To me, literacy always felt like a race during my childhood. At my elementary school, we had these long bookshelves with different colored plastic bins containing an assortment of books. Based on our current reading level at the time, we were allowed to read books from a certain color bin. Unfortunately, my time in the normal writing and reading class ended very abruptly a few weeks into my second grade year. My teacher pulled me aside a couple weeks into the year and told me I would be going to another classroom during our reading time. The problem was not my reading level or my writing skills; the problem was I could not pronounce certain words. They told me I had a slight speech impediment, and I would be going through therapy to fix it. My problem with literacy is not comprehension, but a clear and coherent way to explain my understanding. The action of comprehension is fluid, but my reaction was slowed. It resonates with me today, even though the problem was fixed, how to show that I comprehend something completely even though my verbal response might be sloppy. Literacy has always included that “reaction” for me, and it is an important factor in what I consider to be literate. Over the years I improved my speech, even today I am able to speak in a coherent fashion as a tour guide for the university; however, it is not something that comes innate to me. For every action comes the reaction, and using speech as a form of literacy has always been an important part of the reaction. I do not necessarily have to win the “race” of being literate, I just have to keep up.
I really appreciate the way you’ve processed this narrative. I like the physical metaphors: those that are common, like “impediment” and “therapy,” and those of your own, like “keeping up” in the “race,” and Newton’s third law (action…reaction). It seems useful and urgent to realize that there are many components to literacy. You’ve named some: phonics, comprehension, and pronunciation. There are still others, including confidence, retention, and attitude. It seems too often that scholarship “goes meta” (social sponsors and community literacies), when maybe we could exit through the gift shop, asking what all is included in the basic, deluxe, and platinum literacy “kits”?
I didn’t remember anything about learning to read until I read this. I now remember those separated books and the time of the day when the teacher would have us split into our reading groups and she would alternate reading with us. We would have to take turns reading aloud and she would take notes. I personally am not very good at reading aloud. I get nervous and stumble over words, or tend to read too fast so that people don’t understand me, and sometimes I mumble badly so that my words are just completely jumbled. This memory, and your story about having to have a separate reading time because of your speech impediment, make me question if our system of checking a child’s reading level/ability is a reliable one. At least, how do things like nerves and speech impediments play into them? Are they always considered when evaluating a child’s reading abilities?