Week 2 - What is Community Literacy?

Ethnography / Interview

 

 

Even though I’m used to the schedule, it still sounds strange.

 

“When does your 4th period start?”

 

“12:22”

 

“12:22?”

 

What a random time.

 

“Yeah, 12:22. That takes us to the end of the day at 1:50.”

 

1:50? Another random time. High school kids are out of high school at 1:50 everyday? I thought it was closer to 3.

 

“But get here early because we have to get you signed in. Get here by 12.”

 

Even though it’s only been a year and everyone in the office still knows me, it’s best to follow the rules. Everyone needs to get signed in. Every guest that is. Teachers have ID badges, and they are supposed to wear them at all times. They even give you a neckband - or whatever you’d call it. It’s like a coach’s whistle or an all access pass at a concert. You wear this keychain, shoelace thing around your neck, and it holds your ID badge in a clear plastic case at the bottom. Most of them now just have a metal clip. Someone thought this through, and they started punching holes in the top of the ID badges. God, it’s efficient.

 

“Fine. 12. Where am I meeting you?”

 

“At the front desk, duh. Remember, we’re signing you in.”

 

“Oh, sorry. I’m used to...”

 

“Whatever. Get here by 12, and I’ll be there by 12:12.”

 

“12:12?”

 

“12:12! What’s the matter with you? You worked here; you know the god damned schedule! That’s when I get out of lunch. The students have 8 minutes to get to class.”

 

8 minutes? Is this based on research?

 

“Yeah... fine. See you tomorrow.”

 

“Later.”

 

It’s been a year since I’ve taught at Southwest, but my first encounter, albeit brief, reminded me of many things better forgotten.

 

The times - random, yet specific - are baffling. Being away from the insanity of that place allows you to think more clearly. Actually, time serves as a metaphor for how unnatural that place is. Classes are broken into 97 minute blocks. The school day begins at 7:05, but teacher’s have to sign in by 6:50.

 

Everyone says that the union is going to fight that 15 minutes.

 

“They have to pay us for that.”

 

“It’s not in our contract!”

 

Students will receive 388 minutes of direct instruction every day with scheduled 8 minute breaks between classes and a mandatory 30-minute lunch starting at 10:11am. For the next 181 days...

 

I gotta stop.

 

I’m off-topic and giving myself a headache.

 

Bottom line, it’s not normal. Who learns like that? And who institutionalized it? You don’t have to wonder why kids hate school.

 

It’s clear that my challenge will be objectivity. I have many ideas about school and many experiences that I’ll need to sideline in order to conduct the interview. I guess it’s good to reflect on this before the appointment.

 

Regardless, the appointment’s set. Tomorrow at 12:12 or something like that.

 

This should be interesting.

 

Actually, it’s already been interesting

---

 

The next morning over a bagel and coffee at Panera, I tried coming up with the questions I was going to ask. On some level, it would be easier to have a working definition of “community literacy.”

 

I spend the next hour and a half bouncing around different web pages.

 

I hit everything from adult literacy programs in Pittsburgh where “literacy” means reading and writing English to after school programs for high school students in Sacramento focusing on volunteer work in the community. There’s one project getting inmates in Texas to teach each other how to read, while another one in Cincinnati is focused on providing computer access and training to the people in their community.

 

Every page and program has a different definition.

 

A program in Australia addresses language and “numeracy” skills in their definition of literacy. A number of definitions of community imply “low income.” A University of Washington program addresses speakers of other languages in their literacy definition. Carnegie Mellon had the best working definition I found: “Community literacy projects let diverse people come together to make a difference through writing, speaking up, and speaking with each other about shared and public concerns.” <http://english.cmu.edu/research/inquiry/two.html>

 

I kept looking. Recurring themes emerged. It seemed that people were addressing similar issues with different avenues to approach those issues. With that, I took a stab at my own working definition.

 

Community is the space created by individuals coming together for some purpose. Whether sought or even known, everyone is part of multiple communities. From your home and neighbors to your work and school. From your friends and family to your town and country. Literacy is the ability to understand and decode, while being able to communicate and interact. Obviously, this applies to reading and writing, but also to languages, cultures, technologies and industries (areas of knowledge/expertise). Community literacy then is how people come together (or not) to deal with the issues of understanding and communicating.

 

Since that’s a mouthful, I decide to simply force my objectivity by just asking the questions without defining the terms for “Miss D” as she’s known to her students. Not sure at this point if this approach will lead me to a feasibility report and a recommendation, but I decide to follow Mr. Marley’s advice in that “every thing’s gonna be alright.”

