| This qualitative study builds upon recent work on adolescent literacy identity, or on what it means to see oneself, and be seen, as literate in school. The author studied five students in their eleventh grade English class as they interacted with a curriculum brokered by their teacher, who tried to meet curricular demands put in place by the state and the district. The author argues that students had to travel between competing definitions of literacy, some clearly more privileged than others, as this classroom was crowded with, sometimes contradictory, beliefs and assumptions about the power and purposes of literacy. In addition to raising questions about the results of differing definitions of literacy and proficiency in a single classroom, the author also looks closely at curricula throughout the school year and how the popular approach of connecting to what was read was used to develop students into more critical readers and writers, thereby altering their classroom identities. Another influence on students' classroom identities, and their mastery of content standards, was the teaching and learning of academic English. Using academic English in essay writing seemed to give students opportunities to rise above their standardized test scores and, at times, to cast themselves, with their teacher's considerable assistance, into a more literate light. Learning state English standards, becoming more critical readers and writers, and studying academic English as their teacher presented it all caused students' classroom literacy identities to shift over time. Although this was often a tense process, the author also asserts that it made it possible for a student who was not proficient according to the California Standards Test to perform like a proficient reader and writer. This study contributes to the field of adolescent literacy education by providing illustrations of how abstract standards became meaningful over time to students and the consequences of this process for students' classroom literacy identities. |
