ERDG 610: Literacy in Society
Program Requirements and Prerequisites: Required Course for Literacy Specialist B-6, 5-12, B-12, Childhood Education, and Early Childhood
Education. Prerequisites: none.
Course Description: Framed by sociocultural perspectives, this course examines literacy in the social context and the changing nature of literacy in
the 21st century. Areas of inquiry include how students’ cultural backgrounds and identities can serve as resources for literacy learning; linguistic
diversity; media literacies; multimodal literacies; and critical literacies.
Attributes
 Literacy as Social Practice**
 Equity**
 Generate Productive Learning Communities*
 Engagement
 Reciprocal Relationships Across Modes of Communication**
 Strategic Teaching to Promote Self-Extending Learning
 Assessment of Literacies and Their Development
 Research Based Professional Learning*
Attributes (continued)
 Respectful Representation of Students, Families and Communities*
 Critical Literacies**
 Disciplinary Literacy/Knowledge Building
 Data Based Decision Making
 Technologies and Digital Media**
 Materials and Resources
 Prevention and Intervention
 Standards*
Core Content
Possible Assignments
Possible Readings
Literacy as Social Practice
Literacy Practices Analyses
Students use concepts in course readings as
frameworks with which to analyze literacy practices
occurring in a variety of contexts.
Literacy as Social Practice Readings:
Larson, J. & Marsh, J. (2005). Making literacy
real. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Equity
Learning from Students’ Literacy Practices
Students consider closely the literacy experiences of
two students introduced in the course readings. This
paper asks course members to compare and contrast
the students’ literacy histories and practices drawing
on sociocultural perspectives on literacy, paying
attention to (1) what literacy practices the students
engaged in both in and out-of-school contexts and for
what purposes (2) who (e.g., family, teachers, friends)
and what (e.g., cultural institutions, church) supported
and/or inhibited their literacy practices both in and
Compton-Lilly, C. (2003). Reading families:
The literate lives of urban children. New York,
NY: Teachers College Press.
Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class,
race, and family life. Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press.
Gee, J. (2001). Reading as situated language: A
sociocognitive perspective. Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 44(8), 714-725.
Bausch, L.S. (2003). Just words: Living and
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out-of-school, and (3) how the students’ identities
(race, gender, language, sexuality, etc.), familial
backgrounds, and/or school imposed
labels/classifications shaped their literacy experiences
across contexts. Students consider what the
experiences of the students can teach them as literacy
educators.
Round Table Discussion Leader
Students lead a small group discussion of an assigned
article to extend and enrich course inquiries into
equity. Students create a handout including definitions
of terms, compelling examples of data (e.g., interview
quotations, transcript excerpts, field observations),
teaching implications, and discussion questions.
Reciprocal Relationships Across Modes of
Communication
Literacy as a Social and Multimodal Practice Using
the modalities of their choice (e.g., print, images,
music, poetry, video, animation, song), and a digital
platform a their choice (e.g., Glogster, Comic Life,
Photostory) students represent multimodally a
significant life experience and the role of literacies
within it. Students write a reflection paper describing
the inspiration for their project and the insights they
gained into literacy as a social practice and as
multimodal by completing it.
Multimodal Response to Course Reading
Students respond to a course reading through making
a short film including pictures and graphics.
Technologies and Digital Media
“Making a Difference” Movie
Students use iMovie or MovieMaker to create a 3-5
minute digital movie about educational change-maker
who is working to make education more equitable for
all students. The change-maker might be addressing
issues of language diversity, gender expression,
disabilities, poverty, immigration, among others, in
relation to educational opportunity.
learning the literacies of our students’ lives.
Language Arts, 80 (3), 215-222.
Monkman, K., MacGillivray, L., & Leyva, C. H.
(2003). Literacy on three planes: Infusing social
justice and culture into classroom instruction.
Bilingual Research Journal, 27 (2), 245-258.
Ma’ayan, H. D. (2010). Erika’s stories: Literacy
solutions for a failing middle school student.
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 53
(8), 646-654.
Graff, J. M. (2010). Reading, readin’, and
skimming: Preadolescent girls navigate the
sociocultural landscapes of books and reading.