I pull up at the school about 12 and spend the next 8 minutes chatting with people working the front desk who remember me. I’m bombarded with “What are you doing now?” and other such questions that I really don’t have time or even want to answer. “Going back to school” is the quickest and easiest response. Out of politeness, I ask how things are at Southwest. “The same” and different versions of this seem to be the quickest and easiest response for them.

 

Miss D arrives to sign me in. I get a visitors badge with my name and the date. An unfortunate, but necessary precaution in this day and age. You can’t have random people walking onto campus. Just as people refer to a “pre-September 11th world,” many educators refer to the old ways of doing things at school as “B.C.” - Before Columbine.

 

Half the school is finishing lunch, so students are clustered in groups around the quad as we walk across campus. I’m wondering if I will run into any of my old students. A bell blasts across campus. Students start to gather their things.

“Are we late?”

 

“That’s the warning bell.”

 

The AP’s voice crackles over the PA system.

 

“Students, that was the warning bell. You have 2 minutes to get to class or you’re be marked tardy. Remember that 3 tardies equal one absence and 3 absences bring your final grade down by 5 points and ...”

 

The lecture continues, but I tune it out. Remain objective. Observe now, process later.

 

The whole campus is moving and shifting. Some students break into a jog to make it across campus in time to avoid all that tardy business. One student throws the last of his fries to the awaiting seagulls. A couple starts kissing. And it’s the high school, I still need to prove something, kind of kiss. The kind that makes fathers think that they have daughters that age.

 

We fight the crowd and make it to the classroom. I don’t run into any of my old students.

 

Inside Miss D’s class, 12 computers sit on tables along the back of the room. Two black and white posters hang on the concrete wall above the computers. One is the mushroom cloud after the nuclear bomb testing on the Bikini Atoll. The other is the infamous “black power salute” from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. One white board is covered with objectives, readings and due dates. The other white board is outlined with student presentations of varying quality about the weapons used in World War I.

 

I observe Miss D’s 4th period class. This is her American History Honors class, and the topic for the day is immigration. She starts asking the students what they thought about the reading. Even though it’s an honors class, it’s obvious that less than half of the students read the assigned pages. Regardless, a dialogue starts to build with students sharing their perspectives. Differing opinions quickly emerge with some students offering their opinions gathered from somewhere.

 

“I think they should stop letting people into this country” and “Why don’t they learn English if they want to be Americans?” are some of the more memorable contributions.

 

After letting the students with more tempered opinions respond, she directs them to the assigned reading which focused on the concept of America as a “melting pot.” When viewed in a historical context, some of the more outspoken views die down. Anytime current issues are raised, students rely on their gut which makes for an interesting dialogue.

 

“Why don’t they stay in their own country?”

 

“Why do I have to pay for their education?”

 

She lets the students respond to each other pointing out that the reality is far more involved than their view of it. When one student concludes “all muslims are terrorists,” she’s quick to intervene in this faulty logic.

 

She uses the short response questions at the end of the article to guide the discussion reminding the students who didn’t read to “read it later, but take notes now.”

 

After about 45 minutes of reading, lecturing, discussing and dissecting the article, she gives them their assignment: a web-quest or powerpoint presentation on immigration. Students will have the next 45 minutes to do research. They can read the article if they haven’t already. They can start of the next immigration article, or they can use the computers. With only 12 computers and 30 students, some quickly jump up and start pushing to get to an open one. She has to yell at the students when two boys square off.

 

“Knock it off!”

 

“Asshole.”

 

“Pussy.”

 

“Hey, you two!”

 

They stare each other down, but one walks away.

 

In an aside to me, “They’re like animals. I’d like to use the computers more, but there are too many discipline issues.”

The students on the computers are mostly on track. A few have an instant messenger window minimized on their screen. Others open YouTube, find the video they were looking for and play it while looking up stuff for the assignment. Maybe because it’s a powerpoint assignment, most of the students start looking for pictures and not articles.

 

The class settles into work. Some students pull their desks together and start chatting. They are quiet enough and enough work is getting done that Miss D ignores them as we chat about school and the changes since I’ve been away.

 

The energy was building in the room the closer to the end of the day it got. Students start packing up their belongings as the general noise starts to build. The afternoon announcements start five minutes before the final bell. Miss D starts competing with the ridiculously loud announcements telling her students to clean up, sign off, read the assignments, study for the quiz, etc.

 

The bell rings and the kids can’t get out of the room fast enough.

 

After the room stills, she asks, “Do you miss it?”

 

“Not really. I’m exhausted just watching.”

 

“And today was a good day. The little monsters were pretty well behaved today.”

