This document discusses 21st century literacy skills needed in elementary classrooms. It begins with an analogy comparing the current period to Rip Van Winkle waking up after 20 years to a changed world of teaching and learning. It notes that literacy now involves skills like technology proficiency, building global relationships online, managing multiple streams of information, creating and analyzing multimedia texts, and ethical responsibilities. The document reviews categories and ideas from organizations like the National Council of Teachers of English and concludes with warnings for educators to incorporate students' digital lives and identities into teaching higher-order thinking skills.