phonetically altered. However, one author’s sixteen year old sister fires these off with blistering speed. In
fact, she readily admits that texting is her primary method of communication with many of her friends and
family.
How we read and write in the 21st century has changed, and is still changing. It is the responsibility
of educators to keep up with these changes in order to continue to connect with students, to meet their
needs, and to use reading and writing in ways that students find most relevant. The progression of
technology has accelerated every aspect of life and is transforming how we think about education. How we
teach and learn, how we communicate effectively with one another, and how society is connected is now
permanently enmeshed with how we use technology. This union has forced us to begin to look at literacy
in new ways, and to begin to define our goals for students differently. It is vital that we fully understand
both the challenges and rewards of this new era in order to provide the experiences necessary for our
students to become successfully literate citizens.
New Literacies: Keeping Up with the iGeneration
Educators, policy makers, and parents all have a vested interest in this age of new literacies. In order
to meet the high demands placed on our schools, students not only need to be proficient in phonemic
awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and word use, they also need to be able to use
technologies with increasing sophistication and skill (Tompkins, 2006). Use of information communication
technologies and word processing technologies allows students to read and write in more diverse ways.
Mastery of these two types of skills are not separate, but complimentary and mirrors the expectations of
today’s society.
Therefore, those of us who impact classroom instruction have to understand and value the
integration of technology within our curriculum. Leu et al. (2004) points out that when the “medium of the
message changes, comprehension processes, decoding processes, and what "counts" as literacy activities
must change to reflect readers' and authors' present-day strategies for comprehension and response” (p.
13). Educators are not natives to this digital world. Since we are “Digital Immigrants,” we have to put forth
extra effort to reach these students and guide them into this new age of possibilites.
Why Technology and Literacy are a Perfect Fit
The National Reading Panel was created to assess the effectiveness of various approaches in how
reading instruction is delivered. The research reviewed by the National Reading Panel found that using
computer technology for reading instruction is very promising and has many positive attributes to influence
student reading achievement. Literacy is comprised of various sub skills, including phonological awareness,
decoding, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary (NICHD, 2000, NRP, n.d.). In order for students to
become proficient readers, mastery of these sub skills is essential. In this digital era we must reexamine the
mode by which we deliver our instruction and take into account how our students, Digital Natives,
consume new information.
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