What is literacy? What does it mean to be literate? What is the best way to teach literacy? These are all questions that I am sure educators have asked themselves. The latest question should be: how do I identify with literacy and enhance my teaching skills to better my students? Here's an eye opening clip to help you understand literacy and the 21st century.
Brendon Burnell, from the University of Manitoba, asks the prominent question: how do we as educators identify with literacy? Whether it is as a citizen, a consumer, or a life long learner, literacy is immersed in our daily lives and we need to know how to effectively teach these skills to next generations. In order to do that effectively we must know and pay attention to our students. We need to know what they are engaged in, their hobbies, what technologies they are using to gain literacy skills and what literacy they are encountering on a daily basis. "Digital natives" is the term Brendon uses to describe our generational students, who are surrounded by different multimodal texts from birth, and this knowledge of multiliteracies can be adapted to any content area in schools, if used appropriately.
As educators, we must recognise how our students use language, and harness their strengths by giving them the tools needed to overcome their weaknesses. "It is not the new kinds of texts or the technologies that need to be addressed per se, but rather how new literacy practices are understood, planned for and taken up in real classrooms” (Walsh, 2010b as cited in Edwards-Groves, 2012). Technology provides the concept of being part of a global community, makes it simpler to acquire knowledge and allows people to interact with others who share the same passions and interests all over the world at any time.
Brendon states that it is no longer acceptable as an educator to stand and regurgitate knowledge to students. We must think of ourselves now as facilitating coaches that stand on the sidelines to guide and mentor, and recognise the rich and diverse languages and ways of learning that our students are bringing to the classroom. If we are not allowing students to use modern tools in the classroom that they need for today's learning, then we are failing them.
As educators, we must recognise how our students use language, and harness their strengths by giving them the tools needed to overcome their weaknesses. "It is not the new kinds of texts or the technologies that need to be addressed per se, but rather how new literacy practices are understood, planned for and taken up in real classrooms” (Walsh, 2010b as cited in Edwards-Groves, 2012). Technology provides the concept of being part of a global community, makes it simpler to acquire knowledge and allows people to interact with others who share the same passions and interests all over the world at any time.
Brendon states that it is no longer acceptable as an educator to stand and regurgitate knowledge to students. We must think of ourselves now as facilitating coaches that stand on the sidelines to guide and mentor, and recognise the rich and diverse languages and ways of learning that our students are bringing to the classroom. If we are not allowing students to use modern tools in the classroom that they need for today's learning, then we are failing them.