Essential Components of Adolescent Literacy

 

English language arts teachers know that students in the early grades need intentional work with the ways that words sound and are formed. Through the grade bands, we also know that students are often asked questions that require them to name aspects of stories to identify characters, settings, and plots. But what about those next steps in literacy that are needed to challenge and sustain growth for older readers?

In many ways, adolescent literacy is a bit of a mystery, with questions of what kind of texts students should be exploring and what types of work are most engaging. In this post, I’ll share some ideas from both research and practice for leading middle school and high school readers through next steps in literacy development.

ADOLESCENT LITERACY SHOULD BE CRITICAL

As the Common Core standards unfolded about a decade ago, there was a shift from experiential responses to readings to a more critical approach that focused on the function of language in the text itself. This work of close reading is important, although it is also essential to connect readings for relevance.

At the same time, there’s even more work to do with readings. Louise Rosenblatt suggested that reading exists on a dynamic of information-gathering and enjoyment; the two are not necessarily divorced. 

When I use the word critical, I don’t mean negative or deficit-focused, but rather I intend the word to be focused on thoughtful readings and responses. This means that when we read in class, we spend time in critique and analysis, with a focus on deeper questions of intention and meaning. I also want to focus critical attention on what students do well when engaging in literacy. A critique shouldn’t be an opportunity for fear, but an invitation to think about what is working well—and how we can grow together. 

Why we must transform education now??

The current state of the world calls for a major transformation in education to repair past injustices and enhance our capacity to act together for a more sustainable and just future. We must ensure the right to life long learning by providing all learners - of all ages in all contexts - the knowledge and skills they need to realize their full potential and live with dignity. Education can no longer be limited to a single period of one’s lifetime. Everyone, starting with the most marginalized and disadvantaged in our societies, must be entitled to learning opportunities throughout life both for employment and personal agency. A new contact for education must unite us around collective endeavours and provide the knowledge and innovation needed to shape a better world anchored in social, economic, and environmental justice.  

What are the key areas that need to be transformed?

1. Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools

Education is in crisis. High rates of poverty, exclusion and gender inequality continue to hold millions back from learning. Moreover, COVID-19 further exposed the inequities in education access and quality, and violence, armed conflict, disasters and reversal of women’s rights have increased insecurity. Inclusive, transformative education must ensure that all learners have unhindered access to and participation in education, that they are safe and healthy, free from violence and discrimination, and are supported with comprehensive care services within school settings. Transforming education requires a significant increase in investment in quality education, a strong foundation in comprehensive early childhood development and education, and must be underpinned by strong political commitment, sound planning, and a robust evidence base.

2. Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development

There is a crisis in foundational learning, of literacy and numeracy skills among young learners. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text. Children with disabilities are 42% less likely to have foundational reading and numeracy skills compared to their peers. More than 771 million people still lack basic literacy skills, two-thirds of whom are women. Transforming education means empowering learners with knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to be resilient, adaptable and prepared for the uncertain future while contributing to human and planetary well-being and sustainable development. To do so, there must be emphasis on foundational learning for basic literacy and numeracy; education for sustainable development, which encompasses environmental and climate change education; and skills for employment and entrepreneurship.

3. Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession

Teachers are essential for achieving learning outcomes, and for achieving SDG 4 and the transformation of education. But teachers and education personnel are confronted by four major challenges: Teacher shortages; lack of professional development opportunities; low status and working conditions; and lack of capacity to develop teacher leadership, autonomy and innovation. Accelerating progress toward SDG 4 and transforming education require that there is an adequate number of teachers to meet learners’ needs, and all education personnel are trained, motivated, and supported. This can only be possible when education is adequately funded, and policies recognize and support the teaching profession, to improve their status and working conditions.

4. Digital learning and transformation

The COVID-19 crisis drove unprecedented innovations in remote learning through harnessing digital technologies. At the same time, the digital divide excluded many from learning, with nearly one-third of school-age children (463 million) without access to distance learning. These inequities in access meant some groups, such as young women and girls, were left out of learning opportunities. Digital transformation requires harnessing technology as part of larger systemic efforts to transform education, making it more inclusive, equitable, effective, relevant, and sustainable. Investments and action in digital learning should be guided by the three core principles: Center the most marginalized; Free, high-quality digital education content; and Pedagogical innovation and change.

5. Financing of education

While global education spending has grown overall, it has been thwarted by high population growth, the surmounting costs of managing education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the diversion of aid to other emergencies, leaving a massive global education financial gap amounting to US$ 148 billion annually. In this context, the first step toward transformation is to urge funders to redirect resources back to education to close the funding gap. Following that, countries must have significantly increased and sustainable financing for achieving SDG 4 and that these resources must be equitably and effectively allocated and monitored. Addressing the gaps in education financing requires policy actions in three key areas: Mobilizing more resources, especially domestic; increasing efficiency and equity of allocations and expenditures; and improving education financing data. Finally, determining which areas needs to be financed, and how, will be informed by recommendations from each of the other four action tracks.

