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"New Literacies": What They Are, Opinions and Obstacles

First thing is first, what does it mean to be "LITERATE"? 

The book definition of being literate means being able to read and write. However, I personally view being literate as being able to understand/comprehend and in some cases, create. To understand the thinking on this, it's valuable to note the... 

NEW LITERACIES! 

What are the new literacies? 

The new literacies are: 

  • Traditional Literacy
  • Information Literacy
  • Visual Literacy
  • Media Literacy
  • Computer Literacy
  • Network Literacy
  • Digital Literacy
WHY Include Them?
We're dealing with a new age. We're talking about kids who realistically haven't gone a day in their lives without technology of some form. So not including and teaching these new literacies, realistically, would only put our students as a disadvantage. Trust me, I get this idea that "All these kids do is sit on technology all day - watching tv, on their phones, etc." HOWEVER, that's the world we live in and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. So why would we not embrace the new literacies for what they are and incorporate them into our teaching and our student's learnings? I think not doing so would only be a disservice to our children. Why can't our students show their evidence of learning through ways that use technology in a meaningful way? There's no reason not too. I think it will be important to include these new literacies in ELA classrooms. Let's show students that there is more to technology than social media apps, youtube, and candy crush. 

But isn't is going to be HARD?

Well honey, nothing in life comes without effort. Honestly though, as teachers I think there are worse things we deal with. Personally, I think this will come pretty naturally - incorporating technology and other aspects of these new literacies into the classroom. However, I think as educators, our biggest obstacles are going to be:

    1. Keeping up with the ever-changing aspects of technology. 

    2. Preparing students for the future by teaching them to think critically while using digital technology. Mainly in regards to the information they are pulling and using.

 


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Location: Michigan, USA

Comments

  1. Esmail HaidanJanuary 21, 2021 at 11:12 AM

    Hello Kaitlyn,
    First of all, I want to say that I really enjoyed your blog. Your idea of incorporating these new literacies makes a lot of sense and yeah it will for sure be hard to include everything and accommodate the new and changing technology, but yeah no one said it would be easy. I think you did a good job and looking forward to reading more of your blogs. Thank you!

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  2. UnknownJanuary 21, 2021 at 5:18 PM

    Hi Kaitlyn,
    I absolutely loved how you made this post like an actual blog post! The thought of responding to this assignment in this way hadn't even occurred to me. With that said I definitely agree with you when you said that you thought incorporating technology and other aspects wouldn't be an issue at all. I think it's easy to know about all of the different technologies and understand how they could be incorporated, but then not have creative ideas to implement them. It's obvious that you have that creative aspect down and will be able to easily incorporate creative ideas in your class!
    -Kirstin Cunningham

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  3. Hannah KaneJanuary 21, 2021 at 6:50 PM

    Hi Kaitlyn,
    Your blog is truly amazing and I love the style I have a feeling you have made a blog before even if you haven't I loved it! These students thrive on technology and incorporating them into teaching is honestly just a must have now a days. I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more.

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  4. Britney SumlinJanuary 22, 2021 at 3:10 PM

    Kaitlyn your blog is amazing the way it is formatted is phenomenal. I absolutely love it I felt like I was reading a magazine article. I also agree with children and technology, it's literally the only thing a lot of the children these days care about so why not teach them in a way that will interest them.

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  5. Lauren AlexanderJanuary 22, 2021 at 3:36 PM

    Hi Kaitlyn! I really enjoyed your blog post - really well done! I agree with you about the technology and about how we have to have students think critically while they are using technology!

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