New Literacies Reflection

I have used Flickr before to store and share photos online. The notes features allows for captioning that is much more specific and interactive. I had seen is used before to mark memories on a picture of a neighborhood, and thought it had a lot of possibilities for learning. Creating a set in Flickr keeps the photos like an album, you can also tag the photos, add descriptions to the photos and to the set.

I chose to focus on visual literacy because of my interest in art and all things visual. I think these skills are something I have gotten in some of my art classes, and are concepts that I use all of the time. Those students who chose not to take art missed becoming visually literate. I think it is important to teach visual literacy to elementary students as they need to be able to read more and more images. Having discussed ways to teach vocabulary next week, I thought I might try and make in interactive and more useful type of glossary. I think students could also use Flickr and notes to create their own glossaries, stories, autobiographies, and more. In regards to teaching diverse students, if giving students choices about how to produce something, making a flickr set could be an option.

Because of my background (I used to be a studio art and art ed major) I am always looking for ways to bring the arts into my lessons. Knowing that visual literacy is an important part of literacy gives me some standards to look to where I can support my decisions to teach visual literacy skills. For example, L.RP.04.02 select, listen to or view knowledgeably, and respond thoughtfully to both classic and contemporary texts recognized for quality and literary merit. L.RP.04.03 respond to multiple text types listened to or viewed knowledgeably, by discussing, illustrating, and/or writing in order to clarify meaning, make connections, take
a position, and/or show deep understanding. In order to be able to most effectively discuss, create, etc. students need to know some of the terms listed in the project.

Clearly the definition is much broader than just reading and writing (which is where I started my thinking at the beginning of the semester). I am sure that the definition will continue to broaden. Having media/technology literacy will help me be prepared to tackle teaching many types of literacy because of the endless possibilities and information it provides.

New Literacies Project:
Reflection on Learning

The new technology that I explored was a PowerPoint presentation. Although this technology may not be new to many students, it is something that I had very little experience with, and have never used as an educational tool in the classroom. I was somewhat familiar with the basic structure of PowerPoint, but I used this project as an opportunity to become more comfortable and confident with this form of technology. I attempted to play with different features, and I was particularly proud of the overall appearance of my final project.
Some of my goals concerning the knowledge, capacities and commitments I needed to develop in order to use this new technology include:
Knowledge Objective (student understanding): I will be able to locate places in the technology where text features are used to enhance the understanding of key and supporting ideas.
Capacity Objective (interpretive skills and strategies): I will be able to use text features appropriate to the literacy information.
Commitment Objective (attitudes): I will be able to engage in conversation concerning the affects of text features in presenting new literacy information.
Learning to use this technology fits with my current conceptual understanding of literacy in many ways. This project has really expanded my understanding of literacy and has introduced me to numerous ways to support literacy learning through technology. After completing this project, I realize that effective literacy instruction involves the incorporation of diverse perspectives and various forms technology/ different ways of presenting the information. I am amazed by how much I have learned about both Literacy, and the various forms of technology used to teach it!

• How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking? Describe your growth in what you understand to be literacy (or literacies) and how that growth has altered your conception of learning in English language arts. You may choose to offer a reflective commentary or a chronological account of "this is where I was when I started, here is where I am now, and these are the readings, events, or experiences from this course that got me there." Alternatively, you may decide to organize your discussion around themes, issues or other 'big ideas'.
• This project helped me to realize many things about literacy. Before this semester, I didn’t really know or understand the extent of the different types of literacies and how they could be incorporated through the use of technology. Along with all of the readings and class discussions, I was able to learn a lot about the different types of literacy through both my own research throughout the project, as well as learning from my peer’s presentations. Now that I have learned about the many different types of literacy and various forms of technology that can be used to teach literacy, I am very eager to continue my learning by applying this new knowledge and using more forms of technology in my teaching. it was especially interesting and useful for me to be able to compare the different ways of presenting information on Cultural Literacy to my own project. I think I was able to learn the most through the different ideas and insights presented by my fellow classmates.

