Kia ora tātou,
Welcome to week six. We are rapidly racing towards the shortest day of the year, a time to celebrate and a time to look forward to spring! I had the pleasure of working with a group of educators this week exploring effective pedagogy in a Modern Learning Environment. We were discussing how Daily Five and CAFE in your literacy programme can lead to collaborative practice. It would be great to hear what Modern Learning Practice looks like in your literacy programme.
This week I am sharing with you the World Literacy Summit which was held in the United Kingdom in April. I am cross posting from the CORE blog post this week.
The second World Literacy Summit was held in Oxford in April, 2014. The Summit aims to build awareness of the global literacy crisis and provide opportunities for participants to develop strategic plans, exchange information, find solutions and build partnerships to improve literacy standards worldwide. As mediascape partners, CORE Education provided digital media services at the Summit, and Michael and I were fortunate to spend a week in Oxford capturing delegates’ contributions in the form of interviews, keynotes, panel discussions and presentations.
The overarching Summit theme was Literacies: the Power to Change — the role of both new and traditional literacy tools and techniques in the worldwide fight to eradicate illiteracy.
Issues and underlying theme
Delegates at the Summit discussed key issues impacting literacy around the world, and analysed the latest literacy delivery methods and teaching approaches, with the goal of increasing awareness of the global literacy crisis, and creating opportunities for collaboration in support of literacy development.
An underpinning theme was the widening of the notion of literacy from the classic reading and writing to include multi-literacies — health, financial, and emotional, for example. At one of the panel sessions, speakers spoke to these new literacies, outlining the challenges and possible areas for action. For example, by 2015 more than 50% of the total population in extreme poverty will reside in places affected by conflict and chronic violence. People in these countries could benefit from greater levels of emotional literacy including an ability to recognise, understand, and appropriately express their emotions to assist them to contribute to more peaceful and stable societies.
Signing of the 2014 Oxford Declaration
The concluding act of the Summit was the signing of the 2014 Oxford Declaration document, which outlines the key action points delegates believe are required to improve global literacy standards. Delegates had contributed to the content of the declaration in panels and discussion groups throughout the conference, and the document was signed by all of those attending the final keynote.
Video interviews with key delegates
There were over 70 international speakers at the Summit, and a key element in the dissemination of knowledge and experience from the Summit will be the video record. Michael Lintott and I were able to interview many delegates, including Dr Jean-Pierre Ezin, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Culture for the Economic Community of West African States, Dr Temechegn Engida, the Programme Officer for ICT use in Education at the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, and Ms Farida Lambay, the Founder Trustee and Executive Secretary of Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children in India.
These interviews are now being released on the Global EDtalks channel and on the World Literacy Summit website.
Jedd Bartlett manages the production of digital media for CORE. Jedd began with CORE in 2004 as one of the national ICT PD secondary schools facilitators. He has since been involved in several major roles including managing a programme of teacher professional development in Malaysia, and the development of CORE's research programme. Jedd is one of the team that produces CORE's popular Ten Trends. He has his own blog: Jedd
So what does this mean for us as classroom teachers in New Zealand? Let’s explore some of the key ideas from the accepting component of the 2014 Oxford Declaration document, The four ideas that spoke to me for our learners were:
- reading and writing in indigenous and other languages
- using technology appropriate to local contexts and individual needs
- engaging with members of local, national and global communities
- recognizing and respecting the perspectives of self and others.
How are you incorporating these ideas into your literacy programme already. We would love you to share.
Anne’s Latest Literacy Links and Look ups…
- What's Your Superpower? ...and what are the superpowers of your learners?
- Interactive Story Telling - Imagine the fun your learners could have exploring in this site!
- Why App Smash? - Making Simple sense of iPads in schools
- Blogging as Pedagogy: Facilitate Learning “Blogging should not be an add-on, not an isolated project, but should be seen as PEDAGOGY.”
- Writing exemplars - check out the discussion in the vln.
Conferences:
NZLA - the 37th New Zealand Literacy Association Conference. Register now.
CLESOL - the 14th National Conference for Community Languages and ESOL. Register now.
Ngā mihi nui
Anne Kenneally
Literacy Online Facilitator
CORE Education
@LiteracyOnline2
To post to the list email: literacy@lists.tki.org.nz
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