Literacy...toward what?

During a classroom visit to 4th grade, students were talking in pairs. "What are you doing?" I asked one student. He thought about it for a moment, then replied, "Language arts-ing." The teacher, walking by, looked at him with a sideways glance. I laughed.

Of course there was a purpose to the lesson. "We are revisiting the difference between a main idea and topic sentences," the teacher shared with me during partner talk. A paragraph was on the board along with guiding questions. After discussion, the teacher invited students to share their team's thinking with the class.

At the end of the lesson, as I gave the teacher my instructional walk notes, I asked students why it was important they be able to identify the main idea of a text.

• "So we can better understand what we are reading."

• "So we can write a good research report."

• "If a friend writes me a letter, I will know what they are really trying to say."

Their responses were heartening; students knew the "why" of their learning in addition to the what and the how.

There is a larger discussion occurring about effective literacy instruction. The focus seems to be on "best practice", such as the intensity and approach for teaching phonics. But toward what end - to develop phonemic awareness, or to ensure students can access all types of texts in their future, or to ensure equity, or...what?

I worry that these online "conversations" around literacy are more focused on who's right or wrong. This is short term thinking. Instead, we might ask: What are the long-term goals for this discussion? Why is this important now? (Or, who's deciding it's important now and why are they making it so?) Without a student-centered vision for engaging in this dialogue, it might appear that this conflict is only for sake of argument and/or attention-getting.

Put another way, would our own students recognize the "why" for this issue? I hope so as our actions are often the most powerful teacher.

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