• What does it mean to provide “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking? To help you think about these questions, review your concept map that you created early in the semester and then updated for week 8. Also access the Grade Level Content Expectations you worked with to plan your language arts lesson. If students at that grade level were learning to use the technology you explored, what knowledge, capacities and commitments in reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing would they need to develop in order to be successful? How could you incorporate that learning in your language arts curriculum and instruction?
• I think this project really opened my eyes to the benefits of using a variety of different techniques and technologies to best reach all learners. As I reflected back on my concept map concerning my thoughts and ideas about literacy, I was amazed to see how far I have come in my thinking about literacy. I realized that I had only considered literacy in terms of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and was completely oblivious to the many types and focuses of Literacy. I really discovered the importance of incorporating each of these different types of literacy and the benefits of using a variety of instructional and technological tools in teaching to diverse learners.
• I think each of the technologies that I have reviewed, as well as the technology used in my project, could be modified to accommodate all learners. I think you could use each of the technologies differently in your classroom depending on the ability level in order to make learning accessible for all students. I realized that these technologies could be incorporated into any language arts classroom and when used appropriately can help make all students successful learners!

Tech Literacies Project Reflection

Since beginning this class, I have expanded my understanding of the varieties of literacies that are relevant to teaching and their influence on teaching. For example, when I first began this class I only considered literacy in one general, traditional definition that includes reading, writing, and speaking. Since beginning this project, I have developed a much larger scope about literacy. I have always learned about ways to teach to a diverse group of students, but I don’t ever seem to learn about specific ways the students’ diversity affects their literacy learning. The focus has always been on socio-economic status, and not so much on other cultural factors, such as language, that can influence students.

Providing effective literacy instruction means that the instruction given is appropriate for all students. So, all different types of literacies must be included in curriculum – not only so that students have knowledge of the concepts of these literacies, but also so that the variety allows for success of all students.

I decided to create a comic for this project, mostly because it was one of the most popular choices that I have not yet been exposed to. I was not sure how effective it would turn out, but in the end I realized how beneficial comics can be in literacy learning. One of the GLCE’s for second grade in the writing genre states: Students will write a narrative piece such as realistic fiction, fantasy, or personal narrative depicting major story events, using illustrations to match mood, and containing setting, problem/solution, and sequenced events. Comics are extremely beneficial for meeting all of the requirements of this standard. The panels used in comics will help students develop a logical sequence of major events. In addition, the illustrations, however the students choose to create them, must match the mood of that part of the storyline. Although the writing style is not traditional, it can still be useful.

Why do you need software to create a comic though? Can’t comics be hand written? Of course, comics are not a new form of “literature.” The option is always available for students to hand write and illustrate their own comics on a piece of paper. Using software, however, is much more efficient and visually pleasing. Specifically, there is much more flexibility when using software; if a student realizes that his or her sequence of events does not make sense, it is very simple to revise the order.

Dodger or Quiz Contestant

I really enjoyed reading the Applegate artical. It made such sense, and I immediately began to think of students in the second grade class I am placed in and where they fit into the scheme. I think when I was learning to read, I was probably a dodger or a quiz contestant. I had an easy time relating to the text, making connections and drawing on my memory, but a harder time talking about what the text was actually saying. I would also dodge questions I did not want to answer and simply make the comment I wanted to make. I really think these profiles help us to look at individuals and cater our strategies to improve each individuals comprehension skills beyond just memorization.

Chapter 2: Teaching the Reading and Writing Processes

As a more advanced adult reader, I do not think that I go through all of the steps and features of the reading process, nor do I go through them in the order of steps presented in the book. I do, however, take part in each stage in some form that best suits the purpose of my reading.
In the prereading stage, for example, I definitely set a purpose for my reading; I either read for pleasure (usually over the summer) or for information (usually during the school year). The other prereading activities I participate in depend on my purpose. I do agree with the point that Tompkins makes that setting a purpose directly affects the comprehension of the selection by guiding the reading towards a particular focus.
I think that processes I go through as I read and respond to text combine and overlap. For example, I may take notes if I am reading for school, but I do this for comprehension goals that I have set in the prereading stage. In addition, in my notes I also respond to what I am reading by questioning what I am reading or making connections to other knowledge I have. This may also be considered part of the applying stage Tompkins discusses, although for school, it is often required that I apply what I have read in some particular way after I have done the reading.
This chapter did help me to pinpoint some of the strategies I use when I am reading, but the information seems more geared towards reading in school. When I was a younger student, I am sure I was encouraged by teachers to explore each of the different parts of the reading process, and that is how I have come to create my individual reading process, one that I know works for me.

