Foundational Print and New Literacies

Foundational Print and New Literacies

Literacy is something that all students must learn. It is something that we are emerged in from the time we are born. Literacy surrounds us in a multitude of ways. This is something that has not changed. However, the style in which we learn literacy skills has changed, and will continue to change.

It used to be that literacy was taught simply through the foundational print, ie: books. The students would first learn phonics, decoding strategies, sight words, comprehension, etc. These are all essential skills. Now, however, the skills reach far and wide beyond these foundational print literacy. We now have new literacies, which incorporates the new ways in which students are learning literacy skills.

New literacies place a heavy emphasis on technology. Technology has become a necessity. We use technology in our daily lives. Students are presented with various new forms of technology from a very early age. For this reason, new literacies is very important to teach the appropriate literacy skills that students may come across.

New literacies are a variety of technological literacies, such as blogging. Blogging has become one of the biggest technological platform. Many teachers are now incorporating blogging into their curriculum. Students seem to really love this idea. It still teaches them the necessary skills (writing, reading, research, presentation, etc.) while incorporating new literacy. It motivates them to not only complete the assignment but also to learn more about the topic at hand.

Overall, foundational print literacy and new literacies have the same goal in mind. However, just as the times are changing, we have to change as well. A much bigger emphasis has been put on technology, and we must, therefore, do the same in order to stay current. Although, this does not by any means suggest that we should do away with foundational print. I think the combination and balance of the two is essential and effective.