Language Arts, 87 (3), 177-187.
Freire, P. (1983). The importance of the act of
reading. Journal of Education, 165 (1), 5-11.
Knobel, M. (2001). “I’m not a pencil man”:
How one student challenges our notions of
literacy “failure” in school. Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 44 (5), 404-419.
López-Robertson, J., Long, S., & Turner-Nash,
K. (2010). First steps in constructing counter
narratives of young children and their families.
Language Arts, 88 (2), 93-103.
Equity Readings:
Lazar, A., Edwards, P. A., & McMillon, G. T.
(2012). Bridging literacy and equity: The
essential guide to social equity teaching. New
York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Adams, M, Blumenfield, W., Caseneda, C.,
Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zuniga, X.
(2013). Readings for diversity and social justice,
(Selected readings). New York, NY: Routledge.
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Critical Literacies
Platforms for New Literacies Report
Students report after exploring the emergence of new
platforms for literacies (e.g. digital zines, wikis, blogs,
nings, Webkinz).
Compton-Lily, C. (2004). Confronting racism,
poverty and power: Classroom strategies to
change the world. (Selected chapters).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Responsive Critical Literacies
In response to an instructor-provided scenario
involving an issue of inequality, diversity, or social
injustice, students create a series of literacy
engagements for children or adolescents. Students
construct a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation
proposing their ideas to a hypothetical group of
stakeholders in their school. The presentation
includes a rationale referencing critical literacy
scholarship; description of the engagements; why they
are important for children’s/adolescents’ literacy
development; how they align with Common Core
Standards; and an implementation plan.
Tatum, A. W. (2006). Teaching reading to black
adolescent males: Closing the achievement gap
(selected chapters). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Speak Truth to Power: Discussion Facilitation Project
Small groups of students form leadership teams
to facilitate class discussion of literacy as a social,
critical, or multimedia practice. Prior to leading class,
the leadership teams work with a variety of electronic
platforms and tools (e.g., blogs, wikis, Google Docs)
to construct knowledge together about the issues in
the readings. The leadership team then facilitates
discussion with the whole class using a variety of
multimedia tools, including designing slides to present
vital information and inviting classmates to analyze
video clips and other media sources to promote deeper
inquiry into class readings.
Campano, G. (2007). Immigrant students and
literacy: Reading, writing, remembering. New
York, NY: Teachers College.
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Standpoint Essay
Drawing on a software program (e.g. Storybird)
students create an essay explaining where they stood
at the start of the semester on core content in ERDG
610, where they stand now, and where they expect to
see challenges in their future teaching life.
Miller, s.j. (2010). Mythology of the norm:
Disrupting the culture of bullying in schools.
English Journal, 101 (6), 107-109.
Patel, L. (2013). Youth held at the border:
Immigration, education, and the politics of
inclusion. New York, NY: Teacher’s College
Press.
Delpit, L. & Dowds, J. K. (Eds.). (2008). The
skin that we speak: Thoughts on language and
culture in the classroom. New York, NY: The
New Press.
Reyes, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.Mexican youth and the politics of caring.
Albany, NY: State University of New York
Press.
Dutro, E. (2002). “But that’s a girls’ book!”
Exploring gender boundaries in children’s
reading practices. The Reading Teacher, 55 (4),
376-384.
Sheehy, M. (2013). What does human
geography have to do with classrooms? In K.
Hall, T. Cremin, L. C. Moll, & B. Comber
(Eds.), International Handbook of Research on
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Children’s Literacy, Learning, and Culture (pp.
400-411). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sieben, N. and Wallowitz, L. (2009). “Watch
what you teach”: A first-year teacher refuses to
play it safe. English Journal, 98 (4), 44-49.
Wissman, K. K. (2007). “Making a way”:
Young women using literacy and language to
resist the politics of silencing. Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 51 (4), 340-349.
Tatum, A. W. (2006). Engaging African
American males in reading. Educational
Leadership, 63 (5), 44-49.
Dutro, E., Kazemi, E., & Balf, R. (2005). The
aftermath of “you’re only half”: Multiracial
identities in the literacy classroom. Language
Arts, 83 (2), 96-106.
