Adolescent Literacy

In the two readings “Who are adolescents today?” and “The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy: Myths, Motivations, and Mysteries” the authors focus on adolescents. They talk about what it means to be an adolescent and the impact it has on a learning environment. In the first reading the authors, Intrator and Kunzman, focus on the importance the idea of “youth voice”, and the conversation between teachers and adolescents. The second reading, on the other hand, is based on a research study about the social and cultural practices of adolescent literacy. I completely agree with Intrator and Kunzman, in that, dialogue between students and teachers is almost nonexistent. Almost all research done on adolescent literacy do not even mention anything on a student’s perspective and how that can be beneficial for improving curriculum.

Moje defines an adolescent as person between the age of ten to twenty. According to the reading adolescent literacy does not begin until fourth grade. The study consisted of surveys, interviews, observations, and analytic methods. A fact that I found quite surprising was, the results from the study showed that 92% of students read outside of class. This is interesting because people usually think that youth do not read, but that is not the case here. Students were also asked how often they read for pleasure “students who did indicate that they read for pleasure, the average frequency was 3.87, or just under once per week (a 4 on our scale)” (Moje).  The results then go on to show that female students were more likely to read for pleasure, than the male students.  African American students reported reading for pleasure more frequently than Latino students and White” (Moje). The results also showed that African American students were more likely to read for pleasure.  The reading did actually say that this kind of reading does not really benefit the students, because when they do read for pleasure it is not novels that improve literacy. One student in particular even said he did not enjoy reading only if it is something he likes. Based on my experience as a student, I never liked the books we read in class I always thought they were boring. I think that could have been a reason why I am not really a big fan of reading, even now. My question is, if we find the students novels that interest them, and can improve literacy, could that encourage them to read more novels outside of class? I included a picture of one of the harry potter books because it was ine of my favorites growing up and I would have loved to read it in class. The reading also talks about how social networks can affect literacy. “Sixth grader Carlotta told an interviewer about being a member of a group that wrote and shared personal goals: ‘We all have a copy of it, and then we save it, and by the end of the year we see what goals we’ve accomplished’” (Moje).

The reading starts out by addressing how important it is for students critiques on their experiences with the curriculum, even though they are the ones that know the most about school. “Little attention is paid to their experience; their critiques are rarely sought…as insiders, familiar with every detail of school practice…and potentially, an agency for positive change” (Intrator and Kunzman)”. There are little to no studies that focus on the students point of view, that is how overlooked this topic is, even though it can be very beneficial. It is important to hear the student’s point of view because we are only trying to improve our methods to benefit them. “What is particularly missing from the research is student perspective on teaching strategies” (Intrator and Kunzman). I completely agree with this, looking at it from a student’s perspective there was always somethings I did not like, when it came to different teachers teaching styles. And, I know some of my peers felt the same way about some of their teachers. I think maybe if we were able to voice our opinions that could have possibly helped us in the long run. “Listening to students plays and important role in education reform, it provides a necessary foundation from which education leaders can develop informed opinions and take practical action for school change” (Intrator and Kunzman).  Students generally felt as though school is boring or uninteresting. A solution to this can come from a discussion between the teacher and the students. Perhaps, if the teacher is willing, they can maybe change something about the way classroom is set up, to try to peak the student’s interest. A question I have is, how can we as educators, get rid of the notion that school is a boring place? How can we make students want to learn?

These readings definitely go hand in hand. “The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy: Myths, Motivations, and Mysteries” focuses on the surveys, observations, and analytical methods conducted on the students. The results basically showed that, contrary to popular belief, students do actually read outside of class. This is a good piece of information to know because according to “Who are adolescents today?” dialogue between teachers and students can be very beneficial. Teachers can talk to students and see what peeks their interest, and they can maybe even find a way to incorporate that in the classroom, so they are more engaged and willing to learn. Another idea that seemed to get students more involved was “social networking” the more students did things like read books and share poetry the more engaged they were. I believe that creating more environment’s such as the one described by the sixth grader (the book club), will get the students to not be bored and want to learn more.