Last night, as my family and I watched the evening news (yes, sometimes I get to control the remote), my wife and daughter bemoaned the fact that there are now bookless libraries. After watching Yentl–Barbara Streisand’s fantastic movie about a Jewish girl who masquerades as a boy to study the sacred books–tonight with my family, I have to confess to a certain nostalgia about old texts and sacred books. Yet, it is is ideas that are sacred, not the media that brings them to us. A simple concept set against human sentimentality.
Although some complain about the various definitions of literacy, I’m thrilled to see the NCTE define literacy as changing as a result of emerging technologies. Literacy is no longer about books but much, much more.
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The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies
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Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies.
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Twenty-first century readers and writers need to
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Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
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- Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
- Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
- Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
- Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
- Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments
- Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
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It is funny to me how the "21st Century Literacy/Skills look a whole lot like the Gifted and Talented training that was popular in the 1990's.Education is circular.
It is funny to me how the “21st Century Literacy/Skills look a whole lot like the Gifted and Talented training that was popular in the 1990's.Education is circular.
I think that you've clearly hit on something with the nostalgia that is appended to classic notions of repositories of information. The fact is that Information Sciences has been preaching the benefits of digital repositories for info management for quite some time. I like the comfort of a room full of books, but I readily admit that my primary means of info access is almost always digital – and mobile more so than anything.
I think that you've clearly hit on something with the nostalgia that is appended to classic notions of repositories of information. The fact is that Information Sciences has been preaching the benefits of digital repositories for info management for quite some time. I like the comfort of a room full of books, but I readily admit that my primary means of info access is almost always digital – and mobile more so than anything.
Great post, I personally think that the definition of 21st century skills and technology literacy is most meaningful when it is embedded in practice vs. in abstraction as ISTE or P21 presents it. NCTE is ahead of the other national curricular organizations by embracing how technology literacy is an imperative which is redefining curriculum.
Great post, I personally think that the definition of 21st century skills and technology literacy is most meaningful when it is embedded in practice vs. in abstraction as ISTE or P21 presents it. NCTE is ahead of the other national curricular organizations by embracing how technology literacy is an imperative which is redefining curriculum.