Collins, K. M. (2011). “My mom says I’m really
creative!”: Dis/ability, positioning, and
resistance in multimodal instructional contexts.
Language Arts, 88 (6), 409-418.
Dudley-Marling, C. (2004). The social
construction of learning disabilities. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 37 (6), 482-489.
Lesley, M. (2003). A pedagogy of control:
Worksheets and the special needs child.
Language Arts, 80 (6), 444-452.
Ryan, C. L. (2011). Talking, reading, and
writing about lesbian and gay families in
classrooms: The consequences of different
pedagogical approaches. In C. Compton-Lilly &
S. Greene (Eds.), Bedtime stories and book
reports: Connecting parent involvement and
family literacy (pp. 96-108). New York:
Teachers College Press.
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Cowhey, M. (2008). Heather’s moms got
married. In A. Pelo (Ed.), Re-thinking early
childhood education (pp. 177-182). Milwaukee,
WI: Re-Thinking Schools.
Blackburn, M. (2002). Disrupting the (hetero)
normative: Exploring literacy performances and
identity work with queer youth. Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 46 (4), 312324.1
Jones, S. (2004). Living poverty and literacy
learning: Sanctioning the topics of students'
lives. Language Arts, 81 (6), 461-469.
Reciprocal Relationships Across Modes of
Communication/ Technologies and Digital
Media Readings:
Wohlwend, K. E. (2010). A is for Avatar:
Young children in literacy 2.0 worlds and
literacy 1.0 schools. Language Arts, 88 (2), 144152.
Wohlend, K. E. (2009). Damsels in discourse:
Girls consuming and producing identity texts
through Disney princess play. Reading
Research Quarterly, 44 (1), 57-83.
Dalton, B. (2012). Multimodal composition and
the Common Core State Standards. The Reading
Teacher, 66 (4), 333-339.
Stornaiuolo, A., Hull, G., & Nelson, M. E.
(2009). Mobile texts and migrant audiences:
Rethinking literacy and assessment in a new
media age. Language Arts, 86 (5), 382-392.
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Alvermann, D. E. (Ed.). (2010). Adolescents’
online literacies: Connecting classrooms, digital
media, and popular culture. New York: Peter
Lang Publishers.
Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). A new
literacies sampler. New York: Peter Lang.
Bomer, R. et al (2011). New literacies in the
material world. Language Arts, 88 (1), 9-20.
Mahar, D. (2003). Bringing the outside in: One
teacher’s ride on the anime highway. Language
Arts, 81 (2), 110-117.
Goodson, L. A. & Skillen, M. (2010). Smalltown perspectives, big-time motivation:
Composing and producing place-based podcasts.
English Journal, 100 (1), 53- 57.
Critical Literacies Readings:
Vasquez, V. M. (2014). Negotiating critical
literacies with young children, 10th anniversary
edition. New York, NY: Routledge.
Vasquez, V. M., Tate, S. L., & Harste, J. (2013).
Negotiating critical literacies with teachers:
Theoretical foundations and pedagogical
resources for pre-service and in-service
contexts. New York, NY: Routledge.
Silvers, P. & Shorey, M. C. (2012). Many texts,
many voices: Teaching literacy and social
justice to young learners in the digital age.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Rogers, R. et al. (2009). Designing socially just
learning communities: Critical literacy
education across the lifespan. New York:
Routledge.
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Gatto, L. (2013). “Lunch is gross”: Gaining
access to powerful literacies. Language Arts, 90
(4), 241-252.
Paugh, P. et al. (2007). Negotiating the literacy
block: Constructing spaces for critical literacy
in a high-stakes setting. Language Arts, 85 (1),
31-42.
McGee, A. R. (2011). Climbing walls:
Attempting critical pedagogy as a 21st-century
preservice teacher. Language Arts, 88 (4), 270277.
Gainer, J. S., Valdez-Gainer, N., & Kinard, T.
(2009). The elementary bubble project: Exploring
critical media literacy in a fourth-grade classroom.
The Reading Teacher, 62 (8), 674-683.
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Sylvester, R. & Greenidge, W. (2009). Digital
storytelling: Extending the potential for struggling
writers. The Reading Teacher, 63 (4), 284-295.