https://padlet.com/japascu/5ru0qeuft6pj en-us 2016-10-17 19:46:42 UTC 2025-11-09 23:25:24 UTC hello@padlet.com japascu https://padlet.com/japascu/5ru0qeuft6pj/wish/131297780 In class, we asked "What do I need to know about students' literacies?" We listed several answers for this question, but I believe it could all be summed up into one word: Background. Yes, the word is vague and it seems like a cop-out answer, but it really is the perfect word to answer this question. Let's examine Background in two ways: Cultural / Familial and Academic.

Cultural / Familial Background is important in understanding students' literacies outside of school. It is important to understand that literacies are not only formed or created within the school setting. With the amount of time students spend outside of the school vs. inside the school, it could be argued that most literacies are actually formed or created outside of the school setting. Cultural / Familial Background is important because it encompasses Religion, Race / Ethnicity / Nationality, Socioeconomic Status, and many more. For example, Religion, as it relates to literacies, influences how students comprehend certain topics such as war--a topic that is present in all History classrooms. Language influences the difficulty of reading or writing in the classroom. Race / Ethnicity / Nationality influences the type of words or phrases certain groups of people use. Socioeconomic Status influences how much exposure students have had with different forms of literacies.

Academic Background is important in understanding students' literacies inside of the school. It is important to understand the students' previous literacy knowledge, abilities, and practices in order to make judgments on how to further improve their literacy skills. For example, it is worth knowing which students struggled in a certain class before coming to your class (A student who flunked World Geography will surely not have the literacies needed for success in AP Human Geography). The opposite could also be true, a student who excelled in English class might need more of a challenge in research papers assigned to your Social Studies class. Another example would be students with Individualized Education Program (IEP). Students with IEPs might need more time to read, write, or take an exam. This type of information is important in understanding students' literacies.]]> 2016-10-17 19:59:32 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/5ru0qeuft6pj/wish/131297780 najager https://padlet.com/japascu/5ru0qeuft6pj/wish/131933417 I love the cross-content connection that you made with academic literacy skills. Many contents have transferable skills that apply in other disciplines. While a student can fail math and excel in English, that is less likely with English and History as you pointed out. It is important to understand how various skills and literacies in different contents are related to/ build off of each other. I explored this in my Epiphanies Post (ELA Teachers Aren't the Only Reading Teachers)which I will shamelessly link here because I feel that these two posts compliment each other. https://padlet.com/najager/s5t6i84hpp4m]]> 2016-10-19 21:25:16 UTC https://padlet.com/japascu/5ru0qeuft6pj/wish/131933417