Before this class, I thought literacy was how people read books. I now realize that literacy is so much more than just books. It affects literally every aspect of our lives and up until this year I had no idea. The way we interact with others, how we process emotions, our understanding of other’s cultures, and even how we think about mathematics are all forms of literacy that we deal with at some point in our lives if not on a daily basis. My research on Social Literacy has helped me think about the ways it can affect students and teachers in a classroom setting. It has forced me to think about the tools I can use to develop social literacy in my students and the best ways of interacting with them using a new technology. I learned that technology isn’t as scary as I have always thought it was because working with Prezi was honestly a great experience. I would love to incorporate it into my future classroom and experiment with other new technologies to incorporate as well. After doing this project, I am now more aware of how different types of literacies affect the classroom environment in a variety of ways. A lack of social literacy in the classroom, for example, can have a very negative effect not only on classroom management and the classroom environment but also on student learning.
Effective literacy instruction begins with the teacher being fully literate in all areas of literacy such as visual, environmental, political, emotional, etc because that knowledge will serve as a model for the students. Enthusiasm in these literacies will also go a long way to helping diverse students become more literate. Having diverse students is an advantage because different perspectives can provide meaningful learning experiences for all students in regards to literacy. Students from various backgrounds can teach others about their cultures, which promotes cultural literacy. The research that I have gathered from this project has helped me find realistic ways to promote all types of literacy in my classroom. Looking at other people’s projects gave me lots of ideas and made me feel more comfortable about teaching different types of literacy.
If I were to assign a similar (but simplified) project to my kindergarteners, I think they would definitely need some scaffolding, but they could definitely pull it off. The students I work with already know a lot about different types of literacy, whether they realize it or not. Where my students would need the most help would be digital literacy, because most of the students do not have access to technology on a regular basis and would probably be pretty lost if I asked them to make me a video or a Powerpoint presentation. In the school that I volunteered at over spring break, each classroom had an iPad that they could use for various things, and I think if there were iPads at my school, I would definitely utilize them for this project. There’s an application that you can buy for the iPads called “ShowMe” where you can record your voice, take pictures, and draw during the presentation and the students that I worked with were very capable of using this technology. I believe my kindergartners would have great success with this type of assignment using the iPads because most children (from what I have observed) seem to have a grasp for iPads and if they don’t, they can pick up the skills they need fairly quickly.
For the lesson plan, I would have the students read a book about a different culture. Then, in pairs, they could record a summary of the book in the “ShowMe” application on the iPad, and then they could talk about something they learned about the new culture. They could take pictures of the cover of the book and maybe a few pages that they found interesting. Before they do it by themselves however, I would model what they were supposed to do by making my own presentation on “ShowMe” so that they students had an idea of how to use it. For this lesson, we might start slowly and just ask that they take a picture of the cover of the book and record their summary of the book. In following lessons, they could go further and draw pictures and talk about what they learned and really explore what the “ShowMe” application has to offer on the iPad. I believe that if I modeled slowly and spread out the learning throughout several lessons, my students would have great success with this project and they would learn not only about a specific literacy but they would also be simultaneously learning about a new technology.
Rationale: Students need to become more aware of the world around them, and cultural literacy through reading is one way towards that awareness. Also, iPads are becoming more common in classrooms, and students will need to know how to use them in order to be successful in the future because they will likely come across them many more times in their lives.
Objectives: Students will become comfortable using the iPad as well as the application “ShowMe”.
Students will learn about a new culture through reading a book.
Materials/Supplies: iPads, the book “Mama, Do You Love Me?”
Key events:
- I will read the book aloud to students
- We will discuss what we learned about the culture
- I will model my summary of the story on “ShowMe” (In a previous lesson I will have gone over the basics of how to use “ShowMe” so students feel comfortable using it)
- I will have the students split into pairs and work on their presentations together
Closing summary: I will have students present their work to other groups and have each group share what they liked about the other group’s presentation
Ongoing assessment: The assessment will be a presentation on “ShowMe” that talks about what they learned about the new culture. If they show during their presentation that they did more than just record their voice and they successfully demonstrate their understanding of something they learned about a new culture, they will pass the assessment.