 

I sit opposite her desk and open my notebook.

 

The interview officially begins.

---

 

“So, what does community literacy mean to you?”

 

"Community literacy? Well, it’s not just reading. It’s about survival. Survival means that you can handle yourself in this world. The reality is that they don’t value literacy at the reading level or the society level. They have no real sense of community."

 

“But they are part of many different communities.”

 

“Sure they are. Students, parents, teachers and the area around us.”

 

“Right. There are different levels of overlapping communities from their friends to their neighborhood.”

 

“And what I’m saying is that on a micro and macro level, they don’t value literacy or community.”

 

“Wait. I know many of these students are in gangs. Whether we condone it or not, that’s a community they value.”

 

“Do remember those kids that jacked those pharmacies and then one of them got shot robbing a Blockbuster right over on 62nd ave.?”

 

“Yeah, they were Swan’s students in drop-out prevention.”

 

“Yeah and now that they’re in jail, they’re heroes. Now that they’re ‘inside’ they get respect. You should check out their MySpace or Facebook pages. Other students are posting comments like ‘way to go, bro’ or ‘can’t wait till you get out.’ It’s ridiculous.”

 

“So they do respect certain communities, but they’re shooting for the bottom.”

 

“The ‘bottom’ according to whom? You and I view it as the bottom because we grew up in homes and areas where education was valued. We heard about students dropping out, going to jail or joining gangs and we think of them as losers. For these students, it’s their life. Why should they aspire to go to college? Their view is ‘my mom didn’t go and she’s okay.’ But you and I wouldn’t view the mom as okay. This is why it’s cyclical. She’s probably struggling to survive. And that’s what these kids will do - struggle to survive. They’ll get a job a McDonalds, barely pass their classes and survive that way. You gotta remember that if they try to do well in school, people are going to look down on them. And you know how desperately they want to fit in.”

 

“Wow. Okay. So you have honors students. Surely they’re aspiring.”

 

“Yeah, but honors here is a joke. They’re better behaved and are more willing to do work, but the bar is so low that it doesn’t take much to get over it.”

 

“I know. Remember when I was here I was told that I was failing too many students. I said, ‘What are you saying?’ They said I was failing too many students. To be interpreted as ‘you need to pass more students.’ By manufacturing grades or lowering my standards is the only way half of my class got a ‘gentleman’s D.’”

 

“A ‘Gentleman’s D?’”

 

“Yeah. I always forget his name - the math teacher with the white beard and crazy hair in building 17. Anyway, that’s his term for passing a student with a D even though the student didn’t really pass. Most times he did it so he wouldn’t have the student again next year.”

 

“Speaking of lowering standards, we can’t give out zeroes anymore. So if a student doesn’t turn in an assignment, instead of getting a zero, we have to give them a 59%.”

 

“Because a zero impacts their average too much?”

 

“Yeah, but look what that does to the students who actually did the assignment. They worked hard and got an 80. Someone else did absolutely nothing and gets a 59? It’s ridiculous.”

 

“Okay. Let’s move on. How is community created at the school?”

 

“It’s not. It’s a bureaucracy. They want to increase student achievement, but what they’re doing is decreasing teacher satisfaction. Remember how we had to sign in when we got here in the mornings? Well, now it’s an electronic signature. And next year, they are going to tie it to your pay.”

 

“But that doesn’t affect most people, does it?”

 

“Yeah, but it’s a respect thing. I’m a professional, not an hourly employee. And if someone is late all the time, fire them. Don’t disrespect me in the process.”

 

“Well what about parents? You always hear how parental involvement is key to student success. How does the school create community there?”

 

“One teacher, Peggy Hunter, gets the parents of her students involved. Actually, she gets the whole community involved. She organizes field trips, has guest speakers, gets students internships and jobs.”

 

“I remember, Ms. Hunter. So she does all this by herself?”

 

“You know she is very possessive of her little empire. Students have to apply to get into her program, so she’s able to pick the students that she thinks will be successful and cut the ones who aren’t. She’s always writing grants to bring more money into her program, so the school just stays out of her way.”

 

“Yeah, but it sounds like they should follow her lead.”

 

“There’s too much in-fighting with administration to do what she does school-wide.”

 

“What about the school itself, other than Ms. Hunter. What do they do to create community?”

 

“Well, there’s Parent Connect and a newsletter that goes out - I don’t know - once every few months.”

 

“Parent Connect is where parents can check their child’s grades and get the teacher’s email and phone number. What about Back to School Night?”

 

“It’s a joke. I had 9 parents show up for 90 students. And that was more than anyone on this floor.”

