New Literacy Noteblog

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.

New Literacies Project Progress

For the New Literacies Project, James and I decided to switch from Glogster to Prezi. After taking a closer look at Glogster over spring break, we decided that although Glogster was a great example of social expression and communication, it was not comprehensive enough to contain all the information James and I wanted to present in our project. We decided to work with Prezi because it seemed like a much better way to present our information in a creative and interactive manner. After doing some background research about Social Literacy, I have learned some very useful information that I will use in my Prezi. Social Literacy has many definitions, but from my understanding it is the way that people act and communicate with others. In society, everyone has one or more specified roles that they employ on a daily basis such as teacher, mother, sister, adult, etc. and the roles they employ interact with other people’s roles in unique ways. One of those ways is through technology. Today, there are so many different types of social media, communication, and information devices that getting in touch with someone, something, or some piece of information takes only seconds. With sites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, news spreads fast and communication is easy. While there are great benefits from using these sites to communicate and share information, there are also drawbacks. Cyberbullying has become a huge problem with young students today as well as Internet scams. Parents worry about their children’s safety while using the Internet because of potentially harmful people posing as innocent students or friends of their children. In our presentation, James and I plan to address the definition of Social Literacy and what that encompasses. We will also address some specific roles in society (teachers, parents, and students) and how they interact socially through technological devices such as phones and the Internet. We will then discuss the pros and the cons of certain types informational/communication sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Pinterest, Webkinz, YouTube, and many more. We will talk about how these sites hinder or facilitate successful communication between the three roles (teachers parents, and students) and what can be done about some of the negative effects of some of these sites for example, cyberbullying. James and I are excited to be working with Prezi because neither of us have had any experience using it but so far it has been very easy to work with and we are excited to see what the finished product looks like!

It All Comes Down To Knowing Your Students

I thought the readings for this week were really great at giving easy solutions to common problems in a classroom, so I chose a select few that were the most interesting to me to talk about in terms of Mrs. Potter’s students.

The first thing I would do for these students was make sure that Mrs. Potter had as many visual cues in her room as possible. Visual supports, as evidenced in the Breitfelder article, are very beneficial in a variety of ways. They can help students who have trouble reading, which seems to be the case for Lupita, Jonathan, and possibly even Eddie. If the students had visual supports for all of their activities, according to the article, these supports could potentially improve their reading abilities, and even decrease problem behaviors (in the case of Eddie and Jonathan).  When a student can’t understand something either because they can’t read it, they didn’t understand the auditory direction, or they are just visual learners, having visual cues can make a great deal of difference in regards to their learning success (or failure) in the classroom. The  Breitfelder article also provides links to websites with free visual support print offs which could save time and money when setting up a classroom (unfortunately I could not figure out how to post some of the picture cards on the blog).

Another thing that I would make sure Mrs. Potter does for her students is have her parents write about their children in “A Million Words or Less”, like in the Maples article. In previous weeks we have read about the importance of parent involvement, and this article is another great example of the benefits parent involvement can have on a school and its students. In this case, there seem to be many benefits of getting parents involved in even a simple task, such as writing a letter about their child. If Mrs. Potter had her parents do this homework assignment, she could get some very valuable insight as to why all of her students behave the way they do, and it could help her understand why Lupita, Jonathan, and Eddie are having difficulties in her classroom. Mrs. Potter may be able to find a way to connect to her students and even break some stereotypes about her students that she may not even realized she had, just like the teacher in the article.

At the end of the day, it comes down to knowing your students well and constantly tweaking things to make sure your students are getting the best education possible. The better you know your students, the easier these tweaks will be. Just like in the Maples article, you have to teach as if these children are your own. Would you want your “blessing” to receive less than exceptional education? I don’t think so.

Literacy Instruction in my Placement

Starting in September of this school year, all of Holt Public Schools implemented a K-2 literacy program that involves much more time devoted to literacy. In my kindergarten classroom, this means spending at least 90 minutes on literacy instruction without any interruptions (in theory). The students spend time on their letters, letter sounds, sight words, and comprehension. All of their small group time is dedicated to practicing these skills, and because the students have specials they are often rushed through the learning process and forced to work on it when they get home. My CT has a book that spells out exactly the worksheets she should be using, the stories she should read to her students, and even the questions she should ask her students while she's reading or after she finishes the story. All of the freedom to plan activities, allow for thoughtful discussion, and time for students to reflect has been seemingly taken away, although other school systems claim to have seen improvement in their reading scores after they implemented the program.

Although in this situation, my CT doesn't have many options in regards to her literacy instruction, all hope is not lost. In the Leland article about critical literacy, she essentially describes the literacy program at my placement by saying "For while many classroom reading programs are now micro-managed to the point of becoming scripts that teachers are asked to 'stand and deliver,' the time-honored institution of story time leaves a tiny chink in the armor". This article gave me hope that even if I have to teach such structured literacy, I can still find some loopholes to expose my students to meaningful reading experiences.

In my classroom, I want to build a learning community where my students feel comfortable taking risks and stretching outside their perceived "limits". In TE 401 we talked a lot about how to create a successful learning environment, and after reading this article, I now have another method that not only will foster a learning environment but also help my students become more literate individuals, think critically about text, their experiences, and the world around them in which so many social issues exist. Exposing children to societal issues is controversial, but by the time some students reach kindergarten, they have already been exposed to these issues in one way or another (depending on their home life and other experiences). By talking about these issues, students are learning to think critically about meaningful things and building literacy skills that are essential later in life and also experiencing positive interactions with reading, increasing their willingness to participate in the classroom discussion and the activities that may follow.

Along with the content of the literacy instruction of my classroom, I believe the medium in which I teach literacy is just as important. Like we talked about in Lindsay's blog post last week, there are so many new ways to experience text (due to technology) that it is important for students to be exposed to many different mediums. Between the internet (blogs, wiki's), eReaders, iPads, and even children's learning toys (LeapFrog), and just plain paperback books, there are many options on how to give your students rich literacy experiences.

With all of these options, it will be difficult trying to incorporate it all into my classroom, but I'm up for the challenge!