Theory Of Literacy Essay

Literacy plays an integral role in a society’s economic, educational and cultural foundation. Reading comprehension enables knowledge attainment and effective communication within a variety of settings. Despite America’ status as a developed country, reading abilities among U.S. adults continue to decline and reading score gaps between racial minority students and Caucasian majority students continue (NCES, 2017; Neuman, 2013). These facts are unsettling, and the former reflects what the latter predicts. In order to equip America’s future generations with necessary skills for success driven by quality education, boosting U.S. reading scores is crucial.

The concept of Waldorf education, developed by Rudolf Steiner during the latter half

Developed by Howard Garner, this theory presumes that intelligence is manifested in nine different modalities: linguistic, mathematical, naturalistic, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical and spatial (Northern Illinois University, 2011). Such a presumption naturally requires any successful education program to consider variances and individualized expressions of each of these diversified intelligence modes within students, such as the Waldorf philosophy does. Mainstream school systems focus the vast majority of attention upon linguistic and mathematical intelligences, thereby possibly inadequately arming a diversified student population with varied learning abilities based on varied skills. On the contrary, the theory of multiple intelligences suggests that different learning modalities can be used to access different concepts. For instance, art may be successfully used to teach language concepts and increase understanding, and similarly, music may be used to solidify mathematical understanding (Northern Illinois University, 2011). Similarly, the Waldorf philosophy suggests learning is more effective when multiple modalities are implemented according to student’s varied learning abilities and levels (Beckham et al.

The Waldorf philosophy operates based upon the concepts of social threefolding and anthroposophy, which recognize that spiritual components of existence can be accessed and understood through personal tangible experiences, which themselves lead to personal transformation, growth and complement learning. Additionally, the Waldorf theory assumes, according to social threefolding, that society’s economic, political and cultural domains all independently evolve yet influence one another. Thus, equality, freedom and economic cooperation become important practical aspects of the Waldorf philosophy within instructional practice. In this way, the Waldorf philosophy approaches learning holistically (Beckham et al. 2015, pp. ii-iii). For instance, children are encouraged to learn concepts in one subject through diversified modalities: understanding mathematical concepts may be facilitated via the medium of music or song. Additionally, understanding a work of literature may be reinforced through artistic painting exercises. Such practices are congruent with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (Northern Illinois University,