In thinking about the questions given in the prompt for this week, I would define literacy as the ability to read, comprehend what you read, and applying what you have read. To me that defines how we use reading as students. When we read in preparation for a test or a book report, we are applying those skills of comprehension and recalling information.
These are very important in school but I think that as teachers we should also instill that reading just doesn’t have to be an act to regurgitate information back for an assignment. Especially in light of reading American Street and All American Boys this past week. Both books highlight social issues that we are currently facing today, and I think that using them in a classroom could be beneficial in talking about those issues with students.
These two books show students and how characters would handle and react, whether good or bad, to the hard situations and questions that we are sometimes afraid to confront. One of the quotes that I was really drawn to in the readings was “He’d probably been scared shitless every time he went back. He wasn’t strong because he wasn’t afraid. No, he was strong because he kept doing it even though he was afraid.” (All American Boy, Kindle Locations 2823-2824). It is ok to be concerned about dealing with situations but as teachers we need to deal with them anyway, no matter how hard.
In thinking about adolescent lit, and how it falls into reading I think it could be one of the foundations of reading. We start learning to read at such a young age, that I personally think that “adolescent lit” is so important. Books and reading give us hope and remind us that everyday characters face the same challenges that we do. A favorite quote of mine is by C.S. Lewis and it says that “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”. For me this quote describes the essence of what adolescent lit is, showing students that there good in the midst of evil.