Abstract:
We talk about children as digital
natives (Prensky, 2001) growing up in brave
new virtual worlds, but also as vulnerable innocents
who are especially attuned to—and in need
of—nature. But do we really see these children?
Do we understand them as emergent users
of new literacies and new technologies? If so, how
might early literacy education change to prepare children to read, write, be, and act as full participants
in digital worlds and unknowable futures? This article examines tensions across literacy,
play, and technologies in early childhood classrooms
in order to understand how the meaningmaking
possibilities we offer children are shaped
by the ways we see them. How might new ways
of seeing open our eyes to “new basics” (Dyson,
2006) in early education and help us reshape inschool
literacies to more closely match children’s
lived worlds?
