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And that is reading the world.

In chapter 7 “Reading Images”, Burke (2001) uses this final chapter to discuss the ways that we all view images all the time and interpret them in some way based upon the architect, artist, designer, builder’s motivation and our own experience of what they mean to us. This ties directly to one of our questions for the course, which is “what does it mean to be literate?” If we go back to Rosenblatt’s view we can look at literacy explicitly as reading and writing, but with the influence of our life experiences which leads to interpretation of this reading and writing. If we revisit Gee, we can see literacy as the ways that we interact with others given the situation, circumstances, and goals for the outcome and interaction. Burke’s chapter reminds me of Freire’s theory of reading the world, and the ways in which we become fluent in how we want to say/write/design something based upon the experience that we’ve had with that object. And so, visual literacy is presented to all of us ...
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Hidden messages

In chapter 6, “Reading Information” Burke (2001) discusses the various ways that we, as readers, are manipulated by the media. I think this is an interesting concept because many of us are very aware of what is happening. We understand that there will be fine print on coupons, we know that magazine headlines put “eye catching” phrases in the title even if that has little to do with the content of the article, and we know how to navigate the world with the expectation that not all of us are going to read everything. One thing that Burke brought up is that we understand default colors as well. When reading an article or passage with a hyperlink, we know that if it is blue it has not yet been clicked on. Yes! Yes, I do know this! However, I didn’t realize that I knew it until just now. What other things do I just automatically do and/or accept in this world because that is what I’ve been fed? This is where reading becomes a challenge for both us and our students. Multimedia give...
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Is that too much to ask?

“What conditions promote literacy development?” This is another one of our guiding questions for the course this summer. I think that it is one that deserves careful consideration, especially in the world of high stakes testing and student/teacher/administrator disenchantment. I’m not saying that every student, every teacher, every parent, and every administrator is unhappy with their specific educational experience. However, I do know that as I enter the field of teaching I’ve heard a lot of the negatives about the system just so that I’m aware of “what you’re getting yourself into.” Burke’s (2001) chapter 4: “Reading Tests” and chapter 5: “Reading Literature” provide some clear delineations between how teachers and students can approach literacy development in the ELA classroom. “Reading Tests” provides some strategies for students, and teachers on how to prepare students for high-stakes testing, since testing is most-likely going to be a part of education forever. He is not...
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So, who wrote this stuff anyway?

“Such dynamic inquiries as I have discussed in this chapter are based on the fact that we learn though our experiences and encounters with strong ideas – real ideas – not through books themselves” (Burke, 2001, p. 58). In chapter 3 of Burke’s text, “Reading Textbooks” he is discussing how and why we have textbooks and what kinds of problems arise from this situation.   Burke raises an interesting point about how outdated text books are, which most of us are aware – especially in the areas of science and technology where a theory or idea can be obsolete by the time the text goes through the writing, editing, review and publication process. In addition to that, he brings up the fact that textbook writers are individuals somehow selected to be the ones to decide what our children should know, understand, and value about the world that they live in. Think about that…imposed values are coursing through all of the pages of these books, based on the perceptions of people who may or...
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Remember encyclopedias?

In Chapter 2 of Burke’s (2001) book, “How to Teach Students to Read the World” he continues the discussion on technology with “Reading the Internet.” I think that this chapter can tie pretty directly to the question, “What is the difference between learning to read and reading to learn?” I was born in 1977. Therefore, much of my initial research in my K-8 education was done using encyclopedias that we had in the house, and taking trips to the library to look for books that may have been relevant using a librarian and the Dewey Decimal System. In high school I used the school library and the neighborhood library to find what I needed. Burke discusses the use of technology for students and the ways in which they can negotiate web-sites to find out what is reputable and how to read critically about the information on these sites. This got me wondering, how did I learn to discern which books were useful in the library? Did I read the entire book? Did I examine the background and/or ...
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Do it first, or do it right?

I have chosen to read “How to Teach Students to Read the World” by Jim Burke (2001) for this blog. Over the next six entries I will review chapters of this book and tie what I’ve read to some of the framing questions for this course. One of the questions that aligns directly with Chapter 1 – Introduction: Reading the World is “How do new technologies influence reading and writing in our subject area classrooms?” To put things in perspective, this book was published in 2001 so there is some dated information found here. However, the general idea of paying attention to the way in which technology affects teaching and literacy is still one that is pertinent, even though the scope may have changed a bit. In Burke’s introduction, he begins by discussing the access to technology that students have and the lack of ability that they may have in deciphering truth from fiction. The argument here is that many students will believe anything that they see on the internet, simply because it’s...
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The blog about the blog

I have always enjoyed finding interesting blogs, but there are so many out there that it is a challenge to narrow it down…and I usually don’t keep up with any one for an extended period of time. I prefer the micro-blogs of Twitter and Facebook. I even kept my own blog for a while, but I used it as a journal and abandoned that for the sake of privacy. For this assignment I first googled “popular blogs” and found a site with a listing of 50 top blogs, based on varied interests and readership. I’m sure that different criteria has been established to ceate other “top 50” or “top 10” lists of blogs as well, so I went with this site thinking it would give me a pretty randomized list, just as good as any other. I perused five blogs that I found interesting from this list: moneysavingmom.com, garfieldminusgarfield.net, yogadork.com, cavas-of-light.com, and calnewport.com. The one I found to be the best from this list was garfieldminusgarfield.net. This blog is exactly what it says in the ...
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