Student+Reflections

=**Use This Space To Post Longer Reflections On The Essay.**=

//The point of the article is to broaden our understanding of literacy and literacy teaching in light of the changing landscape due to the diversity of languages and culture, as well as the multiple communication channels now available. Although this article was written 16 years ago, the points that the authors make are still relevant in 2012. Over the last 16 years, the globalization and the democratization of intellectual property has expanded exponentially due to the significant growth in broad band-width/fiber optic technologies, allowing for the sharing of data, video, audio, etc. More people are able to use this technology due to easy access to mobile devices like ipads. When this paper was written in 1996, the idea of these multiple communication channels were only found in science fiction stories.// //See embedded chart on Apple's growth: //

//Furthermore, the new technology advances are capable of leveling the playing field for many of our lower socioeconmic students. (New technology can be expensive, a teacher should not assume that all students have access to the same equipment -EG) For example, Khan Academy, a math/SAT website is available to every student, thus, math tutoring and SAT prep is available to all. This is definitely a way to give students skills and knowledge that they need to achieve their aspirations as access to the internet is the only prerequisite to tapping excellent instruction.//

//-Lynne//

The essay is a charge for educators to take notice that in the midst of global change, learning must be adjusted in order to allow students to profit from the new public, private, work, and educational lives they will come across in their future. In a global era, they will need a variety of skills to allow them to negotiate through the shifting backdrops of our social and economic lives. A changing nature of work will involve a move to new models of business organization, labor trends, and markets. This will ultimately have enormous consequences for education and the passing on of knowledge and skills to “ensure that students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community, and economic life." (A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies)

One of the most pertinent aspects of this ‘PostFordism’ economy is the dissemination of technologies and its impact on frequent aspects of the every day lives of individuals around the world. Apple has changed education on a global scale. From computers in the classroom to reducing the costs of textbooks Apple really has done it all.

-Brenda

The essay emphasizes the important role of educators and institutions to instill students with the knowledge to gain conscious awareness and control of what they learn. Educators are the critical framers within a multicultural environment, thus they are able to enlighten their students about available designs in different cultural contexts. However, it is the collaboration of teachers and students to redesign the design that leads students to mastery. Nonetheless, without a similar language and familiar context, teachers fail to reach their students. The different multiliteracies that exist in the classroom prove that there should not be a standardization of knowledge or a demand of assimilation. Rather the onus rests of the shoulders of the teachers to create curriculums that are flexible and recognize diversity of cultural and societal backgrounds. Teachers must adapt to how the students contextualize material and communicate with the students in a language that speaks to yet challenges their intellect. - EG

I think teacher training, professional development and conversation are crucial in all that the authors mention. I am curious to know what is happening and what this can look like. I have experienced some good professional development myself, but some of these issues are quite complex. I have found that teachers are hesitant to address these topics because they are uncomfortable or need more knowledge, even when they wish to do so. Standardization is always easier, simpler, and tidier, but often misses. -AH