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AUTHENTIC LITERACY INSTRUCTION
What Authentic Literacy Is and Why It Is Important Authentic literacy means identifying as a reader, writer, and communicator. It means doing the things effective readers, writers, and communicators do in their lives beyond school. It involves the intrinsic desires to read, explore, and discuss ideas; to make choices related to these desires; and then to write and talk about them. Perhaps shifting instruction toward authentic literacy seems idealistic, but shouldn’t it be the goal of every secondary ELA teacher to help young people grow in their identities as readers, writers, and communicators?
• Build relationships in communities of learners where every student feels seen, heard, validated, and celebrated. • Facilitate conversations where all students feel safe and secure as they express ideas and opinions and learn to communicate, negotiate, and collaborate. • Foster a love of books and reading based on choice, purpose, and accountability—and use these books to teach authentic literacy skills. • Model the habits of mind and intentional moves of readers, writers, and communicators. Authentic literacy instruction is skills-based instruction, modeled after what real readers, writers, and communicators do to improve their abilities and stretch their capabilities. Think about the content in an ELA class: the focus is primarily on skills—reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking. Teachers choose texts that aid in teaching these skills. That’s where students’ interests come in. Authentic literacy teachers design instruction clearly focused on their students and the lives they live—their cultures, customs, and personal histories—as the content that supports literacy acquisition. In other words, authentic literacy instruction means that, in secondary ELA classes, the students drive the content. Students make choices about their learning—in the books they read, the topics they write about, and how they write about them. As a result, teachers meet students where they are; application becomes habit; transfer of skills in other contexts becomes possible; and all learners develop their identities as readers, writers, and communicators, prepared for whatever literacy-related tasks they may face in the future. Many organizations have adopted Simon Sinek’s advice of starting with their why. In his well-known TED Talk, Sinek (2009) presents the need to truly know your purpose, your cause, and your belief. He advises that you ask, “Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?” (Sinek, 2009). Many educators have taken this approach to teaching to heart, and determined their why, which is a great first step. However, Lindsey Gunn of the Cambrian Group takes Sinek’s thinking a step further. Relating the concept to education, Gunn (n.d.) suggests educators should start with who. In the profession of educating young adults, you can ask yourself the same questions that Sinek asks. But if asked and answered honestly, the questions redirect educators
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Authentic literacy teachers are individuals who know the environment, circumstances, and skills students need in order to develop as effective readers, writers, and communicators because they identify as such themselves. These teachers read, write, and communicate as experts in their field, practicing the routines they hope their students will internalize as their own. And in order to teach authentically, they also do the following.
