After reading the case study, I am inclined to believe that children attach more meaning, importance and usefulness to voluntary and personal literary practices as opposed to those pre-set for them to engage in. This is crystal clear from the personal gratification that the children seemed to derive from engaging in literary practices outside school. A large percentage of the students involved in the research openly declared that they enjoyed engaging in voluntary literacy practices such as the ‘silent reading’ sessions offered in their school every morning. In my opinion, this can be partly attributed to the fact that voluntary literacy practices have a greater impact on the children`s creativity compared to school literacy practices. Generally, I attach the disconnect experienced by children between school and home or community literacy practices to the voluntary aspect involved in the literacy practice.
(Conversation setting: A Morning Class Session)
Kristen: (busy writing) you must be dreamingbut I really understand what you feel. It’s like having this freedom to openly express yourself!
Jessica: (Joining the conversation) Nakita is right, writing personal journals makes me creative and happy (Dreamingly) I always imagine myself writing my own book with this lovely printed cover.
Nakita: You know school would have been more fun if we had more of these sessions
Jessica: (Interrupting) yea, rather than all this stuff we have to memorize for our assessments.
Ranecia: Guys get over itwe all have to pass through school and this is what it means to be in schoolor else we would have been at home reading and writing what each one of us wants.
References
Purcell-Gates, V. (2006). Cultural practices of literacy: Case studies of language, literacy, social practice, and power. Mahwah, NJ: Larence Erlbaum Associates.
