We are all struggling to “prepare” students for the future in order for students to become productive members of our society. Emerging literacies were dubbed 21st century literacies to emphasize the need to prepare our students for a different future, THEIR future.  We only know that we will need to learn how to continue learning in a world with exponential change. 21st century literacies quickly became a buzz word. Now, towards the end of the second decade into the 21st century, it seems interesting to hear us still talk about “preparing” for these 21st century literacies.

Looking at the “Now” literacies, including basic literacy, information, network, media, digital citizenship and global literacy, we are preparing students for a time when what they know is not as important,  in comparison,  to what they can do with what they know, and to be flexible in learning, un-lerning and re-learning. We are a society where consumers have become producers and increasingly are required to being contributors. How does this translate into the classroom? What does this mean in terms of professional development and continued learning for teachers? How do we become leaders in the NEW literacies and make them NOW literacies in our schools?