Out With Erin

Recently, my mind has been bombarded with ideas and thoughts around literacy. How is it defined in a modern, technology-based world? How do current changes affect the way literacy should be taught in the classroom?

I was lucky enough to find a twitter chat, #ntchat, focusing on literacy this week. It was a great opportunity to share ideas and collaborate with other educators to discuss what literacy looks like in the classroom today. Below is a brief summary of the chat.

Question #1: How do you define literacy? Being well-read, being able to read, or something else?

https://twitter.com/mssackstein/status/436308662689488896

https://twitter.com/sstorm01/status/436309055435706368

https://twitter.com/teachingwthsoul/status/436309940051779585

https://twitter.com/allisunrae/status/436309622413340672

Question #2: How do we support students to acquire it – literacy?

https://twitter.com/mscdeguzman/status/436313798048096256

https://twitter.com/ContentLiteracy/status/436313574424576000

Question #3: What about writing? Should reading and writing be taught together? How do we accomplish that?

https://twitter.com/allisunrae/status/436314824981876736

https://twitter.com/ContentLiteracy/status/436315457625145344

Question #4: What web 2.0 tools or digital tools do you use to promote literacy?

https://twitter.com/ayscueaquestion/status/436316769196969984

https://twitter.com/allisunrae/status/436316534538248192

https://twitter.com/mscdeguzman/status/436316834430586882

https://twitter.com/teachingwthsoul/status/436318018650394624

From this chat it became clearer to me that yes, the definition of literacy is changing. Although the core values still exist, the meaning is evolving and changing because of the implications of technology, and also the need to adapt to today’s world. The overall arching theme that stuck out to me from this chat is the importance of modeling and being involved with reading and writing, the need for students to make connections to the things they are reading, the things happening in their lives, and across the curriculum, and the opportunities and abilities that we have in a technology-based school system to use incredible tools to create literate students.