What Will 21st Century Literacy Look Like?

I think David Warlick made a compelling case about what he thinks 21^st century literacy is and will continue to be.  In his presentation “Learning Literacies for the 21^st Century”, Warlick describes the new education imperative: "teach students to teach themselves".  According to Warlick, this imperative has grown out of uncertainty about the future that is inherent in such a technologically-based world. 

With this new imperative come shifts in what literacy has now come to mean in this new technology-based world.  Warlick states that reading instruction needs to now embody instruction aimed at enabling students to locate, use and reflect on information.  It is no longer about merely making sense of text in a book.  So the scope of reading instruction will need to become broader and more dynamic. Warlick argues that instruction  in writing needs to expand to encompass the goal of students expressing themselves in powerful ways. Finally, math instruction has transformed into a skill set designed to help students create and use information since so much of today's information sources are digitally encoded in numbers.

This is one of the more interesting presentations I have come across. I like how straightforward Warlick is in communicating just how literacy is transforming in accordance to environmental demands and changes.  A quote from the end of his presentation held much power for me: 

“Stop integrating technology. Redefine literacy and integrate that.”

After reading this presentation and others like it I am left excited about grasping how technology affects schools and students. I am also left wondering if these statements about transformations happening in literacy should be more balanced than what they are.  Is there still use for more traditional skills, knowledge and paradigms? Do theoretical constructs and frameworks about instruction in basic skills (such as in math, reading and writing) still have merit even though they are not based solely in technology? Are there still some elements of traditional instruction that should carry on through this evolving technological era? 

I think we need to step back and realize that much of our world, in terms of human interactions and pursuits, are still inherently the same even though the forms of what is happening may constantly be changing.  We are still human beings living on the same earth enacting the same kinds of sets of behaviors and pursuits that we have been doing since the dawn of time.  To say that everything in education must now change in accordance with the technology that has been created in the world seems a bit unbalanced. Along those lines...Are we vulnerable to unbalanced thinking that is spawned from the excitement of the times and the best intentions of professionals who can’t help but to ride the tide of idealism that at times may be unrealistic?  I think balance and reason in any matter brings about the greatest outcomes. I am looking forward to becoming more educated so that I may find the balance in understanding this aspect of the educational domain.  

I do think that Warlick is right in his statement that educators now have to teach students about a world that they can't understand and anticipate given the rapid pace of changes that occur in our environments now.  It seems difficult for educational systems, that tend to be slow-changing entities by nature, to keep up with the rates of change now experienced in today's world.  However, I think that if school professionals and actors dedicate themselves not solely to the conditions of our times but also to the greatest good of human potential then this commitment will naturally lead them to adjust to conditions in meaningful and necessary ways.  Let's stay balanced and see the forest from the trees so far as recognizing that the technological changes in the world are only a part of the human experience, today and in the future.