Out of School Literacies

There are many literacies that are not included in the traditional curriculum of school. These literacies are sometimes more important than those that are learned in school. By looking at these literacies that aren’t in the traditional curriculum, a person would learn about the students we teach, what is important to them, and hopefully that person would be able to find ways to connect to those students.

Jabari Mahiri made it a point to research different types of literacies that aren’t necessarily learned in school. I will focus my discussion on Geoff’s video essay because this section impacted me the most. In school, Geoff is often surrounded by violence. Often times, African American youth are considered violent, juvenile delinquents who are involved in gangs. In his video, he is a suspension hearing. He is dressed in the hip-hop style—baggy pants, and an oversized hooded sweatshirt. He sits across from two white men who are the teacher and the discipline officer. The main point of the suspension hearing is that the teacher felt threatened because Geoff believed that another man shouldn’t put his hands on him. Both the teacher and Geoff where breaking up a fight. Geoff felt that this was just a warning. The main concept of the video is that Geoff feels that is “perception and explanation of what happened was never really taken into account” (29). He believes the decision was already made before the hearing started.

Geoff’s literacy was never learned in school. Hip-hop was never considered a literacy even though it contains many aspects of traditional literacies such as poetry. In Geoff’s documentary the teacher probably felt threatened because of the way he was dressed and the image that he portrayed. As a teacher, it is important to understand the different forms of literacies a student may identify with. This way, you can understand and connect to the student, and hopefully avoid stereotypes.