Reading Comprehension

While reading the Applegate article, I thought it was very interesting and somewhat humorous that my reading comprehension profile best matched that of what the article referred to as a "politician". Although I don't necessary fit all of the elements of a "politician", this definitely reflects how I used to approach academic reading, especially when I was younger. In response to a teachers question about the reading, I would usually try to produce the answer that I thought they were looking for, or at least come up with something that sounded like I knew what I was talking about.
Part of the description of a "politician" highlights the readers limited comprehension of text elements. However, I don't think that this part of the description really applies to me, I simply did not enjoy reading and therefore would become easily distracted from the reading task.

Digital Native

I do not think anyone in this class can claim to be a digital immigrant. We all grew up with computers around us, we all use them for school, for learning, for fun. While we may have different experiences and confidence levels with technology, it is something that permeates our lives and has for nearly all of the years we have lived.
The quiz does not seem to be an effective way to categorize people as either digital immigrants or digital natives. I think there is much more to determining if someone is a digital native than being able to define a few trendy tech words. In a year, maybe blogs and wikis will be old news and there will be some new term it is important to know. Someone who fears technology and would never dream of using a blog, might understand what a blog is. I think what is important about this idea is not what specific technologies we can define or even know how to use, but our mindset about using and learning technologies. It is more important that we are comfortable trying things out with technology, that we know where to find help learning technology, and that we can see its benefits in our lives. The way we think about technology is what divides immigrants from natives.
When working with others to teach technology, I come across this often. There is a definitely difference in thinking when it comes to teaching a technology to a younger person than an older person. Having this framework (native/immigrant) for thinking about this difference, will really help me be a better technology teacher.

Digital Native

I consider myself a digital native, because I definitely see technology as "my friend, not my foe" and use it in many ways. When I took the quiz, I was unable to define modding and smart mobs, but was able to define blog, wiki, instant messenger, and massive multi-player online games. Technology is everywhere, so to be emergent is not difficult. People are exposed to the digital world daily, but whether or not they understand and are comfortable with the actual technology is what distinguishes people as natives or immigrants.

Someone in an emergent digital literacy stage would probably not be fully comfortable with the digital world. One major connection between digital literacy and traditional literacy is the ability to multitask. Young children do not learn all the skills necessary to be literate at once, rather they build on skills. This is true with digital information as well. People become comfrotable or knwoledgeable about one aspect of the technology and use that knowledge to learn more in depth about that or other technologies. For example, in my mind, a blog is an easier form of a wiki, so someone would probably be exposed to a blog and very easily be able to understand what a wiki is. Also, like an emergent reader, I am exposed to many different technologies, but I do not always understand all of them. This is a quality of an emergent literacy learner.

Digital Natives

I would consider myself a digital native. Although I am not as computer savvy as Alison or Rachel :) I have been exposed to various forms of technology since as early as elementary school. I was able to define four out of the six terms on the Digital Natives quiz, and have been exposed to/ used all four of the other digital terms included in the quiz. I have been familiar with Instant Messaging since early middle school, and currently use texting, blogging, and wikis such as Wikipedia (or YouTube might even apply to this) on a regular basis.
I think I would consider my digital competency to be much more advanced than what Tompkins would refer to as "emergent". However, not unlike Tompkins descriptions of emergent literacy learners, I have learned about technology by observing and participating in real life settings. I also am able to recognize digital concepts, even if I am unable to fully describe them or use them, which is similar to Tompkins description of emergent literacy learners abilities. I would consider my digital/technical competency to be somewhere between beginning and fluent in accordance with Tompkins descriptions of developing readers and writers.

Choral Reading

I have actually learned about and participated in choral reading activities in the past, but I always find it interesting to see how different people interpret poems and stories. I think an activity like this is very powerful for young readers to see how chunking words together, emphasizing tone, and expression can really effect how the passage may sound, and perhaps effect the meaning as well. I hadn't realized how many different ways you could actually do a choral reading, and it was interesting for me to see how each group chose to read their books and why.
My group chose to do a "leader and chorus" style of choral reading where one person read the main part of the story and the group read the refrain/ chorus in unison. I think this style of choral reading could easily be incorporated into a lower elementary reading activity, especially since children often unconsciously participate in this type of choral reading, reading along with the part that they know or that repeats. I would love to incorporate a choral reading activity into my field study classroom! I think that as early readers, this activity would really be beneficial in improving students expression, fluency, and comprehension with reading.

