Ch 9&10

"Standard-setting and benchmarks only seem to make it easier for students to 'fail' because literacy--or more accurately in such contexts, reading, writing, and spelling--is constrained to school literacy" (Lankshear 165).

I am about to tell you something that may shock or disgust you, but I cannot help it, it is how I feel...school is not for everyone, and not everyone is for school. Okay, now that, that is out of the way, let me explain because I do not feel we should start letting students drop out of kindergarten or anything like that. What I mean is that there are some students who are cannot do algebra, but they know more about cars than I do at 27; some students may not be able to read Shakespeare, but they may be the most amazing cook of their age. I do believe all students should finish school up through high school, but I do feel they are delivered an injustice because we expect them to master skills that their brains are not wired to master. (I really hope this makes sense.) In my school, we no longer have a home ec. class or a shop class. I find this extremely upsetting because these types of courses appeal to those who may not succeed in math and science, but they are not given any other opportunities.

"MEME-ing is a powerful metalevel literacy:  an enactive project of trying to project into cultural evolution by imitating the behavioral logic--replication--of genes and viruses" (Lankshear 196).

Can I just start with...I LOVE MEMES! They usually entail one of my favorite tings...sarcasm. They are so witty, and I could read them for hours. I have not introduced meme creation to my classes, yet, but I plan on doing that as an end of the year project. They show comprehension and understanding of topics, and they have a way of explaining complex ideas but in an easy-to-understand, humorous way.

(Okay, they don't all explain complex ideas...)