Week 12 Continued Discussion of Paper Topics

Continue your discussion of paper topics here. Take the time to read over your classmates' comments and my comments on the previous post.

Week 11 Discussion of Paper Topics

This week, I would like you all to discuss your paper topics for you final paper. Feel free to pose questions to the rest of the class to get feedback on what they think about things. The goal is to share your thoughts and help each other clarify ideas for the final paper and the proposal.

Week 8 Discussion of Readings

This week I would like you to discuss Coogan's article, "Community Literacy as Civic Dialogue." What do you think about how Coogan approaches community literacy in contrast to Flower? Are there any signficant differences and/or similarities between the two authors that you would like to discuss? Thinking about our discussions regarding Over-the-Rhine, how might Coogan's work here inform how we approach an oral history of this neighborhood?

Week 7 Discussion of Readings

This week I would like you to reflect on this concept of intercultural inquiry. On the level of theory, intercultural inquiry is all about developing deliberate ways to negotiate meaning across difference in ways that are just. Another way of putting it is that it is about using literacy to negotiate across systems of oppression and inequality in the hopes of dignifying others and igniting social change. Central to this deliberative process is establishing an ethical relationship between self and other that works for the mutual benefit of both the individual and the broader community.

In your view, how useful, in practice, is Flower's and the CLC's model of intercultural inquiry? Besides the community literacy initiatives done at the CLC, what might other productive community literacy projects look like that place intercultural inquiry at the center?

Over-the-Rhine Websites

Here are some Over-the-Rhine (OTR) websites, particularly for those of you who are considering focusing on this community for your research methodology paper:

My OTR Website: http://www.nku.edu/~issues/rhine/Over-the-Rhine-MainPage.htm

Irhine.com Web-site: http://irhine.com/

Drop Inn Center Website: http://www.dropinn.org/Default.aspx

Website linking to OTR nonprofit organizations: http://www.overtherhine.org/

The Miami University Cemter for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine: http://www.fna.muohio.edu/cce/

Rebirth of Over-the-Rhine (documentary currently being made): http://www.over-the-rhine-movie.com/

On this blog posting, I encourage you to comment and share your responses and thoughts concerning any of these websites and OTR in general. Next week in class, let's have a discussion about OTR and the community literacy work going on there.

Week 6 Discussion of Readings

One of the major themes covered in this week's readings has to do with developing a theory and practice for using research and pedagogy for the purpose of empowering individuals and the community. For Flower, this entails developing a rhetoric of engagement that benefits the self and others. For those doing oral history interviews, it means taking knowledge gained through the interview process to make sense of the interviewee in ways that are ethical and just.

Reflect on what it means to engage in research that actually makes a direct difference in the lives others. How are power relationships to be negotiated in ways that are just? Following Flower, what does activist research have to contribute to community work? How can research in collaboration with others work to empower a community?

Video of Habermas

Hi All,

I found this a few minutes ago and thought it was interesting. It's not really on topic for this class, but it's only 5 mins long and gives a chance to see what he looks like and hear him talking about some of his own theories:

Week 5 Discussion of Readings

Consider Linda Flower's approach to community literacy, based on the reading assigned for this week. Flower devotes an entire chapter to exploring the idea of community literacy. In what ways might her understanding of community literacy complement our discussions in class and/or blog postings? In what ways might her approach to community literacy challenge some of the issues raised through class discussion and/or blog postings?

As we discussed in class, this week you need to write the equivalent of 300 words, either directly in response to the questions I raise above, and/or in response to what others write.

OTR article in Cincinnati Business Courier

I wanted to share this interesting article with the class:
With disproportionate number of social services, Over-The-Rhine also grapples with concentration of crimes

Here's another:
Over-the-Rhine's Washington Park is expanding

And a third:
Social service agencies sue over resolution

Week Four Discussion of Readings

This week I would like you to respond to the assigned reading by discussing the concept of the “public sphere” in light of the issues raised in Chapters 3 and 4. Drawing from the work of cultural theorists and composition scholars, Weisser shows how a genuine public sphere is to be understood as a site of deliberative conflict where democratic values and ideals of social justice are upheld. Given Weisser’s treatment of the public sphere, it appears that locating an actual public sphere in today’s society might be difficult. In your view, are there any actual current public sphere’s that are actively sustainable and made available to citizens in meaningful ways? If so, where? If not, why?

Literacy in the Classroom

I found this book through the lending library at that DSAGC. It caught my eye because of our dicussions about literacy in the classroom. The purpose is to organize your classroom in a way that promotes literacy. I found it interesting, I hope you do too.

Spaces and Places
In Spaces & Places you'll find a wealth of full-color photos from all sorts of classroom spaces in PreK-5th grade, including well-organized areas for whole group and small group reading instruction, classroom libraries, literacy work stations, teacher desks, and storage areas. You'll love the "before and after" pictures and the step-by-step processes outlined for organizing your furniture and cabinets, setting up your room space by space, and using your walls thoughtfully. Debbie has even documented how to pack your room at the end of the year to save time next fall (so you can focus on thinking about instruction) and what to do if you must move all your belongings.229 pages
Type: Book

Week 3 Discussion of Readings

In providing responses to this week's readings, I would like you to consider the movement toward social notions of discourse in composition and literacy studies. In your view, what are the strengths and limitations of conceiving discourse and literacy from a "social" perspective? What implications does viewing reading and writing as social activities have for writing instruction? How would you begin to imagine a community literacy project that takes seriously the social nature of discourse?

