Abstract
In this chapter, the author/researcher details the ways in which an in-person literacy assessment course had to be reshaped as a virtual course. This ethnographic account includes examples from the 2020-2022 time period and shares particular design features and ingredients necessary for what is termed an instructional “encounter.” In addition, the author/researcher notes the social and emotional needs of the time and the ways in which the course allowed for the continuation of literacy instruction for elementary students.
TopBackground
In this account, setting(s) can refer to both the online locations for the engagements facilitated with students and children, as well as the particular virtual settings (e.g., those points of access and navigation) available in online virtual conferencing programs. It is always the direction of the setting, in this account, to foster relationships with a focus on humanity and connection, as opposed to a celebration of the technology and programming as an end unto itself.
In Spring 2020, the author/researcher was serving in an academic/professorial role at a state university, conducting an in-person course focused on literacy assessment. A key component of the class experience was drawing attention to the facets of texts, including comic books and graphic novels, and highlighting the ways in which visual and virtual encounters with text could create links to literacy for readers, from younger ages through adolescence. This initial group consisted of about 33 students, and instruction had begun by mid-January. This was the author’s first attempt at teaching this course after four years of adjunct work for a range of educational institutions, and their first attempt at a course solely focused on literacy assessment, although assessment had been incorporated as an aspect of instruction in courses.
As was the case for many institutions offering face-to-face instruction at this time, plans shifted abruptly. When the students left for spring break, the university closed down in the interim due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were displaced; some were home in other towns and states, some were staying in the university’s setting, and none were allowed to return for in-person instruction. In response, the author/researcher worked to move the information presented in the course to an online framework of instructional processes, including the opportunity for students to see the author/researcher in action in the role of teacher through the university’s laboratory school, serving K-5 students. At the same time, a robust and time-consuming effort was made to offer a continued rendition of what students at the university’s campus might have experienced in clinical instruction. While the experience did continue, this was a new world of emotions and interactions that lacked a fixed level of certainty as both teacher and students negotiated the world around them, expressing concern for loved ones, and making financial plans to prepare for uncertainty.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Educational Infrastructure: A term to denote the use of physical or digital tools and elements to (co)construct instructional spaces.
Digital Literacy: The application of knowledge of literacy practices, including reading, speaking, writing, and composing, to digitally enabled engagements.
Composition: Linguistic and image-based action which includes, but is not limited to, traditional modes of writing, and can embrace a range of methods and tools.
Literacy Practice(s): A site for engaging in reading, writing, composing, or speaking that is either central at home, at school, or in both settings to varying degrees.
Encounter: A term utilized by the author in this chapter to denote the planned and intentionally developed space that occurs for interactions in instruction.
Informal Reading Inventory: An assessment given in a typically one-on-one setting to generate an understanding of a student’s particular reading needs for clinical instruction.
Science(s) of Reading: A body of research that undergirds the systematic and thoughtful approach to the English language for intentional instruction, along with the artful application of these principles based on the needs of students.