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy??

                                         

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different outcomes and skills that educators set for their students (learning outcomes). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The terminology has been recently updated to include the following six levels of learning. These 6 levels can be used to structure the learning outcomes, lessons, and assessments of your course. :

1. Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long‐term memory.
2. Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
3. Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure for executing, or implementing.
4. Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.
5. Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.

Like other taxonomies, Bloom’s is hierarchical, meaning that learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. You will see Bloom’s Taxonomy often displayed as a pyramid graphic to help demonstrate this hierarchy. We have updated this pyramid into a “cake-style” hierarchy to emphasize that each level is built on a foundation of the previous levels.

Bloom’s taxonomy is a powerful tool to help develop learning outcomes because it explains the process of learning:

• Before you can understand a concept, you must remember it.
• To apply a concept you must first understand it.
• In order to evaluate a process, you must have analyzed it.
• To create an accurate conclusion, you must have completed a thorough evaluation.

However, we don’t always start with lower order skills and step all the way through the entire taxonomy for each concept you present in your course. 

E - LEARNING.....

 

What is e-learning?

When you think about e-learning, you might picture something, as we’ve already mentioned, such as a formal online course or a MOOC. But you can use e-learning for continuing education, professional development, and in conjunction with traditional, in-person learning methods. E-learning can include any time you share educational material electronically or digitally, such as pre-recorded videos, articles, discussion forums, and more.

E-learning and distance learning are sometimes interchangeably used since e-learning is a crucial component of distance learning. E-learning strategies allow students to access material remotely from a different location or time than their instructors, but the resources are not exclusive to distance learning.

Benefits of e-learning

E-learning offers a variety of benefits to all learners and the organizations they work for, whether it involves earning a degree, gaining a new certification, or improving workplace and technical skills. These include:

Accessibility: E-learning allows employees and administrators to learn new skills from anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection.

Flexibility: Learners can complete many e-learning opportunities at their own pace, allowing staff to fit learning into their lives with the time available.

Lower cost: E-learning programs can be less expensive than their on-campus counterparts. Plus, learners save money on commuting costs.

Problems faced in Education today in Developing Countries

 In 2022, we published, Lessons for the education sector from the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a follow up to, Four Education Trends that Countries Everywhere Should Know About, which summarized views of education experts around the world on how to handle the most pressing issues facing the education sector then. We focused on neuroscience, the role of the private sector, education technology, inequality, and pedagogy.

Unfortunately, we think the four biggest problems facing education today in developing countries are the same ones we have identified in the last decades.

1. The learning crisis was made worse by COVID-19 school closures

Low quality instruction is a major constraint and prior to COVID-19, the learning poverty rate in low- and middle-income countries was 57% (6 out of 10 children could not read and understand basic texts by age 10). More dramatic is the case of Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate even higher at 86%. Several analyses show that the impact of the pandemic on student learning was significant, leaving students in low- and middle-income countries way behind in mathematics, reading and other subjects.  Some argue that learning poverty may be close to 70% after the pandemic, with a substantial long-term negative effect in future earnings. This generation could lose around $21 trillion in future salaries, with the vulnerable students affected the most.

2. Countries are not paying enough attention to early childhood care and education (ECCE)

At the pre-school level about two-thirds of countries do not have a proper legal framework to provide free and compulsory pre-primary education. According to UNESCO, only a minority of countries, mostly high-income, were making timely progress towards SDG4 benchmarks on early childhood indicators prior to the onset of COVID-19. And remember that ECCE is not only preparation for primary school. It can be the foundation for emotional wellbeing and learning throughout life; one of the best investments a country can make.

3. There is an inadequate supply of high-quality teachers

Low quality teaching is a huge problem and getting worse in many low- and middle-income countries.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the percentage of trained teachers fell from 84% in 2000 to 69% in 2019. In addition, in many countries teachers are formally trained and as such qualified, but do not have the minimum pedagogical training. Globally, teachers for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are the biggest shortfalls.

4. Decision-makers are not implementing evidence-based or pro-equity policies that guarantee solid foundations

It is difficult to understand the continued focus on non-evidence-based policies when there is so much that we know now about what works. Two factors contribute to this problem. One is the short tenure that top officials have when leading education systems. Examples of countries where ministers last less than one year on average are plentiful. The second and more worrisome deals with the fact that there is little attention given to empirical evidence when designing education policies.

EDUCATION IS NOT PREPARATON FOR LIFE, EDUCATION IS LIFE ITSELF!!

 What do I mean when I say “Education for Life?” I can present the problem and the solution. The problem is that people in traditional forms of education usually approach it from the standpoint of just preparing a person for a job. But one’s job isn’t the definition of one’s life—it’s only that which enables you to have enough money to meet your needs. Our lives encompass a much broader arena than one’s capacity to earn money. Any educational system that teaches only job skills or offers only intellectual information is neglecting the essential needs of human beings. The solution is a form of education that trains us in that which is most relevant to us—how to find lasting happiness in life.

