One important aspect of 21st century literacy is whether the idea of "literacy" needs to be redefined. The most basic and outdated definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. This definition first came about in the late 1800s. Now, over a century later with many educational, technological and social advances behind us the idea of literacy must be expanded. I found an interesting definition on the site of "Information Age Inquiry" (http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/literacy.htm). The expanded meaning of literacy is "the ability to locate, evaluate, use, and communicate using a wide range of resources including text, visual, audio, and video sources." I believe that 21st century educators and students should adopt this type of definition of literacy as a first step in preparation for more relevant, rigorous, and related learning.
Another important aspect of 21st Century Literacy is having 21st century literate teachers in front of students. I watched a recommended video that features the topic and this is what came to my mind. Through no real fault of their own, just simple evolution, many teachers find themselves "digitally illiterate". The challenge is helping those teachers understand the need to become digitally literate, receive training in integrating various types of technology into learning activities, and bring that increased literacy into the classroom. We have new teachers who are digitally literate but not experienced with teaching so we have to meet the needs of both of these populations in order to meet the educational needs of our 21st century students. One strategy may include teaming rookie and veteran teachers for collaboration or two-way mentoring.
Not only must teachers be willing to learn from each other, whether rookie or veteran, but teachers must also be willing to learn from students. This exchange will not only help teachers learn the latest new technology tricks, it will provide insight into students' abilities, ideas, personalities, and understanding. It can also strengthen as opposed to diminishing the student - teacher relationship. Especially at the upper grade and high school level, the role of teacher must evolve to be more collaborative, coaching, and guiding. It has been a long time since teachers could claim to have all of the answers. In the 21st century we have to be willing to guide students to find answers to questions that we have too.
nancy
12 years ago
I agree that the definition of litreracy m,ust be amended. In my own blog entyr, I, too, listed lieteracy as a major aspect of 21st Century fluency. But after reading your entyr and thniking about what I wrote, the ability to read and write should be a part of the definition. Have you ever gotten a test message or e-mail from someone and much of what is in it can't be understood? The ability to read and to write, and even further, intelligently communicate must remain as a part of 21st Century literacy. Most of the sites I looked at seemed to forget that these two skills are still important. Reading and writing are so 20th Century that the writers seem to think that everyone comes with these skills. wouldn't that be nice?
ReplyDeleteI just reread mine, and talk about bad writing and spelling - entyr? m,ust? Better use spell check.
ReplyDeleteI just caught "test" message. Am I lame.
ReplyDeleteOh my. I just wrote a ton and it was lost. Argh. Basically I wrote that I liked the definition you found for 21st century literacies: the ability to locate, evaluate, use, and communicate using a wide range of resources including text, visual, audio, and video sources.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this definition does not seem to incorporate the "outdoor literacy" that was mentioned by one teacher in the video. "Outdoor literacy" struck a cord with me because it seems like, with respect to the outdoors, our grandparents had a much better understand/literacy that the current generation. I found a definition for "ecological" literacy that I think means the same thing as outdoor literacy: The aim of ecological literacy according to Orr, "is that quality of mind that seeks out connections. It is the opposite of specialization and narrowness of most education" (Orr, 1992, p. 92). A shift of perceptions from understanding of objects to relationships is a key aspect of systems thinking which Capra described as the "intellectual core of ecoliteracy" (Capra, 1999, p. 11). Systems thinking also involves perception shifts including from parts to whole, objective knowledge to contextual knowledge, quantity to quality, structure to process, and contents to patterns (see: http://www.ecoliteracy.org/education/sys-thinking.html).
Upon thinking about it further, though, the type of systems thinking that ecological literacy rests on, is the same type of systems thinking the 21st literacy skill above rest upon-- synthesizing a large amoutn of information and forming an understand of how all parts contribute to the whole.