Civic Literacy

So, my literacy practices have shifted with my new role as a tenure track prof. Not just from being a grad student, either. I mean from being a grad student, a grad assistant, a research assistant, an adjunct, and, really, a human.

I was so cloistered in those roles. Everything was a means to an end. When I reached my end - tenure-trackedness - my civic literacy shifted.

I used to think of the ways I needed to reach my students in terms of technology. I thought about, discussed and wrote about pedagogy and the role of technology and visual rhetorics within it. Now, as I teach at this regional school, my civic literacy is more about retention. Of course I think about it in terms of my tenure-ness, but more so when it comes to whether or not I'm reaching my students. I can tell you now that technology doesn't even rank in their concerns.

My students generally come from very small, rural communities. Some have less than 200 in an entire school system K-12. They are generally poor and are over 70% first generation college students. So, technology - the lack of it, the lack of access, the lack of computer literacy- isn't a primary concern. They battle hunger, housing, and abuse.

I often drive home trying to reconcile my assignments in relation to their concerns. How do I make being able to evaluate and analyze a visual important to them when they really just want to eat 2 or 3 squares, not worry about rent, and for his or her protective order to work so he or she doesn't have to worry about his or her safety.

Income, access, and social capital play a huge role in civic literacy and I struggle with that divide daily even though I was raised just two counties east of here. My identity as a scholar is on the backburner as I reconcile this literacy divide. Perhaps one will eventually bridge to the other.