Weekly response post

In looking at potential theories to examine in my paper, I am finding that there are multiple lenses through which we can view our observations in the classrooms. While I found the Gee reading to be difficult to understand and very tedious, what I am taking from this reading is what acquisition is taking place in classrooms - versus straight learning. I am going to look at my field notes to see if students apply what they learn in ways that will benefit them in their daily lives, or if they are learning in a way where they will "sound" more educated about specific discources as opposed to their application within those discourses.

I found that Gee's theory about literacy being tied to social networks mirrors the other readings about the importance of ethnographic work. These authors stress the importance of determining the individual needs of students as they relate to their day-to-day-lives within their community and society as a whole. As Szwed points out when discussing "functional literacy," it is necessary to know what language and literacy "means to its users and how it is used by them" (422).