New Literacy Blog Post

MY CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:

At the very beginning of the class, I defined literacy as being able to read and write effectively. I was reminded that literacy now encompasses so much more. I learned about it in TE301 but it’s so easy to forget that literacy is a huge idea, involving communication, communication mediums, social networking and technology, etc.

I still like to define literacy using the definition I found for week 6: “the ability to make and communicate meaning from and by the use of socially contextual symbols.” Socially contextual symbols, meaning ways of communicating that hold meaning in a social context.

For example, geo-literacy is being able to use what we know about the world and its systems to make the best decisions we can think of for a situation; being literate in the context of world systems, understanding the information given to us through world patterns and systems and being able to convey information in response. Perhaps symbols in this case could be the information we get from learning about the world. It is in the context of geographic patterns.

When I think about each of the different types of literacy given for the project, I think that being literate in these (and all) areas simply means understanding what they involve. For example, from Julie and Justine’s project I learned that if you are emotionally literate, you understand internal emotions and how they can affect our relationships with others. By having this understanding, we can apply it and form and maintain better relationships. Being literate therefore involves being able to apply our understanding as well.

When it comes to English language arts, we can integrate all subject areas to communicate. English language arts are about communicating with others, not only through writing and reading. From my placement, I see that the first graders are just learning how to be effective communicators through reading and writing. This is definitely an important aspect of communication, but not the only one. The Reading Street program always gives students a “question of the week” which they discuss with the teacher. It may be about animals (science), family (social studies), plants (science), among others. These topics are always integrated into language arts through watching videos, listening to songs, having discussions, and answering questions by giving reasons for their thoughts. Students also read books and write about things related to the question of the week.

CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS:

Providing effective literacy instruction to diverse learners involves presenting students with a variety of access points to a given literacy. Everyone brings different experiences and aspects of culture to the classroom, including the teacher. We cannot expect everyone to take the same meaning from the same presentation, nor can we expect everyone to make the same meaning from the same project. I think giving students a variety of communication mediums through which to gain and apply information is vital to getting more students to learn.

The technologies presented in everyone's projects illustrate the ways in which we can bring technology into the classroom to keep students engaged and interested, no matter how different they are from one another. At my placement, all of the students do the same work, and everyone produces different levels of quality of work. Some are great, some are very poor. I think it would be fairer to allow students to apply what they know in a way of their choosing. Instead of having everyone write (which we know from course reading can be problematic for many reasons, including language barriers and ability), give them choices. Not only will this motivate students, but it will give multiple points of access to apply and present information in the best way they know how.

For my literacy lesson, I tried to incorporate different points of access for the assessment. I had students write, draw, and discuss as ways of gauging what they had learned. The students were expected to understand perspective (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6 and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.9), and they demonstrated their understanding through the assessment. There were elaborate and colorful pictures to either supplement or almost replace their written words.

Students definitely need explicit instruction in using new technology. It took me a while to get used to the technologies I used in this project, and I know there are still things to learn about them. They need support from a well-informed teacher. I would like to model for students the use of new technologies on the board and then (hopefully) give them technology time to practice. I think alongside the explicit instruction, students need to try it out themselves. In addition to modeling, I would love to incorporate many of the technologies I saw in my colleague’s projects in my everyday instruction. This will give students contextual understanding of the uses of the technologies as well as just get them acquainted with what it looks like to use the technologies effectively. Just like using word wall words throughout the week, using the technologies everyday will simply expose the students to technology and get them more familiar with it.

In order to develop geo-literacy, students need to see the connections between science, geography, the arts, humanities, technology, and health, among other things. They need to see and understand patterns between world systems and then they can apply that understanding to problem-solving. In my research and from watching the other presentations on geo-literacy, I have found that visual literacy is very important in developing geo-literacy. Students should be able to see what the world looks like in order to become more geo-literate. In Alexa, Tess, and Jess’s project, they talked about Google Earth as a “bridge” between these two literacies as it allows students to see the world up-close and far away, navigate the globe, and do research. I used the Flickr world map application to navigate the globe and look at pictures from all over. Students should also do supplemental research in order to make solid connections between what they see in pictures.

Geo-literacy can start small with comparing big cat habitats in the younger grades and work up to something heavier, such as water shortages or housing conditions in poor countries in the upper grades. Most importantly, students need to understand that the world is connected. If they can find connections, they can make rational decisions. It is important to show students what the world looks like and how different systems in the world can affect each other. I found that National Geographic online has great resources for supporting geo-literacy that I will likely use in my classroom. Just like with technology use, I would like to include geo-literacy through photos or other media daily, just to get students used to making connections and seeing the world. It can be integrated into any research project (like big cat habitats), it could be a discussion prompt (Where would you rather live, the city or the country? Why? [from Alexa’s group’s project]), or an exploration all on its own (Let’s see what the mountains look like in Nevada compared to mountains in Russia). Geo-literacy, cultural literacy, and environmental literacy are closely related as I demonstrated in my Venn diagram, but I found that geo-literacy is also related to political, visual, and social literacy as well. It encompasses world systems and can be demonstrated visually.