Faculty Interest Group Notes
“Does Reading Matter?”
Monday, 4/4
4:10 – 5:10, via Zoom
Readings: “The Intersection of Reading and Identity in High School Literacy Intervention Classes”
— Katherine K. Frankel
At our first meeting of the spring semester, we discussed Katherine K. Frankel’s article “The Intersection of Reading and Identity in High School Literacy Intervention Classes.” With an interdisciplinary group of participants, we discussed how the academic infrastructure described in Frankel’s piece both mirrored (and at times differed from) that which we have experienced at Kingsborough Community College. We discussed the through lines between the “Literacy Intervention Classes” described in the piece and the history of academic remediation, developmental studies, and basic reading and writing at CUNY.
In particular, we examined how tracking in such a way has historically generated prescriptive norms for students – ones that often framed not only their academic performance but also their sense of self. In this regard, we reflected on our previous readings and last semester’s sessions, examining the role of dialogical practice in developing meaningful reading pedagogies for our students.
We ended our discussion with an open conversation fielding possible readings and directions for the remaining spring sessions.