The Literacy Gap In The Classroom

In “The Literacy Myth”, Harvey Graff and John Duffy argue that the standard way of thinking about literacy has been that it is mandatory for achieving wealth, appreciating democratic ideals, improving intellectual capabilities, and gaining social status. I agree with the myth that one can only receive these results through literacy because it has become the foundation of growth as evidenced by Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me” and Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read”. In “Superman and Me”, Alexie uses his passion for reading to attain literacy at an early age. Using his own success, he strives to change the ways society has set up for Native Americans to fail. Likewise, in “Learning to Read”, Malcom reflects on his past of utilizing

Times are changing. Literacy is not only a problem that the English teacher has to deal with. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write (Oxford Dictionaries). However, you have to use different skills to read a novel than you do with reading a science question. So it only makes that literacy should be taught in different ways for each different subject. It does a student no good to be able to physically read a science question but have no idea what it’s asking for. The last five years have seen unprecedented attention given to the literacy achievement of adolescents in secondary schools in the United States. Spurred by the release of flat or declining reading scores on national tests. (Donahue, Daane & Grigg, 2003). This could be easily linked to a lack of literacy techniques being taught in schools.

The problem is students in the middle school grades are not performing on grade level in reading fluency and comprehension benchmark assessments prior to the state assessment given in the spring. Also exploring more factors that can contribute to achievement gaps such as peer pressure, student tracking, negative stereotyping, and test bias go along with the gap being more than half the struggling readers.

Educators are charged with not only teaching the content of their subject, but also responsible for creating a learning environments that fosters communication, engagement, and reflection so that the students will be prepared for their future careers and learning. Creating a classroom that fosters reading and writing is one way to engage students while promoting that they reflect on the material and communicate their understanding or misconceptions of the content. In order to form a literacy-rich classroom educators need to increase the amount of time students interact with all forms of print and literacy and the classroom environment is an essential key to setting the precedent and model behaviors that will make students more successful and capable of high level learning. (Tyson, 2013)

Going through life we learn and grow differently in literacy. As a young child, I started off my reading by looking at pictures and then grew into more difficult literacy. Trying to comprehend how much reading would impact my life in the future when I was little, was something I never understood. Being in high school now, I have learned how much reading and writing would impact me and how many opportunities it could provide for me. Since I was that child who could have cared less about my literacy, I soon became the child that got so worked up if I wasn’t as superb as others in reading. Throughout my childhood, my literacy has had its ups and downs, but now being in high school I have worked hard in my literacy which has allowed me to take

The literacy narratives were not only a means to base where my writing skills are at, but take in information about people I barely know. Amongst my group, I would have to say the two foreign students had my attention indefinitely the entire time, because I was intrigued to hear about their journey to the U.S. The both of them had suffered great culture shock and went through the tedious process of learning American English. I can only assume that the difficulty was astronomical at first, due to the fact that we don’t speak proper English a majority of the time, which conflicts with the rigid learning that comes with learning a secondary language. It’s something about that culture shock that interests me as it shows a certain determination

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Reading and writing is crucial for increasing achievement among people of all ethnicities. For many young kids, books are their primary source of learning how to read and write besides the parameter of the classroom. However, there is a significant decrease in the literacy rate found in African-American communities. There is a need for stronger literacy education for this particular group of the population. A huge problem associated with that can be attributed the failure of the public school system to effectively educate the youth. According to the 2009 NAEP data, only 33 percent of 4th graders and 32 percent of 8th graders in the U.S performed at or above proficiency in reading on national tests. These results are very discouraging, in the African-American community, but the results are even worse because only 16 percent of African American 4th graders and 14 percent of African American 8th graders performed at or above the grade proficiency level in 2009.

The need for basic literacy skills is vital in order for our nation to continue to operate successfully. With approximately 5 million students, graduating below the National Standard for Literacy and unable to read, we must take a look at the curriculum and teaching techniques to assess whether the current systems need to be revised to better assure ALL students are successful. (Adolescent Literacy: A Policy Research Belief p. 1) The issue begins first with the definition of “Literacy”, and the fact that there are several aspects of literacy which are not currently included in the curriculum. Another issue is the “old” standards which are in place do not support the level of diversity which is now seen in many school systems. Then

Classroom learning should be taught based on reflecting on the culture and not a curriculum that doesn’t connect with students in particular those in urban settings. Looking into the mindset of both Delpit and Jenson student struggle with reading do to the lack of connection between social and cultural impact within the school curriculum. Without that connection students lose interest and it becomes a domino effect from generation to generation. As a result educators can close the achievement the gap.

Student survey responses corresponded with the most expressed concerns of teachers. Of the 45 students surveyed (proficient and deficient learners in reading comprehension), all expressed that the vocabulary within a text is difficult and makes it hard to comprehend a reading. Furthermore, 73% of students said that language (the language used in the text and the format of a text) in historical or English readings were confusing. Finally, 86% of students said that most of what they read in class was boring and they found very little interest in the reading.

These students are placed into remedial courses in order to help them catch up with their peers. I am also aware that there are other factors that can influence an individual’s ability to learn such as behavior issues, parental involvement, low-income families, certain minority groups, and English language learners. These individual’s may never be accepted by society because of their limited abilities in reading and writing. As a result, their future college education and careers may not exist because they will become anti-social due to learning disabilities. My reason for studying Literacy is to find out why students are not reading on the proper grade levels. Lenses on Reading was an excellent read to begin to identify with why students struggle with literacy and what theories and models can better help the students reach their full

Some literacy issues are becoming more and more prevalent in recent times. In the day and age we live in; we have access to the newest data and notions regarding literacy in the current education

The failure of students being able to read and comprehend what they are reading is a great concern for most schools. When students enter the fifth grade and are not on grade level, they are already behind their classmates. Teachers are then responsible for remediating the students to get them on grade level. Unfortunately, these same students are unable to keep up with on grade level standards teachers are required to teach, because they lack the skills needed. These students will continue to struggle throughout their education because they will not be able to catch up to their grade level. Many educators have realized there is a gap between fluency and comprehension. Because of this realization, special instruction such as guided reading and remedial teaching has been implemented.

Professor Jacob Neusner states that there exists a social contract between teacher and student, which is that true learning occurs when teachers teach students to teach themselves. In his article “What Does ‘Vocabulary’ Mean?”, Andrew Heinze asks what should professors at educational institutions do to accommodate the needs of students and address the problem with college students not comprehending basic vocabulary, and the impact this has on their performance in school. In order to address this education gap a few things need to be called to action and or either accomplished: attrition rate of teachers, parents of students need to become more involved in their children’s education, the lack of reading comprehension with students needs to