New Literacies & Final Project Review & Chat

What is the new literacies perspective?

New Literacies, according to Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack, are "the skills, strategies, and dispositions necessary to successfully use and adapt to the rapidly changing information and communication technologies and contexts that continuously emerge in our world and influence all areas of our personal and professional lives. These new literacies allow us to use the Internet and other ICTs to identify important questions, locate information, critically evaluate the usefulness of that information, synthesize information to answer those questions, and then communicate the answers to others" (2004, p.1576). New Literacies are deictic, or always changing, they are are needed within the workforce, and they are used in the social context. Richardson also points out that new literacies also include critical literacies. In chapter ten of his book, he states that "consumers of the Web content need to be editors as well as readers" (2010, p.148).

What are its implications for your current or future teaching?

Richardson states that "teachers need to think of themselves more as coaches who model the skills that students need to be successful and motivate them to strive for excellence" (2010, p.155).

Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack provide multiple examples of ways to include new literacies within the classroom. These include:

• using a search engine effectively to locate information;

• evaluating the accuracy and utility of information that is located on a webpage in relation to one’s purpose;

• using a word processor effectively, including using functions such as checking spelling accuracy, inserting graphics, and formatting text;

• participating effectively in bulletin board or listserv discussions to get needed information;

• knowing how to use e-mail to communicate effectively; and

• inferring correctly the information that may be found at a hyperlink on a webpage. (2004, p.1590)

Along with suggestions from Richardson and Leu and colleagues, I feel that Web 2.0 tools, if used for educational purposes, can be very beneficial and motivating for students to use in school. I've reviewed and used many new Web 2.0 tools this semester, including blogs, wikis, wordles, glogster, prezi, and digital stories.

Virtual showcase

During the final project review and chat, Annie and I set up a chat-with-me site where many of our classmates connected with us. We had a few questions about the Web 2.0 tools that we used and their classroom applications. Greg said that he wants to use one of them with his Kindergartners. I joined Kallie's chat after reviewing her final project. We discussed the book "The Outsiders". She said that she has seen it used with 7th grade students and up, but because it covers the topic of tolerance and providing students with voice, she felt like it could be used with students in younger grades too. I felt like Shanna and Sarah's blog will definitely be a good resource to have in the future when I need information about certain disabilities. I also feel like Andrea's blog about "Road to Reading" will also be a great resource to have in the future, when reminding myself of the 5 steps or while teaching others about the "Road to Reading" program. Overall, the review session went well and everyone had a lot of great projects to share!

Skype Date

On Sunday, I had a skype date with Shanna! We discussed how the Leu and colleagues reading had multiple definitions for New Literacies. For example, Leu and colleagues state that "new literacies are seen as new social practices that emerge with new technologies. Some see new literacies as important new strategies and dispositions required by the Internet that re essential for online reading comprehension, learning, and communication (Leu et al., 2007, p.6). New Literacies are also viewed as "deictic; they regularly change as defining technologies change" and lastly, they were viewed as "multiple, multimodal, and multifaceted" (Leu et al., 2007, p.7). New Literacies has an impact on the definition of reading because specific skills are needed for online reading versus offline reading. For example, navigating information from a website, analyzing important information, and synthesizing information. We said that New Literacies will have an impact on our teaching of Language Arts because we will show our students how there is more than one way to be literate. We want our students to work together and learn from each other's strengths to develop their literacies. Shanna and I also discussed the Richardson chapters, in which he states that "consumers of web content need to be editors as well as readers" (2010, p.148). We feel that it will be very important for us to teach our students how to critically analyze web based information as they explore and learn from the Web. We feel that skype is a great New Literacies tool to use with students. It could be used to connect to other classrooms, experts, authors, pen pals, and could be used to conduct interviews and complete projects. I felt that this was a fun and easy assignment to complete. I have also been using Skype for over 3 years now, so using this web tool was not a problem. I liked having to use skype for a school assignment because I've only ever used it to communicate with family and friends. When I first got my webcam, the technicalities of downloading the webcam software and adjusting its settings were a bit of an issue, so I would suggest that teachers spend some time with Skype before introducing it to their students in a classroom setting.

