The story of; story writing time, the kindy class and scary Mrs. Smith...

MY PERSONAL LITERACIES NARRATIVE:

For me, these kindergarten story books function as a key, unlocking the door behind which my childhood memories exist (haha, how corny! there's gonna be more of this...sorry). Viewing these dusty old relics of my childhood transports my mind back to the time and place in which they were created. Mrs Smith's K1 (kindy & year 1) classroom...

I had originally spent my first week of school in Miss Murray's all kindy class. It was so much fun, and Miss Murray had to have owned the biggest warmest smile in the entire school. One day myself and five or so other classmates were selected to move to Mrs Smith's class to join the big year ones, for reasons I did not know. Had I done something wrong? Was Miss Murray kicking me out? 
In the eyes of the wee little ginger that I was Mrs Smith was an ancient and terrifying character. She did not smile like Miss Murray. I never accidentally called her 'Mum', like I did other teachers, to much embarrassment throughout my infant years. 

As I remember almost every day in Mrs Smith's classroom would begin with the whole class sitting on the floor, chanting the numbers 1 to 100 as the teacher's rule traversed a number chart. I might be wrong but this is what I remember. Initially my own chanting would diminish around the number 12, while others confidently continued in a confirmation of their counting prowess. After the exhaustive and boring counting exercise students were directed to join group tables and get out their story books. Children spent some time creating stories on the pages of their books. Year ones were allowed to use lead pencil and would often fill their page with more words then my kindy mates and I. Reflecting back as an adult, I realise Mrs Smith wasn't scary or nasty in any way that I had once perceived. She was just wrinkly and tired. 

Yeah, she was pretty cool actually. During story writing time we were allowed to construct a story about anything we liked, just as long as it filled most the page. Mrs Smith always expected students to attempt to include writing in their stories. Only zig-zags were accepted in place of words we were trying to spell but couldn't spell completely (or at all). If we made a mistake in our writing it was to belong in brackets and never be scribbled out. Under no circumstances were students to write in yellow pencil!! 
After a reasonable attempt, If students were tired of writing they were encouraged to illustrate parts of their story. I do remember really struggling to write alot of the words I could say at that age. So I was relieved that my drawings (and zig-zags) were accepted as parts of the story. As students worked on their stories Mrs Smith would cruise through the room, monitoring behaviour and assisting those students who struggled with aspects of the task. I was one of those students. Quite often I remember Mrs Smith setting aside a couple of minutes to sit down next to me and discuss my story while the class continued writing and drawing. She was always impressed by my pictures. From her reactions I rarely felt that I was doing as well with my writing. I guess I wasn't. Mrs Smith would look at the page and ask me to tell her what it was about. As she came to understand the narrative she would fill in the missing letters above the often numerous zig-zags that filled the page. I would sit and watch as my teacher carefully and slowly demonstrated the correct technique and spelling for each word. With her help my stories were complete! 

Though I may have not realized it at the time, the common occurrence of writing, drawing and talking out stories for Mrs Smith would serve as a key foundational experience in my literacies development...

'If I was an astronaut...'

MULTILITERACIES: 

'If I was an astronaut' is a key image to my interpretation of the kinds of literacies I relate to my personal experience and development. Importantly this image illustrates the potency of pictures as a mode of language. The relationship between words and pictures is vital in order to decode the story. This supports the contemporary conception of literacy as more than just reading, writing and listening to words -- today the boundaries of 'literacy' have evolved and expanded (Anstey & Bull, 2004, p. 10). The conception of traditional literacies (as linguistic) are now joined by a diverse array of 'multiliteracies' (Cazden, Fairclough & Gee, 1996, p. 65). Multiliteracies encompass the broad spectrum of 'modes' through which meaning can be created and interpreted. Modes of meaning making are now conceived to be visual, auditory, gestural, spatial and linguistic (ibid). As a visual arts teacher in training I find it empowering to think that the visual is now considered a modality of meaning making - because of course it is! It seems that pedagogical/cognitive theory are finally catching up to common sense. Mrs Smith..now there's a woman who was ahead of the game. I'm certain she encouraged student drawings because she recognised the relationship between images and words in creating meaning. I'm fortunate Mrs Smith did recognise this relationship. To optimise students' readiness to learn the literacies valued in school (in my era this was definitely linguistic literacy) "teachers must endeavor to know, understand, acknowledge and value the literacies that students already have" (Anstey & Bull, 2004, p.12). Clearly I was a poor writer in kindergarten, but my early experiences quickly brought me up to speed. Mrs Smith valued the literacy skills I had and from there I built a repertoire of skills to communicate (including writing).

Functional Funk!

In a functional funk with writing...just as well Mrs Smith will let me talk it out. Plus, I have drawing and zig-zags up my sleeve!

