Now, I know I made quite the heartfelt goodbye last time we spoke, as the course I created this blog for had concluded. However, the blogging shall continue! I know all you dear readers are just clamoring for some more of my wonderful insights, and what kind of person would I be if I didn't oblige?
Recently, we have been discussing the concept of literacy in my class. Now I know you're probably thinking, "Oh, literacy? Like reading and writing and such?" and you wouldn't be wrong. I'm not talking about your run-on-the-mill literacy though. There are multiple types of literacy, including, but not limited too, media literacy, critical literacy, and physical literacy. Being literate in these subject areas involves having an understanding how to properly and effectively navigate the given subject area.
I find this entire concept to be fascinating! Now, dear reader, I can't say for sure what type of education you experienced, but personally, I never heard these different literacies mentioned overtly. They simply came about naturally through the course of my schooling. This is a bit confusing to me by itself. Did I just have masterful teachers who seamlessly blended these different concepts into my lessons? That could be the case, but I really doubt it. I'm sure one or two of my previous teachers consciously worked the different literacies into their lesson plans, but definitely not all of them.
At this point in my thought process, I became a little confused. If my previous teachers had little knowledge of multiple literacies, but I still managed to become fluent in a variety of them, why are they being taught explicitly now? It seems as if someone took a concept most were already familiar with, gave it an education-y sounding name, and suddenly we have new material to learn! It begs the question, will I be anymore effective at getting these multiple literacies across now that I know of them? I was multi-lingual in terms of these different literacies without even knowing it before, so I can't really say for sure that naming these concepts will make me any more proficient in sneaking them into my lessons.
Honestly, it seems the best way to get these concepts across to my students would be to explicitly inform them, much like the way I'm learning about them now. Sneaking them in may give them the skills needed, but I don't see any real benefit to it. I seem to be talking myself in circles at this point, and I don't see a conclusion in sight (this seems to be characteristic of my blog posts, but you already knew that, dear avid reader). It would seem I just need to play the waiting game at this point, as I won't really have answers to these questions until I actually begin to teach!
Hopefully my musings here have given you something to think about, I know I sure have enough. In keeping with tradition, I'll leave you with another artwork, this time by Jared Africa. Equal parts horrifying and playful, I give you Blueby Wooby!
Until next time!
cjarvis
