version of literate differs from the norm?