Where the Wind Blows: my journey in literacy instruction

“He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast” (DaVinci). The ship of literacy in my life has been blown about my many forces. The winds of pedagogical trends have taken me from the “strategy of the week” to reading instruction as deliberate test prep; from content-area literacy and now finally to critically examining the language of my discipline, the reading practices inherent within, and thinking about the ways in which I can get my students to not only buy into reading and writing in such a manner but individually embrace the intellectual challenges of this task because of the intrinsic value within. Students want to read; they want to write; and they want to be good at both. My job is to give them the tools, materials, instruction, and TIME: time to practice and more importantly time to play--to play with language, their own and others. Students must be given consistent opportunities to agonize over specific word choices; intellectually spar with authors; be taken on a gut-wrenching journey through time and space; and explore their biggest fears, joys, successes, and failures through passionate, and often times painfully honest writing. I must teach students HOW and WHY to be critical readers, lovers of great literature, and develop their ability to express themselves through written and spoken word. The tangled braid of reading and writing must be embraced as a messy pair of Yin and Yang to best assist students on this sea voyage of literacy development, but we mustn't forget that the love for and success in one can be the inherent key to unlocking the hidden joys of the other, and it’s my job to help each student navigate her own rough literacy waters in order to land upon this blissful self-discovery. It’s not easy. It’s not fast. And it never ends. But it is beautifully rewarding, and it’s this journey that is constantly shaping who I am more so than the destination itself. For that, I am blessed.