Who+are+adolescent+readers+and+writers?

Who are adolescent readers and writers?

Robert Petron and Mark Lewis's article, "Deficits, Therapists and a Desire to Distance: Secondary English Preservice Teachers' Reasoning About Their Future Students," is a lesson in the lengthy statement of the obvious. That was my thought as I began reading. "No duh!" is an actual comment that I had scribbled in the margin. The obviousness of the article, however, gave way to a profound appreciation for the lengthy discourse that forced me to investigate how I think of my students. I was reading along and caught myself thinking, "I could have written that description of adolescence." From there, they had me. I was enthralled with their question of how my preconceived "system of reasoning" influences, even dictates my practice. I was surprised to reach the end and find myself echoing the authors' call to think about how I define my students and to then be able to rethink my definition with an eye on allowing my students full personhood.

While the Deficits article discusses, at length, the idea of how we as teachers perceive our students as highly affecting our instruction of these young humans, Catherine Snow and Elizabeth Moje focus in on how we are failing this same demographic when it comes to reading instruction after the elementary school years. "Colleges must offer remedial reading and writing courses for an alarmingly high percentage of students, suggesting that a high school diploma doesn't guarantee college-level literacy skills" (Snow 66). Also, this article draws an undeniable connection between intentional literacy instruction and course content of all of the core subjects and even elective courses. "Students must learn to use literacy and language as tools for comprehending and representing subject-area concepts" (Snow 66).

The school at which I am employed has a reading class that provides the "targeted literacy interventions" for which Snow calls (Snow 67). This class is made up almost entirely of "at-risk" students and the teacher and reading coach focus on not only English based strategies; they also team with the Social Studies department to support the writing that is required in that discipline. Science teachers are consulted as to where reading support is needed in their classes. This class seems to answer the call that the Snow article sounds.

Lastly, Jim Burke's article acted as a frame of reference as I considered my preconceived ideas about my students and my support and intentional instruction of reading. "Connecting the Classroom, Community, and Curriculum" allowed me to come full circle in my thoughts on adolescent literacy. Jim's urge to make his curriculum relevant and useful to his students mirrors my desire to do the same. I want language to come alive to my students. I want them to see how it connects to their lives and to the world at large. The range of readings this week has spoken to me, even though I was sure, at the outset, that I already knew this tune.