Running Head: LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM 1

Thinking Response 1

Stuart Jackson-Monroe

EDUC 4354 Literacy and Learn in I/S Curriculum

Lauri Roberto

Lakehead University
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Thinking Response 1

To begin, I will explicitly express my understanding of the term literacy as it pertains to

education. Then I will engage in the topic of literacy by synthesizing and commenting on Allan

Luke’s video. Finally, in the third paragraph I will discuss literacy in History. Prior to the start of

teacher’s college, my definition of the term literacy would have been “the act of active and

engaged reading and writing”. Since starting school, I have learnt that literacy also includes

active and engaged listening. By incorporating the act of listening into my working definition of

literacy, the word is strengthened to incorporate all three major modes of effective thinking. I do

not think it is a stretch to say that humans in the modern sense think by reading, writing, and

listening. Moreover, this is effectively how we make sense of the world. By emphasizing literacy

in the classroom, we as teachers are effectively stressing the importance of thinking. Does it need

to be expressed why both thinking and making sense of the world is important for students? As

an exercise, try to imagine why thinking is important. It will hurt your brain because of its self-

explanatory nature. By rooting my definition of literacy to the essential fundamental truth that

thinking is pivotal to the existence of humanity I feel comfortable discussing further topics

because I have established my personal connection with the word in question, literacy.

In this paragraph I will engage in the topic of literacy by synthesizing Allan Luke’s ideas

while commenting on their use in class throughout the paragraph. In Allan Luke’s video, he

discusses the concept of literacy as he emphasizes the idea that literacy is to be taught in every

subject, not just English. On its face it seems obvious, but it was not until recently that literacy

was to be taught in all classes. An example Luke gives is, in science a teacher should not expect

that a student will understand how to read instructions that are subject specific to science until

they are taught how to do it. Further, a lab report will have a different structure than a five-
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paragraph essay. It is in the best interests of the teachers to teach literacy in their course because,

as Luke explains, students gain higher grades in classes where literacy has been emphasized, and

this makes for a less disruptive and a more manageable class. Thus, it is up to the science teacher

to teach what his or her expectations are. Furthermore, Luke discusses vocabulary and word

segmentation. In the case for English as a Second Language, students cannot magically intuit the

phonetic meaning of words, they cannot imagine the ideas that you as the teacher desire without

expressing them to your students. Luke emphasizes the use of describing the phonetic use of

words.

In this paragraph I will discuss how literacy can be incorporated into History. There are

many ways to create a language rich environment in history class. For instance, you can use

CDs, audio books, or sounds in nature to teach engaging listening skills to audio learners. For

visual learners you can use flashcards, movies with subtexts or magnetic letters to teach

engaging reading skills. To develop engaged writers, you can ask students to express themselves

through creative writing or make postcards or advertisements.

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Reference Page

Luke A. Literacy Across the Curriculum. The Learning Exchange.

thelearningexchange.ca/videos/allan-luke-literacy-across-the-curriculum. Sept 19,

2018.