You might also want to reflect on some of the political implications connected with the radical approaches to composition discussed in Chapter 2 and critical literacy in Grabill's article. For those who are interested in helping students link the activities of literacy to the work of social change, how might connecting students with a local community outside of the classroom provide opportunities for using literacy to make a real difference in the lives of others?

NYT article of interest

Found this article, "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?em,
and wanted to share with the class. I hope we can delve into literacy online/online literacy at some point.

(note: I edited the imprinted post date and time so it would be listed below our assignment; actual post date: 9/9/08, 8:44 p.m.)

Tolerance and Collaboration

Fish believes that professors should stick to analysis while Ellen Cushman feels strongly about the relevance of service learning. These conflicted perceptions amount to the glass being neither "half full or half empty." The kind of careful dedicated neutrality proposed by Fish could in fact produce accurate and abundant analysis that those who have a practical agenda might translate into action research and service learning approaches (collaboration).

The fact that definitions for literacy vary presents a challenge. How is the individual's literacy competence measured by social-economic-institutional as well as individual constructs. Who gets to make the rules? Should a standardized form of English be declared the official language of the land, Native Americans, French, and Hispanic peoples were actually present in what became the United States before the English. English power became dominant and that's that?

Why should it matter? Should English be a "high culture" elite process or should service learning become a vehicle for challenging the entire multicultural society?

I think both sides of the argument make very good points when considering what being literate means. One side of the coin, as argued by Salvio and the Port Huron Statement, stresses that students be able to think objectively, analyze and assess information, but also students who take these skills they have learned at institutions of higher learning and apply them to real world issues. This is great, except there is a very fine line that may be crossed when you make academic subjects too political, as Fish argues. The goal of higher education, for the instructor especially, is to remain objective so as not to bias student’s thoughts and opinions. The institution itself, i.e. public, private, proprietary, etc, largely determines to what extent issues in the classroom can become political and how vocal an instructor can be about certain moral and political issues.
The other side of the coin, as argued by Fish, stresses that it is not the goal of institutions of higher learning to make students better moral or political thinkers, but only to increase their knowledge and develop their skills in analysis, assessment, and commenting. Instructors should academicize subjects in the classroom. While I agree that instructors should remain neutral in the classroom, the institution of higher learning itself is to be held to a much higher expectation, and in turn, produce students who are not merely concerned with social connections, getting good grades, and getting a good job. The Port Huron Statement makes a good point when it says that “…the universities are an often overlooked seat of influence”. Salvio also makes a good point in saying “…attention is being paid to social status…much too, is paid to academic status. But neglected generally is real intellectual status, the personal cultivation of the mind”. I think that what Fish’s ideology of what the goal of education should be leaves something to be desired, by the student and community at large. What do students do with all the knowledge they acquire in institutions of higher learning? What do they do with the analytical, assessment, and commenting skills they develop? Put these newfound things in the back of their closets with the textbooks they were unable to sell back to the bookstore? There really would be no point in learning these things if you didn’t put the skills to some use, other than that at the “good job”. Salvio draws a parallel between the protests led at Berkeley and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. The first image I conjure up is of SNCC. What would Fish have to say about those students?

Fishy ideas?

Though I did not totally agree with all that Stanely Fish wrote, I have to admit I side more with what he deemed as “literate.” I disagreed with what he suggested were the two duties of a teacher: to introduce the students to new texts/materials and then to provide them with the analytical skills to interpret them. I think that the first duty should be the skills and the second the provision of the texts/materials. However, besides that issue, I did agree with Fish.

The role of education should be to provide its students with the skills necessary to improve the world – but the actual “improvement” of the world is not an academic function. When the “improvements” of the world, or society, are pushed, I think it becomes more of a social (or sometimes political) event than an academic one. Teaching and learning should be about thinking – open thinking, free thinking and doing. When students are pushed into a general direction “to do good” then the freedom to think is lost. The claimed “father of education” John Dewey was a supporter for inquiry and independent thinking – allowing the educated to think of how to best use their skills.

However, that does not mean that I would discourage or protest students using their “literate” skills and abilities to improve the social conditions of the world, if they so choose.

Week 2 Discussion of Readings

How do the readings assigned for this week argue for different conceptions of what it means to be a "literate" or "educated" person in American society? On one hand, most of the readings seem to suggest that the literate individual is someone who is preoccupied with trying to figure out how best to use knowledge to work on behalf of the public good. On the other hand, Stanley Fish seems to be arguing something quite different: the literate individual is someone who can demonstrate a capacity to effectively analyze, assess, and comment on things without the goal of attempting to improve the world or make it any better.

What are your thoughts on these two distinct understandings of the "literate" individual? And, in your view, what role should higher education play in working to make a more literate society?

Welcome!

Hello Class! Welcome to ENG 638: Theories of Community Literacy! Each week you will post comments in response to a question that I post.

Each Monday, I will provide questions that ask you to more deeply explore the issues and topics raised in class. Your first post, due each Thursday by 4:00 PM, should be a minimum of 200 words. Your second post should be a comment on another class member's post and should be a minimum of 100 words. This second post needs to be submitted to the blog within a week after the original post.

The questions I ask will always be directly related to the work we are doing in class. Be kind, courteous, careful, and thoughtful in posts. Happy blogging!