Today I read Chapters 4 and 15 in the "Adolescent Literacy" book, and although I found the chapters insightful, along with finding my 5 questions, I did see I few things that caught my eye. First was the vocabulary: I really did not find 5 words that I did not know or understand, only that I was not totally clear on (sorry, but I am a person that does not lie). Words like canonize and voluminous I know but could not, at first, understand the context to which they were used in the readings. I did however find the word "delve" which I had not seen before, so I was glad to learn something new.
In Chapter 15, I thought the three conclusions for inquiry that have strong implications for classroom practice were very clear cut, understandable, and have good focus for literacy. I especially like #2: Expand notions of text and curriculum, and what counts as meaningful reading and learning. I feel that expanding the ideas of text and curriculum towards the visions of not only the school but its student interests, is a fantastic way to spur literacy in students. The other, although weird, thing I noticed is the use of the word "canonize" three times in the chapter, when the author spoke about literature and books. I do not know if the author is Roman Catholic or not but I don't know if he wants to raise some books to the level of sainthood or if he just thinks that highly of literacy. Although I would find it interesting to have "Saint Book I", I think he overused the word a bit in the chapter. If I am mistaken about the meanings of the words, please let me know on my comment board.
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3 comments:
John - I think we didn't communicate when it came to the words assignment. You didn't need to look for new or unknown words - but also those that might be essential, important, key, etc. Does that help?
Canon can refer to literature (or even TV shows or movies) as well. Like the canon of the Star Wars universe - what happens, how things work, etc.
Speaking of the way it was likely used in the article (couldn't find the references while flipping back through), it was likely referring to the "western canon" of literature. These are the books that are accepted to be the greatest, most influential books in Western culture (think of the book lists that Dr Kadjer showed us in class).
So to canonize a book would be to declare it part of that list, to say that it's one of the most influential works in Western culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_canon
And it deleted the end of the link: you can look up "western canon" on Wikipedia.
"Canon (fiction)" on Wikipedia is also an interesting read (in relation to the point I made in the first paragraph).
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