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English 808: Technology & Literacy Unit 5—What is Literacy?

Unit 5 Required Materials

Due Week 6 (Sep. 30): Required Readings and Materials on Creating a Professional Academic Website

Required Readings

Optional Readings

Begin Class Part 1 @ 7:00 p.m.

Unit 5 Class Activities

Walter Ong, James Gee, and Paulo Freire are 3 of the most important literacy scholars of all time, so I want you to read short articles/book chapters by each of them. I’m making the Richard Ohman and Brian Street articles optional for later when you have time. We are only touching a little on literacy research since that could easily be its own course. But these 3 articles will help us consider the nature of literacy as it gets transformed by technology.

Part 1. Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

Discuss these questions:

  • What is literacy?
  • What is illiteracy?
  • What are the characteristics of a literate person?

Try to write a literacy definition which is about a 1/2 page long.

Part 2. Large Group Discussion (15 minutes)

Part 3. Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

Discuss seminal literacy scholar Paolo Freire’s ideas about literacy by answering the following questions:

  • Freire says, “Reading does not consist merely of decoding the written word or language; rather, it is preceded by and intertwined with knowledge of the world” (p. 29). How do you think the world has shaped your view of reading? How has it shaped your students’ views?
  • Freire also says, “Learning to read and write means creating and assembling a written expression for what can be said orally” (p. 35). Scholars have argued about the differences between orality and literacy. What role do you feel orality has played in shaping your views of literacy?
  • Finally, Freire argues that we need to teach learners to gain “a critical perception of the meaning of culture by leading them to understand how human practice or work transforms the world…reading always involves critical perception, interpretation, and rewriting of what is read.” How, in an introductory class, do you think you can help students to gain not just literacy skills but critical literacy skills?

Part 4. Large Group Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Discuss group thoughts on Freire

Part 5. Small Group Discussion (10 minutes)

Now consider the following question as a small group:

  • How might techology be impacting/changing the nature of literacy as your group has defined it?

Part 6. Large Group Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Discuss group thoughts on technology and literacy

Assignments

Due Week 7 (Sep. 30): Required Readings on Tech Pedagogy

Optional Readings