No Longer Just Reading and Writing
As teachers, we are aware that students are engaging in reading and writing in every aspect of their lives. And, if you don't know that, well, welcome to the 21st Century--where students are engaging in reading and writing in more ways that we can really count.
Reading.
Writing.
We hear those words a lot; students hear those words a lot.
Literacy.
We hear that word a lot; students don't.
They should, though. If I had it my way, I would teaching 7th Grade Literacy instead of Language Arts. There's a subtle difference there that I think matters.
I digress.
About a year ago, I was in a class that gave me the chance and responsibility of redefining and re-understanding what it means to read and to write.
This class gave me the chance and responsibility to rethink literacy and what it means to be literate.
I have a whole a presentation about it on this website
You can read and peruse that in whatever capacity your heart desires.
Put basically, I began to decide that students need to begin to understand and work with different literacies. They need to know how to read and use a video to convey ideas in the way that they know how to read and write a paper.
Literacy, then, became redefined as the ways in which people can share their ideas; traditional reading and writing aren't the only way to share ideas.
How did I get students to engage in this conversation?
I started with what they know.
In school, how are you expected to learn?
I asked them this question.
They answered with things like lectures, taking notes, videos, power points, homework.
These are students being asked to meta-cognate about how they learn in school.
The answers didn't surprise me, but they disheartened me.
How is education still relying on these ways to teach when they are so many other ways--so many other literacies--to use?
In school, how do you prove you have learned?
After a conversation about the previous question, this was my second question: assessment.
Students, again, gave answers I expected: tests, essays, finals, projects.
Again, I was disheartened.
They even knew that these didn't work for them; these methods are old and overused.
The speed and solemnity in which they answered this question worried me.
How else can you get information or convey ideas?
Finally, I asked them this question.
I allowed them to speculate wildly; I allowed them to tell me ANYWHERE they get information.
The list was incredible; it was triple the size of those other mediocre lists.
This list, just as well, is housed in my earlier-mentioned presentation.
I was no longer disheartened; students are aware of these and how they work.
Why have we not embraced them?
Why can't we assess with YouTube Videos, Tweets, Social Experiments, Vlogs, Interactions, Artifacts, Films?
After these brilliant conversations, I came up with a simple form--a way for us to begin thinking about these new literacies and how to apply them.
A simple chart:
Once a week, at least, I use this chart to analysis a new literacy: YouTube Videos, Animations, Blogs, Vlogs, Infographics, Photographs, Songs.
The conversations have been well-worth my time.
The students are engaged.
I feel like I am teaching useful and worthwhile material.
That doesn't happen enough it seems.
What's next?
If the conversations aren't enough, these turn into projects.
Just finish a book and looking for a project? Have the students flip through their notebooks and find the best literacy form to convey what they know about the book.
Looking for a quick assessment on argument? Have them look through their pages and find the literacy that best creates an argument. Ask them a question and they answer it using that literacy form.
Do you use essential questions in your class? Have students find the best literacy form to use to answer the essential question. Something similar has become my go-to for each unit final.
The possibilities to expound on this information are incredible.
This is teaching what we are supposed to teach as English teachers.
The world is no longer just about reading and writing.
The world is about Literacy.
For the non-believers, there is no way to create any of these forms without relying on the basics they know so well.
The thing about basics is that they should move on from them at some point.
Help them move on.
Create and analyze literacy.
