What is Literacy?

• One definition of literacy is the ability to expand upon content of any subject matter with the intent of bettering oneself and the community.
• This can mean skills that allow for analyzing media, digital, and visual information, all varying in ways of interpretation.

What does Literacy imply for teaching?

• Media: Educating students to determine what subjective media looks like and how to determine what information is based on fact, rather than opinion.
• Digital: Educating students to use technology as effective tools for finding and sharing information.
• Visual: Educating students on how to interpret text, art, or any other information acquired visually in order to analyze the context, meaning, and intention behind that information.

How is Literacy used in a historical context?

• Media: Photographs and news articles can be analyzed to determine how the general public and government views modern events and attempts to sway public opinion.
• Digital: Interpreting modern media is mostly done online, and takes skills with using technology in order to find and fully take in the impact of such media.
• Visual: Primary resources from history reveal multiple levels of thinking and events that occurred during certain time periods, and it is important that students learn how to determine the context, message, and meaning behind different resources from various eras in history.