Digital Reflection.7

   

I found the "36 Things Every 21st Century Teacher Should Be Able To Do" list on a LinkedIn slidesharing website...not only is the medium an example of Yancey's vision of modern day society using social media to spark conversation, but it represents the difference between past and present learning practices. I think it's hilarious that "appreciate memes" is not only in the top 36 things, but it made it in the top 5 list of things that 21st century teachers should be able to do. The introduction of Yancey's address is basically a call to action: to develop new models of writing, to design a new curriculum supporting those models, and to create models for teaching that curriculum. Perhaps the understanding of memes is a necessary tool for 21st century composers and teachers in order to relate to an audience.

When looked at in conjunction with the second image, I think it is interesting that the author mentions that in the 21st century (now), humans abandoned language and communicated exclusively in memes. This may be a little overdramatic, but many group messages are composed entirely of memes, funny pictures, or videos, without any use of text. This picture also captivates the spirit of how writing is always changing, but it has (and will continue to be) used in people's everyday lives.  In Yancey's article, she mentions that "still, outside of school, composing is ubiquitous" (7). Despite the lingering perception that writing is used only for work or school, or that it is tedious and difficult, producing memes gives people the opportunity to compose and share their creations with a larger network.