Entry 4. 3-2-1 Understandings

3 Ideas Worth Pondering

While reading the first two chapters of "Cultivating Genius," something that really stuck with me was Muhammad's (2020) discussion of what literacy is and what is means to people. Before reading this book, I saw literacy as a way of sharing ideas, communicating with others, and connecting with those around us. To me, literacy was a way of self-expression and self-enjoyment. Muhammad (2020) opened my eyes to the idea that literacy can mean all different things to different groups of people. For example, for the individuals in Black literary societies, literacy was not for enjoyment or fulfillment, but rather seen as liberation and power (Muhammad, 2020). This is something I had never considered before, and it has caused me to rethink what literacy means not only to me, but also those around me.

A second idea worth pondering is how our ways of assessment affect the students. In the article by Yoon (2019), she shares how students may develop different formulas to complete tasks asked by standardized assessments. While these formulas may assist students in producing sufficient work, oftentimes they cause students to leave creativity behind (Yoon, 2019). This caused me to rethink assessment. While it is important to be aware of where your students' understanding lies, this point showed the importance for our assessments to be diverse and creative to prevent students from falling into patterns and formulas, and rather encourage them work creatively with curriculum.

Finally, a third idea worth pondering is the concept of "repainting." In chapter 2, Muhammad (2020) address different policies and initiatives in education that are supposed to create a more culturally responsive classroom. However, these practices, such as the SAT's adversity score, don't get to the root of the issue such as the inequalities and biases, but rather paints over them (Muhammad, 2020). This section of the chapter caused me to think more critically about culturally responsive practices and whether they are working to solve inequalities in our education or rather cover them up. 

2 Inspiring Comments

One statement that I found particularly powerful was from Zaretta Hammond. In her discussion on culturally relevant teaching, she said "All instruction is culturally responsive. The question is to whose culture is it responding" (Hammond, 2021). This really stuck out to me because it really makes you question how our curriculum and classroom cultures affects our students. When first learning about culturally responsive teaching, you would just assume that you either have it or you don't. However, Hammond's comment forces you to see your role in culturally responsive teaching and reflect on whether you are benefitting all students in your class equally, or favoring a dominant culture.

A second powerful quote can be found in chapter 2. Muhammad (2020) states "What is common among all three historical photos is that when we look at them today, we speak of the students' bravery and courage to organize in ways to interrupt wrongdoing. Black students today don't receive that same commentary, yet they are in similar ways resisting curriculum and instruction that were not designed to advance their academic success or personal achievement." This quote stood out to me because educators will teach about and praise students in our history for standing up for what is right, but when students now show resistance to the curriculum, they are punished for not assimilating to the expectations. This quote has caused me to rethink students' defiance and what it means.

1 Commitment to My Future Students

One commitment I will make for my future students is to listen and trust my students and who they are. This is a concept that Muhammad (2020) brings up and I believe is often over looked. Listening to students and trusting what they say will give me an opportunity to adjust my curriculum to fit their needs. Additionally, it will help me develop a classroom culture that fits and benefits all of my students and their diverse backgrounds. Getting to know my students beyond their current test scores and levels of understanding of the curriculum will help me be a more culturally responsive teacher and create a safe place that is conducive to learning.

Entry 3. My Literacy Leaders

My Literacy Collage

Entry 2. SQ4R and My Literacy Experience

Over the past few readings, we were asked to use the SQ4R method as a strategy while reading. One big thing that this method caused me to do while reading was pause. Oftentimes when I read, I will skip headings and use the first and last paragraphs of sections to give me an idea of what the author was trying to portray and what the section was focusing on. Using SQ4R, I was forced to pause and consider the titles of the different sections. I then was able to formulate a question regarding what the title was, and then later reflect on and answer the question. This process made me slow down and consider what I was reading and led to me being able to have a conversation with myself regarding the topic.

The SQ4R method also helped me with the forum questions and discussions. Typically when completing assignments like this, I would have to fins the section that related to the question and re skim it to find an answer. With the SQ4R method, I was able to reference my notes that answered the questions from the headings. These notes sparked my memory and referenced the important aspects of what I read so that I was able to spend more time engaging with the questions and reflections and less time searching in the article for the answers.

One thing I feel that I need to continue working on is writing on sticky notes and not just underlining key points. I think building this habit will help me by forcing me to rewrite the key points in my own words rather than underlining or highlighting the author's words. This makes me take time to engage with the text and interpret it instead of mindlessly underlining. Taking notes will also help me be a more creative reader because it allows me to create my own understanding of what I am reading whereas underlining simply emphasizes the author's words.

A habit I need to build to help me engage in discussions with my classmates is forming my own opinions or thought before reading their discussion posts/engaging in discussion with them. When replying to others' posts, I sometimes found it hard to add on to their ideas and share my own if I went right into reading their thoughts before developing my own. I think developing the habit of taking time to process my own thoughts will allow me to produce better responses and create discussions with my peers.

Entry 1. What is Literacy?

Literacy means that a person is able to not only read, but also comprehend what is being communicated. One must also be able to take what they comprehend, develop their own ideas, and convey them through writing.  

A literate person is someone who can read and write clearly and in a way that can be comprehended by others. This is also someone who can communicate their ideas in more than one way. 

When developing these definitions, I reflected back on what the word itself means in its most basic form. When considering literacy this way, it relates to being able to read and write. However, I believe that there are deeper components to literacy such as comprehending what you read and having your writing be understandable for the intended audience. 

When considering who or what may have influenced the development of my definitions, I am brought back to high school. Often times an insult that was used by my classmates was calling someone "illiterate". This was something used when the person said something that made no sense, was hard to understand, or others thought was stupid (instead of saying "that was dumb/stupid" they would say "you're illiterate"). Because of this, literacy was then understood by me as effective communication, and a literate person was someone who could communicate their thoughts in a way that allowed for easy comprehension by others. 

I believe that I am a literate person, and I think this post is proof of that. Not only was I able to read the prompt and comprehend what it was asking, but I was also able to create a response and communicate it in written format. This post can then be read and understood by others due to the effective communication, grammar, sentence structure, and spelling used throughout the post. Because of the ability for others to read and understand what I am writing and trying to portray through this blog, I believe that I am a literate person.