Just like the school librarian has traditionally been
narrowly conceptualized as the keeper of the books, literacy has traditionally
been narrowly viewed as reading competence.
As Rheingold (2012) notes, however, “[p]articipatory culture, in which
citizens feel and exercise the agency of being cocreators of their culture and
not just passive consumers of culture created by others, depends on widespread literacies
of participation” (p. 53, emphasis added).
Viewed broadly, literacy means a demonstration or practice of competence
within a context, and the contexts are multiple and varied as well as socially
and culturally informed (Wilder, 2017). As
librarians, one of the key roles we can play is facilitator of such practice
with our students (and, yes, as a huge fan of Paolo Freire, I love the implications
of thinking of literacy as praxis and as something that we do with
students and alongside students not for students). Wilder (2017) specifically notes that we can
help students both with understanding the contexts within which they are
learning and living and with interacting with the variety of texts that they
encounter, from traditional printed texts to data (Fontichiaro & Oehrli,
2016) to social media and email (Foote, 2016).
As Heather Thore (SLIS 757, 2018) notes, the AASL Learner Standards
provide processes for librarians to follow in promoting such competencies with
students. We see this expressed in the
common beliefs, specifically number three: “Learners should be prepared for
college, career, and life” (AASL, 2018, p. 12).
As part of this common belief, the AASL (2018) explains that we
librarians have to help students with “not determining what works, but rather
what works, for whom, and under what set of conditions” (p. 12). The specific learner standards within the
framework then provide even more specific guidance about how to structure
library instruction so that students develop competencies across literacies. So, for example, if, as Wilder (2017)
suggests, we “frame disciplinary learning with a local lens, exploring critical
local issues” then we are reinforcing the key commitment of the Inquire foundation
by helping students use their existing knowledge to provide “context for new
meaning” (Foundation I.A.2) and to develop “understanding through real-world
connections” (Foundation I.D.3) (AASL, 2018, p. 34). I really like how standards emphasize our
ability to use what our students already know to grow across content areas!
References
American Association
of School Librarians. (2018). National school library standards for
learners, school librarians, and school libraries. ALA Editions.
Fontichiaro, K.,
and Oehrli, J. A. (2016). Why data literacy matters. Knowledge Quest, 44(5),
20-27.
Foote, C. (2016).
Building success beyond high school with career- and college-ready literacies. Knowledge
Quest, 44(5), 56-60.
Rheingold, H.
(2012). Stewards of digital literacies. Knowledge Quest, 41(1), 52-55.
SLIS 757. (2018,
August 27). SLIS 742 AASL Standards [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB2NKVzYZI0&feature=youtu.be
Wilder, P. M.
(2017). Supporting adolescent literacy requires a focus on literacy practices in
a local context. Knowledge Quest, 46(1), 32-39.
