(un)Usual Kinds of Literacy

1. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy DeVoss et al’s “The Future of Literacy”

2. Sponsorship • Sponsors are agents who enable, support, teach, and model literacy. • Sponsors are “catalysts for literacy learning” and “agents of change and appropriation”.

3. Video clips • Dead Poets’ Society http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQtmGcdSDAI • Mona Lisa Smile http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDz8VJ6eS3k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkteNuJepzU

4. Paired conversation • How did these teachers influence students? • What did/didn’t they do to motivate their students? • Have you had a teacher like those in the past? How about some other person that influenced (positively/negatively) your literacy development?

5. What is literacy? “In broad terms, literacy is the ability to make and communicate meaning from and by the use of a variety of socially contextual symbols. Within various levels of developmental ability, a literate person can derive and convey meaning, and use their knowledge to achieve a desired purpose or goal that requires the use of language skills, be they spoken or written.” http://www.bridgew.edu/library/cags_projects/ldubin/Definition%20of%20Literacy.htm “Literacy not only involves competency in reading and writing, but goes beyond this to include the critical and effective use of these in peoples' lives, and the use of language (oral and written) for all purposes.” www.nald.ca/PROVINCE/NFLD/NFLITCOU/litinfo.htm) Literacy is about the fluent use of a language. “I speak the lingo. I read the lingo. I write the lingo. I understand the language.” http://www.musickit.com/resources/forumart.html

6. Literacy vs Literary • Literacy: the lifelong, intellectual process of acquiring meaning from a critical interpretation of a text. • Literary: pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, especially those classed as literature.

7. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Visual Literacy Visual literacy has no limits. It is not just the understanding of canonical fine art, or the business of advertising, but also the entire visual world. This is a sample of Trinitite, a unique mineral formed by the atomic text explosions at the Trinity site in New Mexico. It is fused greenish desert sand. From http://www.jameselkins.com

8. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Cultural Literacy Familiarity with and ability to understand the idioms, allusions, and informal content that create and constitute a dominant culture. Cultural literacy stresses the knowledge of those pieces of information that content creators will assume the audience already possesses.

9. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Biblical Literacy Knowledge of the Bible including the basic story-line from the creation to the founding of the church, being able to correlate this story line with world history, knowledge of key figures and where they were in the large story line and what they did, knowledge of the composition of the Bible, the authorship (both the traditional assignments and the current critical estimates), etc.

10. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Ecological literacy To be ecoliterate means to understand the principles of organization of ecological communities (i.e. ecosystems) and to use these principles for creating sustainable human communities. An ecologically literate society would be a sustainable society which did not destroy the natural environment on which they depend.

11. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Gaming literacy Gaming literacy is an approach to literacy based on game design. Gaming literacy is literacy—it is the ability to understand and create specific kinds of meanings. Gaming literacy is based on three concepts: systems, play, and design. (Zimmerman 2007)

12. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Digital literacy Digital literacy is the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technologies.

13. (un)Usual Kinds of Literacy • Musical literacy Musical literacy refers to the ability to read and write musical notation and to read notation at sight without the aid of an instrument. It also refers to a person's knowledge of and appreciation for a wide range of musical examples and styles. A person is considered musically literate if they can read music and understand some of the theory of music (the equivalent of sentence diagramming).

14. Brief presentations • Danielle (p. 397) • Joseph (p. 400) • Brittney (p. 403) • Charles (p. 407) • Summarize their stories. Talk about: Kind(s) of literacy Environment Materials Sponsors

15. Group task – 3 people • Make a list of kinds of literacy you can think of.

16. Individual task • Make a list of all kinds of literacy you have encountered in your life. • Reading/writing • Music scores • Computer programming • Gaming • Texting • Etc.

17. In- class writing • Choose one of the literacies you have encountered (preferably the one your project is going to be about) and write a detailed account of your development. Include: • Materials • Environment • Sponsors