2013-2014: Knowledge is Power

What is Urban Literacy?

Urban Communications Literacy is textual intelligence that includes the realm of the cultural and the socio-physical. It is a framework based on both a broad definition of text as "any vehicle through which individuals communicate with one another using the codes and conventions of society" and a description of literacy as, "the ability to think and reason like a literate person within a particular society." Along with the artifactual, documentary component to popular culture, Urban Literacy contemplates communication of popular culture’s ideal component – ideas, values and attitudes – as well as everyday life and language. Key among the multiple literacies included in the Urban Literacy framework would be: Functional (Practical) Literacy, Academic Literacy, Critical Literacy, Cultural (Civic and Community) Literacy and New Media (Techno) Literacy.

The central purpose of this course is to expand urban learners’ foundational literacy skills in all areas of communication arts. Reading, writing, listening, speaking, discussing, using language, understanding literary concepts, understanding media, using technology and employing research skills will be applied to help students build on their abilities to become creative and critical thinkers.

Enduring Understanding:

Knowledge is Power

Fall 2013: We Are Our Stories

Spring 2014: Reading the World

"We tell ourselves into being," author Salman Rushdie once remarked. "I think that is one of the great reasons for stories. I mean, we are the storytelling animal. There is no other creature on earth that tells itself stories in order to understand who it is."

In other words -- we are our stories.

In this two-term, techno-connected language arts learning plan, grade 11-12 urban learners plug into core concepts of storytelling, media literacy and language. They read and respond to multiple works of nonfiction, narrative, poetry and dramatic literature, including Oedipus the King and Othello. Learners link to a strategy for critically approaching digital and multimedia text.

Through consideration of larger questions about freedom, destiny and identity, students also develop awareness of a dynamic that makes literature a tool of cultural, political and personal empowerment able to shape history, change social attitudes and create identity.

S.O.U.L. Focus
Success Opportunity for Urban Learners:

Along with refining reading and writing skills, urban learners must develop the higher-order thinking -- critical literacy -- and multimedia skills that empower them to comprehend, critique, create and communicate ideas in today’s techno-connected world.