New Literacies Articles

"From a sociocultural perspective, the focus of learning and education is not children, nor schools, but human lives seen as trajectories through multiple social practices in various social institutions" (Lankshear & Knobel).

I love the above quotation. Now the question is how do we get others to buy into this way of thinking? I can't help but be reminded of the quote by Norma Gonzalez in I Am My Language (2001) which echos Lankshear and Knobel albeit in a more simplified way: "What we should be about is big people helping little people become big people" (pg. 197). How often do we engage our students in tasks which are meaningless, hoop-jumping activities which neither promote thinking nor prepare young people to engage in literate activities outside of school?

I agree completely with the authors' stance, but I question the feasibility of authentically engaging students in these "new" literacies under the current pedagogical framework operating in most schools. Lankshear and Knobel are also skeptical because of the tendency for the school's to colonize ("schoolify") social practices, and recast these practices in an artificial, "pretend" ways.

So, last Thursday, I met with my principal, and he offered me the language arts department head position for next year. Not a bad gig for a redheaded, East Texas Aggie who is often times linguistically and culturally challenged. I mention this because I'm concerned about what direction I'll take with my department. I have been exposed to a wealth of knowledge from faculty and peers while at UT, but I am going to have to be subtle in my approach to enact change. I have this bad habit of being so passionate about something that my myopia sets in, which can be a little off-putting. I wonder what will be the best starting point for our department. I'm thinking genre studies will be most logical choice because this type of inquiry lends itself to incorporating authenticity, choice, and purpose to literate acts. Another challenge will be how I will reconcile district-mandated curriculum plans with my pedagogical perspectives. I just wish I could give all my teachers my articles and books over the course of my two years and say, "Read, and then we'll talk", or better yet I wish I had a cool Matrix like plug-in and could just download the information directly to their brains--that would be sweet, minus the whole computers taking over the world thing.