“Literacy is much more than an educational priority – it is the ultimate investment in the future and the first step towards all the new forms of literacy required in the twenty-first century. We wish to see a century where every child is able to read and to use this skill to gain autonomy.”
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director Genera
http://www.unesco.org/new/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day/
Today is (better yet – was) International Literacy Day. It is a day focused on expanding literacy to include populations with low levels of literacy and to expand the definition of literacy to include skills suited for the 21st century’s technological advancements in populations where reading, writing and arithmetic are already at adequate levels. “See Spot run” is 20th century literacy (which is still necessary). The amount of knowledge necessary to remain relevant in this century encompasses an ever-increasing ability to navigate the explosion of technological advances brought about by the internet. Literacy of the future may come to mean having the ability to understand “See Spot run” on a reading comprehension level (what was Spot doing?) AND create a computer representation of Spot running (creating/posting a video of a dog running).
Reading is something I continue to enjoy doing. I recently got my library card and was over the moon. I’ve trekked back and forth to the library on an almost weekly basis. Upon entering the library one day, I recalled a part of my summertime happiness – going to the library to pick out the books I wanted to read as opposed to the books assigned for me to read during the school-year. I would play and/or hang out during summer’s daylight. However, at night, I would stay up late to read a book. Sometimes, I would even forgo telephone conversations with friends if a call came in during the exciting part of my book. Anyone who knows me knows I L-O-V-E to talk on the phone; and that started early. However, phone conversations easily took a backseat to books. I could sit quietly for hours submersed in another world created by the book that I was reading. I was the proverbial bookworm.
As an adult, I value my continued love of reading, for it has allowed me to move seemingly effortlessly through worlds totally different than my own. Random minutiae from various books have allowed me to connect with and understand people far removed from my set of personal life experiences. Descriptions of foreign people and places drove (and continue to drive) my interest in seeing the world. Long before the US State Department issued my passport and I boarded a flight to an international destination, my first passport was issued by the local library and I traveled far and wide utilizing a combination of an author’s place descriptions and my own imagination to make the little black words on the white page come alive in my mind. It is through reading that I continuously seek to assimilate more knowledge into everyday life.
Just as my reading another author’s words inspired me to imagine the world and context they created or described, it inspires me to leave just a little bit of what’s in and/or on my mind as well by way of writing. As a 21st century adjunct to writing, sometimes I just post a video when original words fail me. As such, I straddle literacy of both centuries.
Children learn by example and one of their favorite ways of learning is by imitation. If you hate to read, pick up a book when you’re around a child and just stare at it, making sure to turn the page from time to time. If you love to read, read a book to a young child. Although it is not the gift often hoped for, gift a child with a book suited to their interests. Stepping back into this century, give them an eBook they can read on a tablet, if they have one. Turn the tables, have them write something from their imagination for YOU to read. In giving a child a book, you are in essence giving them an increased chance of success far beyond the realm of a standardized test – but an increased chance of success in life.
PS: Special thanks to Beth, whose blog post regarding International Literacy Day inspired my wanting to also say a few words in its honor.
PPS: I hung out at the library yesterday afternoon in order to hear a presentation on local name origins. My library card is the gift that keeps on giving…
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