New LiteraciesWhat is literacy in the 21st Century?

Danele Butler, EDU 533Spring 2012

What are we talking about?

• In the past, technology was a secondary, marginalized element of education.

• Today, technology has become completely intertwined with literacy in a child’s experience outside the classroom.

• Today’s classroom must find ways to make this paradigm shift and incorporate technology into the classroom.

Fable

To what does

“multiliteracies”

or “New

Literacies” refer?

digital literacy visual literacy

andcritical literacy

and maybe more….

Definitions

Literacy

In the most basic terms it is making sense of your world.

The ability to read for knowledge and write coherently and think critically about the written word.

DefinitionsDigital literacy

is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and analyze information using digital technology.

Research around digital literacy is concerned with wider aspects associated with learning how to effectively find, use, summarize, evaluate, create, and communicate information while using digital technologies, not just being literate at using a computer.

Digital literacy encompasses all digital devices, such as computer hardware, software, (particularly those used most frequently by businesses), the Internet, and cell phones. A person using these skills to interact with society may be called a digital citizen.

DefinitionsVisual literacy

is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image.

Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.

“It is the synergistic relationship among art, text, and design that makes the picture book unique (Sipe, 1998a). Isolating one system of meaning to serve as a prompt for another privileges one system of meaning (usually written language) over another (usually art or design). We need to help readers see illustrations and design elements as systems of meaning in their own right and develop skills and strategies for readers to use in comprehending these aspects of picture books (Serafini, 2011).”

“When Bad Things Happened to Good Books” Frank Sarfini

Applying visual literacy to picture books

DefinitionsCritical literacy

Critical literacy encourages readers to actively analyze texts and offers strategies for what proponents describe as uncovering underlying messages.

There are several different theoretical perspectives on critical literacy that have produced different pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning. All of these approaches share the basic premise that literacy requires the literate consumers of text to adopt a critical and questioning approach.

According to proponents of critical literacy, the practice is not simply a means of attaining literacy in the sense of improving the ability to decode words, syntax, etc.

In fact, the ability to read words on paper is not necessarily required in order to engage in a critical discussion of "texts," which can include television, movies, web pages, music, art and other means of expression. The important thing is being able to have a discussion with others about the different meanings a text might have and teaching the potentially critically literate learner how to think flexibly about it.

At the heart of this approach to teaching is the belief that while literacy enables students to make meaning from texts, critical literacy will empower them to understand how texts are trying to influence and change them as members of society.

Background on Critical Literacy

Australian: starts with text

Definitions ContextDiscourseDiscursive backgroundIntertextualityView of the WorldGaps and SilencesPositioningAgencyDeconstruction

Social justice pedagogy of Brazilian educator and theorist Paulo Freire (Marxist): assumes oppression

A resource close at hand for more discussion of critical literacy….Critical literacy in a primary multiliteracies classroom: The Hurricane Group

Penny SilversDominican University, USA, psilvers@dom.edu

Mary ShoreyPritchett Elementary School, Illinois, USA

Linda CraftonUniversity of Wisconsin Parkside, USA

AbstractThis qualitative research presents an expanded perspective of literacy practices in which young students engage in multiple literacies while exploring personal inquiries about Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA. An extended classroom example and analysis taken from a broader research project focusing on early multiliteracies, illustrates the ability of young students to ask critical questions, explore alternative perspectives, and engage in multimodal responses to construct and communicate meaning as they take social action. Narrative inquiry and discourse analysis provide insight into ways that primary children engage in authentic inquiry from a critical, social justice perspective. They also show how traditional early childhood curriculum can focus on social issues through critical framing. This classroom example demonstrates students’ increasing ability to use a range of multimodal tools to accomplish mutually agreed socially relevant goals within a classroom community of practice. Critical literacy in a primary multiliteracies classroom: The Hurricane Group

What is the future for literacy in the 21st Century?

50 most common text terms:2moro – Tomorrow2nite – TonightBRB – Be Right BackBTW – By The WayB4N – Bye For NowBCNU – Be Seeing YouBFF – Best Friends ForeverCYA – Cover Your AssDBEYR – Don’t Believe Everything You ReadDILLIGAS – Do I Look Like I Give A Sh**FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and DisinformationFWIW – For What It’s WorthGR8 – GreatILY – I Love YouIMHO – In My Humble OpinionIRL – In Real LifeISO – In Search OfJ/K – Just KiddingL8R – LaterLMAO – Laughing My Ass OffLOL – Laughing Out Loud -or- Lots Of LoveLYLAS – Love You Like A SisterMHOTY – My Hat’s Off To YouNIMBY – Not In My Back YardNP – No ProblemNUB – it stands for a new person

OIC – Oh, I SeeOMG – Oh My GodOT – Off TopicPOV – Point Of ViewRBTL – Read Between The LinesROTFLMAO – Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass OffRT – Real TimeRTM – Read The ManualSH – Sh** HappensSITD – Still In The DarkSOL - Sh** Out of LuckSTBY – Sucks To Be YouSWAK – Sealed With A KissTFH – Thread From HellTHX – ThanksTLC – Tender Loving CareTMI – Too Much InformationTTYL – Talk To You LaterTYVM – Thank You Very MuchVBG – Very Big GrinWEG – Wicked Evil GrinWTF – What The F***WYWH – Wish You Were HereXOXO – Hugs and Kisses(http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2007/12/top-50-most-com.html)