Quote: "In an autonomous model of literacy...texts dictate terms for the reader wehereas in an ideological model of literacy the reader and the context dictate the terms of how a text is read and understood. Such a shift in thinking gives more power to the reader and the context as carriers of their own meaning, discourses, and ideologies." (Paul, 79)
Comment: I really liked this idea of the ideological model of literacy. I think that, if a student is going to get anything out of reading, they are going to have to internalize it somehow. It is therefore vital that each student can find the meaning of the text themselves. The beautiful thing is that the meaning can be different for each student. Different people are going through different things and will thus relate to a text in different ways. I think it is important to harness this idea in children when they are young. If they realize at a young age that they can make their own meanings of text, they will be able to more readily as an adult and will be able to see the value of text earlier.
Question: How can we engrain this ideological model of literacy in students who are just learning how to read?
I like how the ideological model of literacy brings literacy and learning to a more intimate level. Literacy is much more than the ability to decipher or encode messages on paper. I think that we can engrain this model in young readers by incorporating literacy that they can relate to and find interesting at a young age. I like how the book says that we need to connect those local and global. "If we locate the way we embed our culture and our history into our literacy learning, we are that much closer to understanding where our literacy skills and assumptions end and where global influences begin." (Pahl 79) It is our responsibility as teachers to make literacy meaningful from the beginning. We can ask deeper questions and have materials that students are truly interested in.
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