“What they have found is that young people engage in a variety of activities from hip-hop and spoken word poetry to video game playing and digital film production that reveal the sophisticated nature of their non-school language and literacy practices. Certainly it is increasingly difficult to label these kids as illiterate or non learners; rather, we are better suited to think about strategies for making more powerful and pronounced links between organic literacy practices and the ever-changing academic literacy demands of the world of school (Morell, pg. 159)

What immediately grabbed my eye in this quote was the use of the words “organic literacy.” These two words so aptly capture what we as language teachers are striving to harness in our classrooms: promoting content that is recognizable and relatable for our students.

The benefit of taking advantage of content that students can relate to is that they feel a personal connection with the content and as a result are potentially more motivated and active in the classroom. Seeing how classroom content relates to their world outside of school demonstrates to students the value in learning it. Another benefit is that incorporating organic content allows a teacher to start a lesson “with money in the bank for each student” as opposed to immediately starting off with a deficit due to lack of interest and “personal investment in the material.

One of the examples of organic content the author suggests to incorporate in the classroom is spoken-word poetry. My cooperating teacher this fall has woven spoken-word poetry into our introductory Spanish class as a vehicle to present “Hispanic identity” in a way that appeals to urban youth. Students were able to see an talented artist who looks and sounds like them and presents themselves with a very positive self-image, all the while performing poetry. I think this was one of the few moments thus far in the semester where the entire class was focused on the content.