We deeply need proper training in “how-to-live” skills such as how to find the right mate, how to raise our children, how to be a good employee, how to get along with our neighbors, and how to concentrate our minds so that we can draw success into all our endeavors. There are many such skills that are essential to prepare a child for adulthood, and in traditional education many of them are completely ignored. Education for Life is a system that prepares the child to face the challenges of living as a human being, and helps him to achieve balance and harmony in all he does. What we’re really talking about is preparing everyone, not just children, for true maturity. This is a much bigger concept than just coming of age. As defined it in the book, Education for Life, maturity is the ability to relate appropriately to other realities than one’s own. You’ll find that even people of advanced years are often childish and immature with regard to this definition, yet this ability to relate to others’ realities is what education should accomplish.

You can see this ability to relate to other’s realities reflected in people’s conversation. Many times someone will try to discuss a topic from different points of view, but all they’re really doing is hammering on their own position. When a person has achieved the kind of maturity we’re talking about, he is able to listen to others, to absorb when they’re saying, and to relate it to what he already understands in order to come up with new insights. In this way, a discussion can build new understandings for everyone involved. The Education for Life system tries to point the way to maturity. It doesn’t presume to give maturity, but creates a mind-set that will endure for the whole of life. It provides a direction of growth that people can take all the way into old age and still keep growing so that they find things to marvel at in the world around them.

We find that basically we have four tools that enable us to relate to life. First, we have to recognize that since we live in physical bodies, we can see our bodies as tools for helping us to grow. If we don’t properly take care of our bodies, we may find them becoming our foes instead of our friends. Second, we find that we respond to the world with our emotions. If our emotions are always agitated because of intense likes and dislikes, we will respond emotionally to what others say and not really hear them. We may hear our own idea of what they are saying, but if we have an emotional prejudice, we won’t hear them objectively. Third, if we don’t know how to use our will power to overcome faults in ourselves, or to set goals and accomplish them, then we will never know fulfillment in life. Finally, if we don’t develop our intellect, then we cannot understand things clearly, and our life’s experiences will come through our minds in a dull way.

So we have these four basic tools that enable us to grow toward ever-greater maturity: the body, the emotions or feelings, the will power, and the intellect. I’ve observed that the first six years of a child’s life tend to be the period when they have to learn how to get their bodies under control. You’ll see a child of four running down an aisle and knocking over a chair, or falling over something because he didn’t look down. It takes a lot of energy to somehow learn how to get this body working well for us.

Education is one of blessings in Life..

 

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Laureate, remarked in her Nobel Peace Prize Speech, “Education is one of the blessings of life—and one of its necessities… We had a thirst for education, we had a thirst for education because our future was right there in that classroom. We would sit and learn and read together. We loved to wear neat and tidy school uniforms and we would sit there with big dreams in our eyes.” Yousafzai’s passion for education resonates with my own ambitions and aspirations. With each step of my academic adventure, I learn to treasure my education because I now understand that knowledge is the key which opens the door to all kinds of opportunities and careers. As an experienced homeschool student, I expect high standards of my dream university, particularly, in-depth course materials, dedicated teachers, and supportive classmates.

Throughout my elementary and middle school years, my mom diligently researched for the best curriculums with which to expand and strengthen my education. At the time, I resented the course materials because, in my opinion, they required ridiculous amounts of tedious and difficult homework. Diligently I pored over my science textbooks, grammar assignments, and math homework. Because I wrote single assignment by hand in my wide-ruled notebooks, I developed a writer’s callus. However, I didn’t care about the hours upon hours I spent in school instead of playing with my younger sibling or watching TV. As I started to grasp the concepts I studied, my newfound knowledge fascinated me. By the time I started high school, I was an independent student. Unsatisfied with the limited knowledge provided in my course materials, I watched Khan Academy videos on science and math, deepening my thirst and appreciation for detailed course materials which thoroughly explained the concepts taught. In my dream graduate program, each subject uses textbooks, encyclopedias, and videos which accurately explain in-depth the hidden treasures of each specific study.

Clearly, my success as an independent student relies in part on my professors’ dedication to see me excel in my work. As aforementioned, my mother’s diligence in constructing a strong academic foundation permanently influenced my desire for a thorough education. Oftentimes my father assisted in my science classes, imparting valuable knowledge which ranged from the inner workings of a cell to the laws of physics. As I got older, I learned to appreciate virtual teachers such as Crash Course and Khan Academy, who educate their students with clear and extensive information. On the other hand, I have also experienced the frustration and discouragement which arises from the difficulties of studying independently without the guidance and care of a dedicated instructor. In some ways independent learning taught me to greatly appreciate teachers (such as my mother!) who sacrifice the time and energy to invest in their students. As I design my dream classroom, I mentally handpick a select group of instructors who willingly devote themselves to the growth of my education.