 

“I remember. I had 2 parents show up when I was here.”

 

“Oh, they have this new phone system that automatically calls when a student is absent.”

 

“How does an automatic call create community?”

 

“It let’s parents know that their child isn’t in school that day.”

 

“A personal touch. What about sports or drama? Parents go to those things, right?”

 

“Usually it’s just the parents of the students involved. Not really creating community like you’re talking about.”

 

“I don’t really have a definition. I just can’t believe the school isn’t making more of an effort to include parents. Okay, what about teachers. How does the school create community with its teachers?”

 

“Ha! We have staff meetings and professional development, but they’re a joke! What a waste of time! I do sudoku puzzles during them.”

 

“I remember they were trying to encourage people to sit in and observe other people’s classes.”

 

“Yes, they’ve said that, but they’ve said a lot of things. The only things that seem to be enforced are the administrative, trivial things like signing in.”

 

“Well, what about teacher’s lounges?”

 

“The teacher’s lounges are really storage closets that some people use, but there is no central space for teachers or their departments. Since they broke the school into small learning communities, I’ll be lucky to see another history teacher all day. And then, it’ll probably be at lunch. Remember, there are a bunch of people there that don’t do anything. I have three people on my floor that don’t teach anything.”

 

“What about that part of the email system that had a Craigslist type community board where people could sell stuff and swap ideas?”

 

“That disappeared when they updated the email.”

 

“Wow. Okay, what about conferences?”

 

“The department heads will forward the information that they receive.”

 

“Do they encourage you to go? Meaning, do they reimburse you? Do they ask you to share with the department?”

 

“No. It’s not even an excused absence. You have to get a sub for the day.”

 

“Okay, what about the students? What about sports or clubs?”

 

“Many of them don’t want to spend any more time at school than they have to. Other students don’t have the grades they need to participate. A bunch of students are involved with a sport or a club or drama, but those students run together. There’s not a whole lot of community building going on outside of that group.”

 

“I think that’s plenty.”

---

 

It would be very easy for me to recommend that the school make more of an effort to engage the parents into the community. I also know what a challenge that can be. On one level it could be as simple as making one of the football games “parent appreciation day” where all parents are given a free hot dog and a thank you speech from the principal at halftime. Not that you have to give away something, but it doesn’t hurt. Your child’s education ranks up there are one of the more important responsibilities for a parent. You would think that they would want to be engaged in the process. The fact that they aren’t speaks volumes.

 

When I taught at Southwest, I was teaching 9th graders who were reading at a 2nd grade reading level. All of the high school reading teachers said it was obviously a problem in the lower grades. Not that they gave up on their students, but there was a sense of apathy surrounding the whole program. “We do what we can” was the best euphemism I heard. We sent letters and books home encouraging parents to monitor and help their child with their reading.

 

Reading, unfortunately, wasn’t the only problem. If a student is failing, teachers are supposed to call home. Many times the phone number provided was disconnected. Sometimes you’d get the old school tone with the recorded voice saying, “I’m sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service.” More times than not, I never reached anyone at “home.” In fact, you start to realize that “home” is a relative term with this population. I learned to ask for the “parent or guardian” of my students. Everyone’s story is different, but too many of these students have sad tales to tell.

 

That’s one of the most interesting aspects of the whole situation: no one wasted any time feeling sorry for themselves. Watching the students drop out of your classes on a weekly basis was difficult for me, not them. In their mind, they left for greener pastures. No more school, teachers, detentions or bullshit. They were free, and usually let everyone know it. Because you started to form a relationship with these students, they would tell you their plans. “Next week I turn 16! You know what that means - I’m outta here!” You ask them what they’re going to do. It doesn’t matter if you ask about money, a place to live or their future, they have it all worked out.

 

Having been there, I know that simply telling a school that they should do more to get parents involved in their child’s education is a tall order. The school should take a closer look at what Ms. Hunter is doing and try to expand it. Maybe become more of a player in the community by requiring students to complete a certain number of community service hours before they can graduate. With the graduation rate hovering around 50%, administration will probably resist any further restrictions or requirements.

 

Maybe if free adult education classes for the parents or guardians of these children were offered. Maybe free coffee and doughnuts on Wednesday nights. Open up the library and let parents check out books or use the school computers to get on the internet. There are probably dozens of ways to get parents involved. Start by asking around. Find a school with a high parental involvement and ask what they do. The reality is there are many players. At some schools, the PTA drives much of it. Sad to admit, but I don’t even know if there is a PTA at Southwest.

 

I guess that shows how important it is.

 

 

 

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