2. 21st-Century Literacies Today
How is literacy changing in light of a vastly
different world?
We live in a technology-driven, global,
diverse, and quickly changing “flat world.”
New literacy skills that attend to these changes
are a necessary part of our curricula.
~21st-Century Literacies: A Policy Research Brief, NCTE, 2007
~21st-Century Literacies: Supplemental Resources, NCTE, 2007
~Literacy Learning in the 21st Century: A Policy Brief, NCTE, 2009
4. “The late age of print” ~Jay Bolter
“Words are no longer static things, quiet black
marks pressed onto a white page; instead, they
float alongside sounds and images; they make
meaning in their movements. They are visual,
aural, and sometimes haptic. As such, their
function as objects of literacy is changing in
fundamental ways.”
~Ben McCorkle
“Multi-Modal Literacy Key Terms,” NCTE, 2007
5. “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 21st
century demands that a literate person possess a
wide range of abilities and competencies, many
literacies.”
~NCTE Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment, adopted Nov. 19, 2008
~The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies, adopted Feb. 15, 2008
6. “These literacies—from reading online
newspapers to participating in virtual
classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and
malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably
linked with particular histories, life
possibilities, and social trajectories of
individuals and groups.”
~NCTE Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment, adopted Nov. 19, 2008
~The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies, adopted Feb. 15, 2008
7. “Literacy encompasses reading, writing,
and a variety of social and intellectual
practices that call upon the voice as well
as the eye and hand. It also extends to
new media—including non-digitized
multimedia, digitized multimedia, and
hypertext or hypermedia.”
~Adolescent Literacy: A Policy Research Brief, NCTE, 2007
8. 21st-century readers & writers need
to be able to:
• Develop proficiency with the tools of
technology;
• 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;
~NCTE Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment, adopted Nov. 19, 2008
~Literacy Learning in the 21st Century: A Policy Brief, NCTE, 2009
9. 21st-century readers & writers need
to be able to:
• Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple
streams of simultaneous information;
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-
media texts; and
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required
by these complex environments.
~NCTE Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment, adopted Nov. 19, 2008
~Literacy Learning in the 21st Century: A Policy Brief, NCTE, 2009
11. “As new technologies shape
literacies, they bring opportunities
for teachers at all levels to foster
reading and writing in more diverse
and participatory contexts.”
~21st-Century Literacies: A Policy Research Brief, NCTE, 2007
12. “Being able to read and write in multiple forms
of media and integrate them into a meaningful
whole is the new hallmark of literacy.”
“Students need to be able to use new media
collectively as well as individually.”
~Jason Ohler, “Orchestrating the Media Collage”
Literacy 2.0 - Educational Leadership, March 2009
13. What are Multi-literacies?
• “Multi” in multiliteracies refers to the
multiple literacies and literate practices that are
used in all sectors of our lives (Anstey & Bull,
2004)
• A multiliterate person must be literate in
traditional and new communication
technologies and the semiotics embedded in
them.
14. “Prosumers”
• Students should be able to both consume and
produce multimodal texts.
• Students must then draw upon their repertoire
of knowledge, skills and practices and use
them to make new meanings.
15. Semiotic/Sign Systems
• Linguistic – oral and written language
• Visual – still and moving images
• Gestural – facial expression, body language
• Auditory – music and sound effects
• Spatial – layout and organization of objects
and space
17. New Forms Drawing on Old Forms
• Hybridity
• Intertextuality
Borrowing from/weaving together
• The arts (music, literature, art)
• Performance (ballet, plays)
• Design (use of space, graphic arts)
18. Three kinds of relationships between
text and illustrations:
• Symmetrical - text and illustrations provide
same information
• Enhancing - text enhances illustrations;
illustrations enhance text
• Contradictory - text and illustrations each tell a
different story - postmodern
(Serafini 37-38)
19. Film as Text:
• The word cinematography means “writing with
light.”
• Three aspects of film:
– Literary - shared with written texts
– Dramatic - shared with live performances
– Cinematic - unique to film
(Teasley and Wilder)
20. Agenda for Monday, Nov. 1
• Mini-Lesson
• Reading/Writing Workshop Model Overview
• Peer Feedback on Lesson Plans in Progress
• Multiple Intelligences Dance!
• Introducing the Multi-Media Research Project