Blog round 2, here we go! To kick things off my name is Lauren, my ideal pet would be a lilac coloured cat and I drink more milk than the average human being. Remember when our introductions weren’t immediately our school year and major? I miss those days, and some day when we’re asking our students to introduce themselves they are going to be a lot more creative than we are in our introductions now, or at least I hope. Because really, what self-respecting 9 year old is going to stand up and say “Hello, I am in grade 3.” No they’re going to get right down to business and tell you that their favourite dinosaur is a Majungasaurus.
Ok anyway, back to the task at hand, 21st century literacies. This is a phrase that I have heard over and over again for the past 4 years but I don’t think I’ve ever sat back and really though about what all this covers. Mostly, because all of the different literacies were never really discussed as I was growing up. It seemed to me that literacy meant books or occasionally media literacy. It is only now that I am slowly becoming more and more familiar with how many different directions literacy could go, and how many I wish I knew more about! For instance financial literacy… because, I mean, taxes? What are those?
The access we have to different literacy platforms is endless and it is our responsibility as future educators to make sure our students are, you guessed it, LITERATE! This doesn't just mean the can recite the words on a page anymore, it is so much more than that. Digital literacy, global literacy, environmental literacy, moral literacy, and more! Our world is not static, so why do people expect education to be as well? The more topics and literacies we are exposed to and teach students about the more they are going to learn and become well-rounded citizens? And isn’t that kind of our goal? To make the next generation even better than the last?
I am very excited to continue through this course so that I can continue to build on the knowledge of 21st century literacies that I already have, and expand into topics that I haven't even thought of before. The more we learn, the better teachers we are going to be when it is time to actually get our own classrooms. We will be more competent and more open to the changing world around us. And I think its safe to say that none of us want to be that teacher and the front of the class struggling to make a video full screen. No, we want to be the ones familiar with new technologies and ideas making children excited to learn! These thoughts are what motivate me in the course to learn more about 21st century literacies and practices and not have students yelling at me “no click the other button Miss Dann!”
