From "Reading" to "New" Literacies

The readings from the text have hightened my awareness of the changes in jargon that goes along with the changes in our culture and technological advances as it pertains to our thinking about education. The term literacy has different meanings today then it did in the past when I was growing up. Reading and Writing have been replaced with the new label, Literacy, in the school where I teach. Also our principal is interested in balanced literacy and uses that term quite frequently. The sad part is that not everyone is exactly sure what she wants. It seems that all of the teachers have their own philosophy about teaching literacy and the administration is trying to make our school more uniform in its educational practices.
The chapter referred to the "No Child Left Behind Act" that has placed more focus on education and literacy (both meanings of the word apply here). Our school as well as many schools are working on basic skills and having our students test well on the state tests. The term proficient was mentioned in the chapter and my students take the NJ ASK 4 this March. We just met with our administration about test prep and went over our students' scores from last year. A lot of emphasis is placed on being proficient on these tests.
I also have seen how literacy is a big industry because I am constantly bombarded with advertisements for products and workshops. My folder for professional development in the last ten years is overflowing. I met my 100 hours in the first year of it inception.
One of my teaching experiences was in an urban district which required that I take ESL graduate courses in order to teach there. Their philosophy of education was based on studies that showed how Hispanic students learn best by working coooperatively with their peers. In this case literacy was part of their social experiences and it was definitely "embedded" within their learning environment. I was immersed in their culture and way of viewing the world that was much different from my experience in suburbia.
Lanham defines literacy as "the ability to understand information however presented." I think that this sums up the intent of the chapter best because we now have so many different ways to communicate information. Our world has changed and the way we view the world has changed rapidly in the last 10 years. We no longer view literacy as being able to read and write. Technological advances have changed they way we communicate in our society.
One final note is that I agree with Gilster that we need to "teach and learn how to use the internet properly." My experience in different districts is that children are not always taught how to use it properly. Even in my 8th grade laptop class where they had been in the same program for three years, the students would be lazy and cut and paste directly into their documents. I had a great deal of trouble teaching these ESL students how to summarize and synthesize information. New lessons are needed to accompany the use of technology in the classroom. Most teachers are not experienced in this area and need assistance with these types of lessons. The role of a teacher needs to be redefined and we need to be open to new ideas as we explore new avenues in education and "new" literacies.