BPR CH. 3

Most school systems are really resistant to moving forward with different types of literacy. Students are so used to these different types of texts outside of school. However, often times they don’t get to work with them in school. Therefore, they might get frustrated with the traditional literature all of the time, and might be completely turned off. I found the last paragraph oh pg. 26 quite interesting. It shows that learning with these “multimodal texts” can help students who are reluctant to reading really improve, and feel better about themselves as readers, thus making them want to participate, and really engage in the act of reading more often.
This should be the ultimate goal. Having students learn the art of engaging themselves in texts should be the hopeful outcome. However, all that seems to go out the window, because of certain mandates. It really makes me wonder where the disconnect is coming from. Students need one thing, but are told that they have to do it another way. Then, in the long-run, the student is suffering. I know about NCLB, and some of the other major policies. However, I want to know how they are coming up with these great standards that aren’t working so well for every child. Are they advised by teachers? It doesn’t seem so. There is such a disconnect between how the students can be successful, and how they decision-makers think they should be successful. It just seems like these people are stuck in the past, which makes me wonder if they have been in an actual classroom as a teacher recently. If they had, it would seem that they would see how much multi-modal texts are influencing students, and how they can be a great tool in the classroom along with the traditional texts and methods. That’s the direction we’re heading in, so I really don’t understand why the decision-makers are dead-set on the past. The students are suffering from this lack of innovation. As Alvermann pointed out, it’s so ironic how we have the opportunity to really use technology, and the skills of multiliterate youth, but we are choosing to regress backwards. I guess this article made me realize that if we can find a way to merge traditional techniques, with techniques more relevant to students” lives, then we will probably be more successful in the long run.