Functional approaches to literacy are concerned with the 'how to' aspects of communicating through different language types (linguistic, visual, gestural etc.). Different language types embody unique systems of signs, symbols, codes and conventions - otherwise known as 'semiotic systems'. Successful interpretation or construction of meaning requires knowledge of and skills in using the semiotic systems that govern the mode of literacy one intends to engage (Anstey & Bull, 2004, pp. 5-6). In other words; one must know the formal conventions of a type of language to use it effectively, be it visual, verbal, gestural or otherwise. For example, correct spelling and grammar are basic conventions used in standard English writing. If one was to consider speaking in standard English (still a linguistic mode of literacy, though operating through a different 'macro skill') emphasis on particular linguistic conventions are different. Obviously poor spelling will not affect speech in the way that understanding of syntax will (the semiotic system governing sentence structure).

To compare my early personal experiences with what I am learning about functional literacies at university makes sense of my memories and reinforces the content of the 'literacies' course. My memories from kindergarten, as accessed through the story books, convincingly suggests that I was more competent in communicating verbally than I was through writing. The three examples on this post serve as evidence of this. As I remember Mrs Smith would sit down with me and I would talk out the story. My conversations with her helped her determine the words I was trying to write. From there she could correct my mistakes by inserting the words and proper spelling, as we can see. However, it was not only in what I said that revealed the broken details in the written text, it was also in what I drew.

The example in my next post really illuminates my last point!! While the text says "My favourite story is Aladdin and there is a snake in it." The pictures tell much more of the story.Check out the youtube clip below (0:50 onwards) taken from the Aladdin movie to see really just how much detail I was communicating through my drawings. So excited that I found this and could link it to the image!!

'Aladdin, Genie & the snake Jafar'

Critical analysis of 'Aladdin, Genie & the snake Jafar'

The drawing and the video together illustrate the functional level of my visual literacy (as a potent from of meaning making) and the effect culture and personal experience have on the production of meaning. Drawing did not occur just out of 'fun', but occurred as a conscious attempt to represent something I had seen or experienced. This theory backs up the argument that images are a form of language just as powerful as linguistic literacies.  When linked to the video we clearly see that the array of icons I chose to illustrate were part of a deliberate attempt to give meaning to my text (story). It is known that children from the ages of four to eight (approximately) are mostly interested in depicting a set of events through drawing - as opposed to older students who agonize over the realism of a singular representation (Eisner, 2001, p. 14). We can see this in my Aladdin drawing: the illustrations are highly didactic in their aim. i.e. icons such as the sword, fire, boy, snake and genie instructively depict the main elements I witnessed in the scene. No doubt I watched the movie a short time before drawing this particular picture in class. My words were not so instructive for I lacked the knowledge of the systems that revolved around writing. At that stage I simply had a vague phonological awareness of words . This awareness enabled me to decipher the first and last letters of words by the sounds that started and finished these words (Ritchey, 2007). An example here would be 'Aladdin'.. surely I could say his name (he was a hit with kids!) but when it came to spelling it i could only decipher that his name started with 'ah' and ended with 'nn'. So I formed 'aMMMn'. I'm struck by how far developed my drawing skills were in contrast to my writing. Notice the very deliberate selection of colours in conjunction with the size of each character. I wonder if I was preparing to enter what Eisner (2001, p. 14) refers to as the 'mimetic' stage of visual production: a stage where students become more concerned with creating pictures that share a physical likeness to what they represent. I doubt there's any coincidence that Genie is blue, Aladdin is small and the snake Jafar is big. 

As I alluded before the choice to draw this scene from the Aladdin movie was no coincidence. Drawing on background knowledge and prior experiences is a influencing element that informs the construction of meaning in texts - for children and adults alike. Freebody & Luke (cited in Santoro, 2004, p. 57) refer to this phenomenon as 'text participant'. It seems that Mrs Smith gave me two stamps for the Aladdin drawing (looking through the story book she generally only gave one stamp or a tick), so she must have observed some improvement in my story. I wonder if she consciously recognised the fact that my learning was improving due to the fact that I had the freedom to include my experiences in learning activities?

Please Mum take credit for my mad child-skills.

It's a shame, my mum never draws anymore, cause I think she's pretty good at it. And I think I thought that as a kid. 

As Pierre Bourdieu theorised, the acquisition cultural capital (non-financial assets: i.e. literacies that are valued in school) is largely influenced by one's habitus: the surrounding social and cultural influences that shape one's mind. Bourdieu's social constructionist theories inform alot of the dialogue generated in this course around literacies. The development of personal literacies cannot be separated from the array of social and cultural influences that surround the child: one notable influence being the family home. 

I remember days before attending school, asking mum to draw me things, and at my request she would. Often she would expect a drawing in return. This aspect of my relationship with mum lead to the implicit preference for drawing as a mode of language (over writing). I think this explains the gap between my visual and linguistic (writing) literacies as a kindergartner. While I read and write alot these days I still value and enjoy the process of image making. The current literature around the importance of visual literacy is most inspiring, as I am training to teach art. In the image saturated 21st century proficiency in visual literacy will be more important than ever for empowering students (Duncum, 2001). In the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein, "The limits of my language are the limits of my world.." (cited in EDUC3038 lecture wk.3). Today visual language pervades every aspect of our life, and thus has never been so important.  

Final post: was a dude..is a dude..always a dude?