Task

RATIONALE

What does it mean to be literate in the 21st Century? The answers to this question are very
complex, and thinking about the answers will help you in preparing to teach literacy in
schools. One way to think about the answers is to think about the question in relation to
yourself. How do you use literacies in your everyday life? Also related to answering this
question is an understanding that literacies are not just print related, and a text can have more
than one way of representing meaning, that is, meaning is not just derived from words, but
can also be made from images, audio, gesture, touch and the relations between all these
modes.

Reference

• Allen, J. (2010). Literacy in the welcoming classroom: creating family-school partnerships that support student learning. New York: Teachers College Press. – Chapter 3
•  Ashton, J., Arthur, L., & Beecher, B. (2014). Multiliteracies: Embracing the multiplicity of experiences called ‘literacy’. In L. Arthur, J. Ashton, & B. Beecher (Eds.) Diverse literacies in early childhood: A social justice approach (pp. 1-21). Camberwell, VIC: ACER Press.
• Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (2004). Getting out of deficit: pedagogies of reconnection. Teaching education, 15(3), 293-310.
•  Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1: Literacies on a human scale pp.21-40
• Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 14: Literacies and learner differences pp. 374-400.
•  Multi-literacies Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Melbourne:  Cambridge University Press. Chapter 7: Literacies as multimodal designs for meaning pp.173-205.
• Sharan, Y., 2014, ‘Cooperative Learning and Intercultural Education Revisited: Continuing Challenges and New Directions’, Intercultural Education, Volume 25, Issue 3, p.175-178