Transliteracy and the Young Child

Transliteracy and the Young Child

Today I presented at the School Library Journal Leadership Summit where the theme was 'The New World of Reading'. My session, Transliteracy & the Young Child was moderated by Buffy Hamilton and our panel also included librarian Andy Plemmons. Buffy kicked off the presentation by unpacking the term transliteracy. Andy gave some fantastic real world examples of transliteracy in action. My piece focused on transmedia and rather than presenting the varying definitions of transmedia, I pointed out what transmedia is NOT- not one-dimensional, passive, or disjointed. I presented transmedia as an experience and used Pottermore as a prime example of this. Through Pottermore, I hoped to draw upon what the librarians in my audience know and know well- story- and move them deeper into this by introducing the concept of Storyworlds and how JK Rowling has taken her traditional, linear narrative and has created this non-linear experience around them. I asked the audience to think of those StoryWorlds and think of them with a participative, constructivist, connectivist, transformative pedagogy overlaid on them in which we arrive at LearningWorlds. I defined Learning Worlds as:

The use of storytelling techniques combined with the use of multiple platforms that create an immersive learning landscape which enables multivarious entry and exit points for learning and teaching.

I hope most important to those in attendance considering the future of reading, I explained that Transmedia LearningWorlds enable us to expand the definition of literacy and allow for new opportunities to experience reading in a transmedia environment. Then I shared my personal transformational journey with Inanimate Alice and how the story meets students where they are ready to learn. I focused on the powerful impact of Story-guided User-Generated Content and how students around the world are creating next episodes of Alice in the widest transliterate sense. Learners become producers of content- teachers and learners learning together, shaping new narrative possibilities.