Home-School Literacy

Pahl, K. & Rowsell, J., Literacy and Education, London: Paul Chapman Publishing, 2010.

CHAPTER 3: Children’s texts go to school focuses on children’s experience of literacy at home is connected to literacy at school. Every communicative practice done by children is counted as literacy (talk, gestures, drawing, etc.). Briefly, Pahl and Rowsell state that recontextualization, especially from home literacy to school literacy, is not easy at all. It might be interesting if parents can adapt their behavior to support children’s literacy at home. Fortunately, many educators have been trying to connect home literacy and school literacy in order to explore students’ funds of knowledge. Some ways are book bag, storysack, and backpacks program; reading is actually main strategy. Relating to this, ORIM (Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction, Model) framework is introduced by Hannon and Nutbrown. As teachers and parents give ‘opportunities’ to students to connect home-school literacy, then admit their home-school literacy practice (as ‘recognition’) and give them chance to express and explore it (as ‘interaction’); to finish, facilitate them to improve (as ‘model’), home-literacy practices will naturally succeed. Finally, third space which is students’ meaning-making between school and home can be built well if both literacy practices are connected.

Regarding to home-school literacy, recontextualization is indeed extremely important in teaching and learning process. Making learning process, lessons, and materials meaningful for students is very significant; therefore, teachers’ and parents’ roles take the strongest factor here. However, when it comes to learners, education, and school, we are not only talking about children. We have adolescent and even adult as learners. Moreover, some of adolescent learners and most of adult learners no longer live with their parents. It is so sad that this chapter is only focused on children’s home-school literacy process. Still, fortunately, “Children’s Popular Cultural Worlds” is showed up here; magazines and comics, clothes and shoes, cosmetics and medicine, etc. Learners’ funds of knowledge can be improved by connecting those popular cultural worlds. In relating to ORIM Framework, teachers hold the main role in supporting learners to get meaningful learning. Teachers give opportunity to students to connect their daily not only when they are in home with their parents, but also when they are in dormitory/boarding house with their friends. Recognition, interaction and model should be really considered, not to connect their home literacy with parents, but also their daily activity in dormitory/boarding house.

What I feel when I was in junior high school was both place where I supposed to learn forced me to reach their targets. I was staying at Islamic boarding school, and my formal school had a lot of extra-school activities and home works. None of the teachers cared or even asked about anything related my daily life—students’ daily life. This might be the reason of why I have never really remembered about any lesson of the courses that I have ever learnt; except maybe languages (Indonesian, English, Arabic and Japanese) because I always love to relate language learning in school to movies or songs that I am listening to. But the truth that third spaces of my learning process were not related to any home-school literacy practices makes me really upset now. I will try my best to make sure that this will not happen, at least, to my students and future-children.

Dewayani, S. & Retnaningdyah, P. Suara dari Marjin: Literasi Sebagai Praktik Sosial, Bandung: Rosda, 2017

CHAPTER 2: this chapter explains about Sofie’s literacy exploration. She starts the section by illustrating her own literacy practice and literacy event experiences. Academic writing and informal writing are indeed very dissimilar. It is so sad that I’m still confused with the terms superficial features and substantive features in doing literacy. Specifically, regarding to academic writing, sets of rules are commonly formed. Culture and oral communication can affect someone’s literacy practices. She also mentions that doing literacy deals with text-related activities in form of written, oral, cultural and even digital text. Furthermore, Sofie also states about sets of inspirational stories about how her research began. It is so amazing that actually we can find literacy practices and literacy event everywhere, in every situation. I have never even imagined about looking those children can have willingness to learn something, especially related to education. I thought those just happen in movies, novels, and fictions. What I am trying to say right now is those children growing up in those kinds of situation are still learning something, it is actually unbelievable; indeed, literacy practices are running with literacy events is detected.

In relating to home-school literacy connection, what rises in my mind is the word ‘home’ here does not always stand for ‘house’. It can be referred to anything outside school where children can learn many things and give meanings to everything. It might be interesting for us as teachers or parents to let our students/children to see this kind of situation. It will motivate them and build their character deeper at the same time. My last voice about this section: when reading this chapter, I highlighted the words stated by Sofie: “Writing is more acculturative than speaking. Writing makes me more meaningful and cultured.” This line amazes me, but disappoints me at the same time. ‘Does it mean speak a lot or talk-active makes you have no meaning or uncultured? So when you are better in speaking, and not really good at writing can make you look bad?’ those childish comments are blowing up in my head; and I am so sorry for that.

Dyson, Anne Haas. The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write. London: Teachers College Press, 2003

This book clearly talks about children and their literacy practices. In particular, Dyson focuses on discussing about “a local version of this global phenomenon at the turn of the 21st century: the childhood symbols and practices” of popular cultures among children. Children literacy practices related educational field are considered as children’s processes in formal school environment (Clay, 1998). Therefore, it can be assumed that children’s daily life outside the school will be probably not connected to their literacy practices in school. I cannot disagree with Dyson’s idea that children’s cultural world can gradually disappear. Fortunately, it is explored new point of view about this case and initiative ways for educators in dealing with children’s third space.

Dyson also shows how children actually deal with texts around them in various ways; not only in school learning process. This brings me to blend with their world; every single detail of their communication process can be remarkable source of literacy practices. It is not simply to see their daily life then we can see literacy practices there, but it will be easier to concept the tools in dealing with that. Approaches of look into their process will so much help; and stated in this book, sociocultural approaches are quite popular in this field. However, I am starting to consider pragmatic point of view as well. When literacy practice happen in oral communication, doesn’t it deal with utterances, intonation and expression as well? But I am still not really sure about this.

In relating to children’s world and culture, as the time is passing by, everything changes, including children. If Dyson talks about children in her time and children in 21 centuries; this brings me back to children my time versus children nowadays around, especially at my places. I did not know anything related to technology and digital text except television; but now, we can find various kinds of sources for their literacy practices. When it comes to home-school literacy connection, we can say that, as educators, we can bring digital literacy, social media, and all technology-related sources to facilitate students’ funds of knowledge become recognized.

The terms “classroom family” take my attention. Teachers treat their students as their ‘real’ children? Why not? it is very interesting and challenging. It is expected to help students explore and express more about themselves so that they can learn meaningfully, without fading away who they are. So that teaching and learning process can be more active and interactive.