Making my Glog

I decided to make a Glog for this weeks posting on classroom web pages/sites. It ended up being really fun!! Classroom websites that I reviewed included sites from A.F. Palmer Elementary School, which is where I went as a child, and a website created by my host teachers from French Road Elementary School in Brighton, NY. I tried to find a classroom website for my second placement at School #7 in the Rochester City School District but could not find one. I described the websites for A.F. Palmer on my Glog so I will include some of my findings the FRES site here. It included two of the three elements that Baker says makes up many classroom web pages today: newsletters, external links, and various supports for publishing (2007). It had many different pages with links to additional resources, monthly newsletter, and pages for each subject with a description of what would be covered throughout the year. There was even a link to "Puzzles" but none were listed at the time. I feel that all of the classroom web pages that I looked need to be updated and revised so that students can use them as a collaborative workspace. Teachers, especially teachers with older children, should allow students to take part in the editing process of the website. Web sites should also feature information and resources based off of the information that students are learning on a daily basis. Baker states that "Classroom web sites can neatly fit with classroom instruction and likely facilitate the current curriculum" (2007, p. 57). Schools provide teachers with a space on the web to be as creative as they please. I hope that more teachers take advantage of this space and make it spot where their students can go to, inside and outside the classroom, to collaborate, explore, and continue to learn.

Glogster

 Great collection of Web 2.0 tools!!

Visual Literacies

After reading Richardson's chapter about Flickr, I decided to create a Flickr account to see what all the excitement was about. I also decided to create my own Wordle (posted below). However, before I even got on the computer to make a Wordle, I asked a co-worker (who is an IT graduate student at SU) if she knew what they were. After we looked at the Website for Wordle, we realized that a Wordle of Syracuse University's School of Education was printed, framed, and is hanging in the basement of Huntington Hall!

Anyways, what I noticed about the genre of "visual literacies", from the readings and from my explorations of the Web, include uses of digital images, photographs, authentic documents, collages, paintings, posters, ads, comics, newspaper headlines, etc. According to Long, these types of materials are chosen by teachers to "Touch the students emotionally as well as cognitively" (2008, p. 507).

Flickr, which is "social software where the contributors interact and share and learn from each other in creative and interesting ways" has many applications for classroom use (Richardson, 2011, p. 102). Teachers can use Flickr in their classrooms to create presentations and slide shows; share daily events or highlights with parents, community members, and colleagues; create a "photo stream" of field trips, classroom guests, special projects, etc.; publish student work; teach about social software, and teach geography by integrating with Google Earth. Something as simple as historic pictures were used in Long's article to motivate students and get them involved in a unit of study, driven by the "full circling" approach. McVicker's article focused on using comic strips to "motivate disengaged readers, offering an ingenious hook to reading that can ultimately bridge their literacy interests to more conventional text structures" (2007, p. 86). Comic strips were used to teach students comprehension strategies and print concepts, such as using "picture clues, context clues, phonics cues, basic sight words, main-ideas practice, and sequencing skills" (McVicker, 2007, p. 88).

Literacies involved in "visual literacies" allow for the definition of literacy to be "broadened to include literacy skills necessary for individuals, groups, and societies to access the best information in the shortest time and to identify and solve the most important problems and then communicate this information" (McVicker, 2007, p. 85). Therefore, literacies include reading both text and visuals for understanding and responding in a way that shows your understanding. For example, looking at a historic picture, reading about that time period, and writing a story as if you lived during that period. If for example, students were creating a Wordle, they would have to type up a piece of their writing and paste it into the Wordle Website. This would include the writing literacies, computer literacies, and website navigation literacies.

Visual literacy technology has great potential to transform literacy teaching and learning. Visual literacy is "motivating for young readers to become recreational readers, enabling them to expand their vocabulary knowledge, to engage their imaginations, and to inspire a love of reading" (McVicker, 2007, p. 86). Teachers should expose students to visual literacies early and often because of their growing use in today's world.

My Wordle!! It'sBased off of Elizabeth's email to our class about this weeks assignments. Just click on it to see the enlarged version of it!