Literacy with an attitude should be the right of every student because educators would agree that literacy is essential and therefore powerful. Patrick J. Finn’s book Literacy with an Attitude Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest discusses aspects of power, whether it be subtle or blatant, that are enacted in a classroom and therefore make powerful literacy challenging. Finn discusses the subtle mechanisms that exist, the conflicts between the types of discourse used, and the need for progressive methods to make powerful literacy accessible and possible for working-class students.
Now, after much personal reflections and consideration, I feel that classrooms are a reflection of the wider society and the local communities in which they are located. As a teacher I know I have authority in the classroom and I am very conscious that there are powers at play. Finn writes, “”It takes energy to make changes, and the energy must come from the people who will benefit from the change.” (p. XI) Literacy is power and an empowering education is important for all children regardless of social class.
Powerful literacy requires collaboration. It requires that parents, students, teachers and administrators work together in classrooms and schools to engage students in critical literacy or literacies. It requires that we question the path, the purpose and the end result. It requires that general or stereotypical assumptions be left behind. It requires that everyone involved in the process recognize that collaboration is essential and important for student success. For me, I see the parallel relationship between educating the LD student and the working class student Finn identifies.
I always revert back to what I know. Stay with me here; I come from a Special Education background. I know the term learning disability at one time was associated with an advantaged socio-economical class. The term was once used with a specific group of students because it protected white middle-class children from the stigma of failure. I also know that children from ethnic or lower income backgrounds did not fit into the same category; learning disability was a label primarily reserved for the privileged that struggled to succeed academically in a classroom. The term learning disability today does not discriminate against socio-economic class and ethnic background. The LD label used today, to classify a child who is not meeting academic expectations, can cause a stigma in privileged socio-economic areas. Ironically, a label that once protected now threatens to hinder.
Working in a privileged socio-economic community has shown me that labels like “learning disability” do have a strong stigma attached to them. That label is not one that is easily introduced or spoken of to a parent at an affluent school. New students enroll at the school and their academic history is sanitized before arriving. When the OSR is finally up to date, we then discover there may have been concerns at the previous school. Even then sometimes, rather than address the issue, parents opt to transfer their children to another school. This is frustrating for a teacher who is filled with good intentions and wants to help students succeed. What appeals to me is that teachers in the private sector are not to assume LD students will not go on to hold positions of power or meaningful employment but rather to assume if students are given the opportunity to engage in an empowering education they, the students, will find their way to success. Finn noted that in middle-class schools knowledge was “more conceptual” and that the theme of possibility exists. For an LD student at an affluent school the theme of possibility too exists, like in the middle-class schools, but it is because personal development and creativity are valued in an affluent school. Knowledge is being open to discovery. Finn tells us “it [is] used to make sense and thus it [has] personal value.” (p. 16)
Literacy is important to everyone’s success. The role of a teacher is thus extremely important. Teachers should be making a positive impact. As an idealist, I think for the most part they, or should I say we, do! Finn examines the role of teachers in diverse school settings and he reminds that teachers too are the product of their own educational and socio-economical backgrounds. We teachers have a tendency to expect what was expected from us but what we could be doing is taking up the challenge of reframing the pedagogy and expecting more, engaging in powerful literacy!
I am the product of immigrant minorities: Latin, first generation, Canadian. I was encouraged to play the “classroom game” by my parents. I engaged in what Finn describes as “accommodation without assimilation”. Literacy in my home growing up required the use of two languages and at times three. It required that I understood the difference between the culture I came from and the one I was being introduced to. I was going to have opportunity here in Canada that had not been available to my parents at home. I’ll never forget the difference teachers made in my life. I do know that although I viewed my teachers as different, I didn’t view them as opposing. Then again, the distinction here is that my family is not part of the involuntary minorities. My culture is part of who I am and I am free to celebrate that. My educational experiences and literacies are parts of who I am and I am comfortable with that. I don’t feel it held me back from being the best me I can be.
Most of the time, I feel I expect more from my students than what was expected by me from my teachers, but that is because education has changed in the last thirty years. Differentiation is demanded in my school setting as is collaborative and cross-curricular teaching and learning opportunities.
I know I encountered a few teachers growing up who would speak to me in that voice, that loud slow voice, that voice that was suppose to pass on literacy through osmosis but I also know that was not the case with all my teachers. I’m conscience that I became a teacher because I wanted to emulate those educators who had believed in me, those teachers who saw through the broken English and saw my potential; they saw my ability to think, question and make connections. Working with LD students, I have to see their ability to think, question and make connections that are real to them. Liberating education should be a right for all. Shouldn’t all teachers encourage thinking, questioning and make connections that are real? Collaborative learning environments make a difference. Powerful literacy is the answer for all students.
