A Final Note

When I started this course the field of theories and models of literacy was new to me. But as the class progressed and the readings tied together the historical process of literacy, the importance of studying it and how it changes/affects society became clear to me. The three topics I considered more relevant were emergent literacy, multimodal composition and digital literacy. I see a relation between them because of their relevance in the changes that literacy is undergoing today. Emergent literacy plays a bigger role in children’s education today than what it did fifteen or twenty years ago because scholars have demonstrated with their research the value of exposing children to literacy products as early as possible. Multimodal composing is at the forefront of debate because all the new technologies are teaching students how to compose with a combination of elements like text, sound, voice and image but teacher are having a hard time developing a model that would evaluate this compositions and still guarantees a fair grade. My favorite of the three is digital literacy. Until we talked about it class I never thought of technology as affecting literacy in any way, less that it is giving our conceptions of what is literacy a 360˚ degree turn. William Teale and Elizabeth Sulzby, who were the firsts to publish with the title emergent literacy; Cynthia Selfe and Browning T. Williams on multimodal composing; and David Warlick on digital literacy, are all visionaries of their time. With their scholarship they have brought front and center issues that now more than ever form important parts of the change in literacy that society is experiencing.  To me is fascinating to observe and reflect on the possibilities that these three areas of literacy have to change and influence the individuals of tomorrow, but also to integrate in a participative way those of us who are witnessing the steps towards new concepts of literacy today.

After this class, I am still interested in more information on how the new literacy practices can help us serve the population of students we are preparing to teach in order to have them leave our classrooms better prepared for the different challenges of a society that is transitioning to a fully digital era.

I do not think my perspective of literacy has changed. On the contrary, as the topics I mention above, it has evolved to include a broader scope of what literacy can be, what practices define it and what practices are making change before our eyes. This semester is over, but I hope I can practice the concepts learned on the class to inform my practice as a student and future teacher. I am also eager to see if digital literacy will continue to play even a small role in my future courses. After all, we have to practice what we preach.