LIBE477B: Audience & Rationale [Vision of the Future #2]

Vision of the Future: Who am I Making This For?

Since my last post, my feelings about the project haven’t changed, but some details have been ironed out and refined. I would still like to focus my project on teaching about the power of reading and how literacy development will lead a student living in the 21^st-century to success. One of the most reflective pieces that I wrote this term for LIBE477 was about fostering a reading culture in schools, and this is honestly the topic that I am the most passionate about. After some more thought and consideration about this project, I have decided to focus my audience down to students – specifically, students wishing to pursue an education in Canada but come from a different cultural context than us.

Dennis' Photography (Flickr)

Like I have explained briefly in past blog posts, my ELL teaching background in China gave me a lot of insight into the cultural learning difference that Chinese students have compared to a Canadian student. While I have tried extensively to change my students’ thinking about learning while teaching in China, just me standing at the front of the classroom flapping my gums felt like a lot of dead air to most students, and I doubt very many of them took me seriously. My target audience is perhaps more focused in my mind, but I’m not limiting this project only to this particular group of students. Students coming from other cultural backgrounds, or even Canadian students, can use this as a point of reference. Educators who teach students abroad can also use the outcome of this project to teach their students or themselves about the literature behind the power of reading. It is my hope that the final version of this project can first be shared at my previous school in China, and eventually shared out to other students and educators in similar situations.

I do not think the rationale for my project is unique in any way. In fact, the promotion for developing reading and literacy is probably at the forefront of all that we do as educators. However, I intend to make the final version of this project something that can be engaging and digestible for ELL students while at the same time being considerate of their needs and challenges as well (which, for me, is proving to be a challenge in its own right as I haven’t been a struggling high school student for quite some time now!).