The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 52

THE VIEW FROM BELOW: A PRE-SERVICE TEACHER’S
PLAN TO IGNITE LITERACY IN THE MIDDLE & HIGH
SCHOOL CLASSROOM
Jordan Smith
Introduction
recently had my first eye-opening
experience as a pre-service teacher. I assigned a
group of high school seniors in a college
preparatory English class an explication in
response to Ernest Hemingway‘s ―The Short
Happy Life of Francis Macomber.‖ An
explication is a formal paper that examines one
aspect of a piece of writing—whether that aspect
be theme, language, a character, the setting—
based merely on the writing itself (without the
aid of outside commentary or critique). In other
words, the students were to respond to
Hemingway‘s short story without the use of
SparkNotes or PinkMonkey. I wanted to see each
interpretation and unique slant the students‘
produced. Their papers brought me to tears, not
because of the literary insight they possessed, but
rather, the sheer lack of writing ability the papers
exhibited. The experience reaffirmed my passion
for becoming a teacher, knowing I will have the
opportunity to not only teach students to read
and write, but to do them both well.
Literacy is the core of every subject in
America‘s schools. According to reading
specialist Debra Goodman (2005), ―Literacy
consists of a set of skills that can be measured and
then assigned an ability or proficiency level‖ (p.
432). Is this the only way to define a ―good‖
reader/writer (i.e. literate)? Hardly. Goodman
(2005) continues to suggest one should ―View
reading and writing as meaning-construction
processes‖ (p. 432). Therefore, a student can be
a ―good‖ reader if he/she can make sense of a
message—whether that

Jordan Smith
(June 25, 1989-October 8, 2011)
Jordan was a senior English
Education major at CulverStockton college in Canton,
Missouri. She had been published
in C-SC’s literary and art
magazine Harmony. Post
graduation plans included
teaching middle/high school
English and pursing her master
and doctoral degree.

message may be communicated in print, symbols,
slogans, trademarks, speech, video, music, or any
© The Missouri Reader, 36 (1) p.52