I am currently taking in a child and youth program, at Brock University and last week I began a course called 21st-Century
Literacy Across PR/JR Curriculum. To me at first I thought 'oh maybe it is going to focus on teaching us how to teach children to read and write in this 21st century using technology etc. However, I was hugely mistaken.
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After sitting through the first lecture I quickly realized the literacy we were going to be learning about was much more than just being able to read and write. We were learning about being literate about areas of ones' life and world in this 21st century, such as financial, media, environmental and moral. Being literate in these areas means being able to understand and be critical towards what you are being told, shown or doing in these areas. It takes the learner from being a passive individual, or just a recipient of information who will just repeat the process they learn to being their own informed being. Individuals who become literate in an area, for example moral literacy think about actions, the outcomes and do not fall victim to stereotypes or routines/common practices. They are informed and educated enough to make decisions taking various factors into account for the better of the community/society. It is teaching individuals to be ‘smarter’ in these aspects of life and be critical to push further. These various types of literacies help shape students into those active, critical citizens they need to be, by providing them how and providing them with the information to be informed enough to do so. To me being literate in any subject matter or area of life will help bring about the positive change society needs. This provides learners with practical skills to apply to their lives outside of the classroom and within the community. I think we need more focus on this throughout schooling starting at a younger age, no matter the stream the student ends up in. Learning how to be literate in these areas provides individuals with the ability to consider the other perspective(s) , and to be unique individuals in this ever-changing society we live in.
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