Within two chapters, Lankshear and Knobel quickly present many different ideas about literacy, but there are a few that I think are the most important in terms of the changing world we live in. In the first chapter, the idea of “multiliteracies” is explored, and I was impressed with the focus given on literacy needed for the workplace in this approach. It is very easy to talk about helping students gain computer skills because so much depends on these all-purposeful machines; indeed, there was always talk at my high school about helping people gain technological skills. (The problem was, I am not sure the teachers even knew what kind of skills people our age would need for jobs in the future or how to incorporate that kind of instruction into the classroom.) Of course, when I discuss any kind of educational approach that requires technology I am always become little skeptical of its practicality because of the difficulty of many schools in funding technology education for the teachers as well as the necessary equipment. However, in theory I believe it is a very good idea.
The multiliteracies combination of cultural and critical approaches also seems vital to me in that it treats work as a distinct culture in and of itself, with a new set of knowledge needed to make meaning out of what is going on, while still maintaining the position that people should not become drones of the educational or work system. They also seem to have pinpointed what I feel is the most important aspect of thinking about literacy- cultural and linguistic diversity. Without taking different backgrounds into consideration, no definition of literacy or approach of teaching will help us make progress.
As for the second part of the article, I would have to say that I would agree with the idea that “business as usual” is another factor, along with lack of technology, that would keep a new way of teaching (or a “new literacy,” as the authors would say) from working in the classroom. Even if the new ideas are there, all teachers grew up in classrooms structured around the traditional reading and writing definition of literacy, and the ingrained nature of the system must make it hard to change. I myself feel that I have grown up in that kind of system, and I wonder how it will affect me as an educator later in life as culture and information continue changing. Will I be able to truly meet the needs of my students? I feel that I am, indeed, one of the “outsiders” already when it comes to technology. Yet, as an educator, I can always encourage students to use whatever is at hand to express themselves, and if this means use of electronic/digital space that I am not familiar with then I believe it would be one of those priceless opportunities for me to learn from my students.
