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
Cody, I appreciate that you are trying to analyze the different literacies, while trying to make sense of it all. You raise some good questions in regards to how to integrate the literacies (planned, or naturally? or perhaps both?) I think it will be really important to reflect after the literacy presentations and consider how such literacies will be present in our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I love the way you write your posts - makes us readers like we actually matter when reading! When you mention being literate in a number of subjects and 21st Century skills without even knowing (and possibly your teachers, too), maybe there were many in the class that unfortunately did not grasp these literacy skills. Maybe the "hidden" curriculum on these skills needs to be a little more explicit. Can you think of any assignments or lessons you had that you believe assisted in you developing a certain 21st Century Literacy?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you are understanding literacies any differently now or will after you do the critique and revise.
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