Week 3: Assignment A: Literacy with an Attitude – Finn

Week 3: Assignment A: Literacy with an Attitude – Finn

Talking points:

1 – (beginning): A quote that I found to be very powerful from the preface is: “First, there is empowering education, which leads to powerful literacy, the kind of literacy that leads to positions of power and authority. Second, there is domesticating education, which leads to functional literacy, literacy that makes a person productive and dependable, but not troublesome” (p. ix-x) This particular quote intrigued me as it brought up the topic of discussion revolving around literacy and education and how it differs between different classes of individuals. It also highlights the idea that literacy does not directly correlate to equity, which is a powerful statement.  

2 – (middle): First off, page 10 - LITERALLY MY SCHOOL. The quote that I want to highlight however is one where Finn states, “Work was following steps in a procedure. There was little decision making or choice. Teachers rarely explained why work was being assigned or how it was connected to other assignments. Work was often evaluated in terms of whether the steps were followed rather than whether it was right or wrong” (p. 10). This resonated with me and how DelSesto teaches their students. While we utilize the Summit program that emphasizes the idea of personalized learning, there are still steps that each student must complete in order for it to be considered correct. There are specific dates that each student has to follow to complete their assignments and, truly, there is not flow between content areas. This made me think about the first quote I pulled from the preface and how we are teaching our students and whether or not it is truly bringing up equity in education.

3 – (end): On page 173, Finn describes a teacher that starts off the school year by diving into the students backgrounds that forces the students to think about their families and their culture. This connects to the concept of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and the discussion we had last week about bringing students and their backgrounds to the classroom.

Argument Statement: Finn argues that education does not always help reduce inequities, but actually plays into the cycle of inequity via the type of education provided to the student.