What does it mean to be Literate Today?
In this ever changing world, the definition of literacy has become a complex idea. In order to keep up with the amount technology and information our students are now exposed on a daily basis, our parameters for what being literate means has to change too.
In Sir Ken’s video he talks about how our education system was created during the Enlightenment period. During this time, education was based on philosophy and basic skills for those with a higher socioeconomic status. Information was passed from teacher to students with little resources outside of the classroom. Most students would drop out at the end of elementary school to go to work in factories and manual based jobs, but as times changed children had to go to school and do more complex jobs. But even as the need for school increased even till today, the way education is structured has barely changed (Robinson, 2010). This is a huge problem since in the 21st century students have vast amount of online resources available to them outside of school. They can find the answers they desire by a simple google search and the purpose of going to school has changed so the way we teach must change too. They don’t rely on books or teachers nearly as much to gather information because of the technology available to them. They feel like school is pointless and can’t see the benefit, which isn’t entirely a false since we haven’t adapted to the 21st century of skills required to be successful today. What worked then doesn’t work now.
With all of this being said, this means that in order to succeed in today’s world, in other words to be a literate individual in the 21st century, you must be able to go beyond the old school rote memorization and “just knowing stuff”. These skills are outdated and won’t get you far in this world. The key to being literate now is being able to synthesize the vast amount of information being thrown at you, and the ability to sort through it all to make a meaningful, relevant argument. A unique perspective that is authentic to the subject at hand.
In the article about affinity spaces two teenagers were studied with very different experiences in their high schools. One was outgoing and popular and did really well in school. The other was extremely knowledgeable in his world of Naruto, an online video game, but struggled socially as well as in school based content. With so many ways to express yourself through social media and other affinity spaces, kids can create alternate versions of themselves to fit in. The one child who struggled in the traditional school setting was an expert in Naruto. In this affinity space he had to navigate the through complex ancient Japanese society in order to succeed, which was not an simple feat (Burke & Roswell, 2009). If his teacher could take aspects of this affinity space, then maybe he would’ve been able to transfer the skills he gained from the video game into the classroom. These skills are actually impressive and can be useful if applied in the right setting. In chapter 2 of Julie Warner’s book, she talks about the architecture and affordances of each affinity space, specifically Twitter and Facebook.
It was interesting to see how the exposure to these affinity spaces has changed the way our students read and write. They are used to multimedia texts with videos and images, with very little actual words. They can take the feedback from their followers and create a self image that is well “liked” (Warner, 2017). They can interpret meaning from an image and create their own memes based off of an image, but ask them to annotate Shakespeare-forget it. There is such a negative connotation to the use of social media in this generation, but if we acknowledged this abilities as useful skill, then maybe we’ll be able to actually teach our students more effectively. I don’t think there use of social media means they are “dumber” than other generations. I think that they just have a new skill base we aren’t used to appreciating yet. I do acknowledge that the excessive use of social media may not be always be a positive impact, but if we can learn to capture the skills used to be successful in social media, these skills can be translated into the classroom. The ability to find alternative meanings and moving away from functional fixedness is a good skill to have, we just need to take their social media skills and show them how they fit into school work.
In today’s world it’s becoming harder and harder to have your own independent, uninfluenced thoughts since we are constantly bombarded by other people’s opinions. Whether it’s our friends or people we don’t even know, somehow they are still influencing what we say and wear more so than ever before. To be literate now, we have to be able to stand out in a world that it is so easy to blend in and change to be apart of the majority. Showing kids how to use their strengths and adaptability in a constructive way will make them intellectual global citizens who are not only aware about what is going on in their world, but have their own perspective of what is happening.
In “Working Toward Third Space in Content Area Literacy”, they discuss this concept of creating a third space in the classroom. This space is where the first space which involves home life, peer interactions, and social media and the second space which includes school based curriculum and experiences, are blended together to create a third space where school and real life coexist. We want our students to be able to blur the lines between school and real life and see that what they are learning real life skills in school (Moje et. al, 2004.). We want them to be functional and informed citizens and by allowing them to explore school content in this third space the intention is to make learning more authentic and meaningful students as individuals. As a teacher, having access to so much technology is a blessing, not a curse so s we should be encouraging students to use these tools they have instead of deeming them “distractions”. As a student myself, I often heard my peers ask “why are we doing this?” “how is this going to help me in the real world?” and as a future teacher I hope to show students how to make those connections for themselves. Literate students will be able to use multimedia texts and peer interactions to think through concepts and make their own meaningful connections. Teachers should be their to facilitate this process as students learn to develop these skills.
We are looking for “movers and shakers” in this generation to solve the world’s problems and in order to do so we must get out of this methodical old school way of teaching. They need to learn how to think critically and find alternate solutions to questions presented to them. I still believe that standard practices of learning to read and write and do simple math are still crucial but as students in the 21st century, we need to challenge them to go beyond simple cause and effect. There is not one right answer to the complex issues plaguing our society today, so we shouldn’t teach students to think in this way anymore. Literacy comes down to being able to apply knowledge in order to communicate ideas in an appropriate and effective manner.
Resources
Burke, A., Roswell, J.(2009). Reading by Design: Two Case Studies of Digital Reading Practices. Journal of Adolescence & Adult Literacy. 53(2), 106–118.
Moje, E., Ciechanowski, K., Kramer, K., Ellis, L., Carillo, R., Collazo, T. (2004). Working Towards Third Space in Content Area Literacy: An Examination of Everyday Funds of Knowledge and Discourse. International Reading Association. 38–70.
Robinson, K. RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms. (2010, October 14). Retrieved September 7, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
Warner, J. (2017). Adolescents’ New Literacies with and Through Mobile Phones. Retrieved from: https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023382 DOI 10.3726/b11221, 107–127.
