Reflecting on Literacy Learning and Teaching

Although we did not set out to have a theme for this issue of Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, I find it fascinating that there seem to be synergies amongst the articles and also a resonance with my literacy tasks of recent weeks. During the past week or so, I have been involved in a range of literacy education activities across the areas of research, teaching and service. In research, my work with co-editor Annette has been around balanced approaches to literacy instruction, the four resources model (Freebody & Luke, 2003; Luke & Freebody, 1999), and notions of teaching quality. In teaching, the summer semester has just commenced and my masters' students are reflecting critically on their practices as literacy educators. And, in service, I have been marking the assessment tasks of teachers who have engaged in action research projects as part of their professional development. The common theme that is evident is reflection: reflecting in action and on action (Schon, 1983). Teacher reflection is recognised as an important aspect of teaching and of the professional activities of teachers, including literacy teachers. The STELLA (Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia) Framework (AATE, ALEA, DET Victoria, & Ed. Dept WA, 2002) highlights that 'Teachers continue to learn' (Standard statement 3.2) and identifies reflection as an important activity. Similarly, the Professional standards for Queensland teachers (Queensland College of Teachers, 2006), as but one example of teacher standards required for teacher registration, identify reflective practice as an essential dimension of becoming a teacher. In thinking about reflection and what it involves, I like the frame suggested by Macfarlane, Noble, Kilderry and Nolan (2005). They argue that it is important to be able to confront and deconstruct practice, to theorise how and why particular things happen, and to be able to think otherwise--'to challenge oneself' to think about 'better ways of thinking about and practising teaching' (p. 16). And certainly in my week's activities, there seemed to be plenty of evidence that successful teachers reflect on their practice and challenge themselves to make a difference to the literacy learning of the students they teach. It is this theme that also seems to permeate the articles of this issue of Literacy Learning: the Middle Years. In the first article, Not always as it first seems: Thoughts on reading a 3D multimodal text, Paul D. Chandler describes a multimedia text that is available on the Kahootz website. He analyses the short text, identifing the range of meanings that the narrative offers. He also reflects on the necessity for teachers to become visually, and indeed multimodally, literate and to continue learning as new types of texts become available. Teresa Kasprzak's article, Using explicit teaching in a Year 8 integrated unit, tells the story of classroom-based professional development activities. With support from her colleagues, Teresa reflected on her classroom practices, considered possibilities for change, then actioned and monitored changes to her teaching, and recorded the effects on her students. Her article shares some of the resources that were developed as well as her reflections on how she attempted to incorporate newly learned ideas into her teaching. In Home language: A stigma or a vehicle to literacy?, Changying Liu reports on his observations and discussions with students who speak languages other than English. In reporting two case studies, he challenges educators to rethink their often taken-for-granted understandings about children's efforts to learn English at school and to learn more about children's use of languages at home and how this might inform school practice. Kylie Meyer's article, 'Diving into reading'. Revisiting Reciprocal Teaching in the middle years, focuses on the use of reciprocal reading and student-generated questioning as strategies for middle years' students. …