In Defense of the Kid Who “Doesn’t Do Their Part” in Group Work

There’s this kid James* in my fifth period class. Keeps his backpack on the whole time, doesn’t say a lot, sits by the door but never with his back to it, sometimes wears gold teeth.

Last month, I presented the kids with a definition of literacy — meaning-making using a shared symbol system — and we worked through each part of that. Meaning-making is reading and writing — and speaking, listening, cooking, dancing, driving, etc. Symbol systems? Marks on the page (written language) and noises we make (spoken language)…