Hey everyone! Welcome back to my blog – as I start a new semester,
I am excited to continue documenting my learning journey.
As a teacher candidate, I am constantly being introduced to such a
wide range of new concepts or teaching pedagogies. I am committed to
being open minded to everything that comes my way, but I must admit… it can get
a bit nerve-wracking to be exposed to so many different ideas knowing that it
will be my responsibility to convey these ideas to a classroom full of
students. However, some of the new concepts are just brilliant and I get
excited just thinking about being able to implement them.
Walking into a class, it is clear that the traditional idea of
literacy is not sufficient to engage students or equip them with the skills
they need to be critical and active members of society. To process information
in our present day society requires much more than being able to read a
newspaper. Fortunately, that is about to change!
Recently, I was introduced to the concept of 21st century literacy. Students
need to be equipped with the skills to understand the multi- media culture. I
was very excited to see that the new literacies included: critical, media,
character, environmental, global, etc. Not only will these new literacies
broaden the horizons of literacy, but it will allow students to be critically
literate. Critical literacy is absolutely crucial right now. There is no doubt
that children as young as toddlers are very skilled at navigating through
technology such as iPads. However, we need to ensure that they have the tools
to maneuver through the virtual world. This includes being aware of the biases,
and different sources from where information comes from.
One of the really valuable aspects of 21st century literacy is global literacy.
“Global citizens are individuals who not only have knowledge (and context
knowledge) but also have developed a number of key values and skills including
critical thinking and empathy” (Broom, 2015, pg. 3). I was surprised to learn
that a country as multicultural as Canada, has a very incomplete curriculum.
The curriculum is aimed towards fostering nationalism and pride in Canadians,
which results in students gaining very minimal knowledge in other nations.
Students cannot be expected to become global citizens if they lack the
historical knowledge which underlies current world events.
An idea which really resonated with me from my last class was
recognizing that my role as a teacher is not about teaching my students all the
content, it is about equipping them with the skills so that they themselves can
thrive in an environment which is constantly changing.
Reference:
Broom, C. (2010) Curriculum in the age of
globalization. Canadian Social Studies, 43(1)
1-
9. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from
No comments:
Post a Comment