NoteBlog_ChoralReading

I thought Choral Reading was a good experience and something I had not thought a lot about using. It was really interesting the way each group in class read their story differently.Our group read Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear and took turns each saying one part, other groups read the story all together, echoed each other, or added more people saying it together each time. Giving students choices about what ways to do the choral reading makes it more interesting and gives students a sense of ownership for their performance. Choral reading was fun, and I can imagine my students would like it as well. It will be a great way to improve fluency and foster enjoyment.

Choral Reading

For our choral reading, we chose the book "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?" The most logical form of choral reading to us was call and response, since each page asks a question and answers it. One person could read the question and another person could answer the question and ask the next one. This also is helpful for children for understanding voice and who is the person talking through the story.

Comment on your blog

Hey everyone!

Nice job so far. I like how you responded to each others, talking about what you noticed from other people and how that changed what you were thinking about now. The questions and goals you raised are also good. For a few them, I wonder why that is a question or goal, though. We will be working a lot with standards this semester, and hopefully our activities are helping you see how you can teach language arts to your students.

Also, you did a nice job of bringing in the readings and tying it to what you see in your classrooms. I especially like how Monica brought up a problem with working in a reading first school. How do you think you can work around that? I also like how Rachel made connections to other courses and Alison connected the readings together.

I look forward to reading your other responses and posts.

NoteBlog#2_Discussions

The readings all focused on discussions about literature, and making those discussions more valuable to our students.

The Langer article focused on the ways students interact with a text and the ways talking can help students understand a text better. A teacher can ask questions that guide students and draw on their "initial understandings, developing interpretations, and personal experience" and help the students to reflect and elaborate.

Relating to the Langer article, the McGee article talked about the ways teachers should reframe the ways we use and discuss literature in the class to embrace a more response driven, rather than right-answer driven style of teaching. Response driven talk means that a teacher should let the students take the wheel and form their own questions and answers about a text. It also means a teacher needs to be well prepared, have chosen a book that allows for such discussion, and can guide the conversation when needed. I think the role of the teacher is even more important when the discussions are response centered because a teacher needs to know just the right time to add to the conversation.

Almasi talks about the roles teachers and students should have in conversations about literature, and that to best help students understands, these roles must me more discussion based rather than based on recitation. She proposes that typically teachers think they are having a discussion with their students by actually are facilitating recitations. This make sense, as most of the discussions I have seen in the field have been more like recitations. It is very rare that when asked about how students feel about a story that it goes beyond liking or disliking.

Noteblog #2: Discussion & Scaffolding

Very rarely have I seen the students in my class have a discussion-based lesson. In reference to Almasi, most of what I see is recitation style. After reading short stories, the students answer questions posed by the teacher that check for comprehension. Literacy lessons are more reading and writing based (worksheets, for example) than speaking based so whole class discussion is limited.

Last semester, however, we planned a "science talk" for the students, which generally follows the discussions Almasi refers to. Although the subject is science, many of the discussion principles can be applied to language arts. Since they are only in second grade and this task was new to them, we knew we had to scaffold. In small groups, each of us asked one very open-ended question. The activity served as a pre-assessment, which is why, as teachers, we chose the question, which follows the Instructional Conversational model. The students then discussed among themselves possible answers. We encouraged students to respond to each other to allow for a connected discussion by starting their statements with, "I agree, but…" or "I disagree, but…" Without this scaffolding for conversation structure, I don't know if the notion of the students talking with each other rather than with the teacher would have been as successful.

All of the students participated in the science talks, and each group's discussion was detailed and elicited thoughtful ideas. With this experience in their repertoire, the students can use the discussion techniques to construct meaning about the literature they read. After this experience as the evaluators, the students could be gradually introduced to being inquisitors and facilitators, provided some scaffolding just as before. Students will need to be told that questioning the text and being curious about it is acceptable since they are so used to answer right or wrong questions. Eventually these three roles can be combined to increase the quality of discourse in language arts.

Noteblog # 2

The Triplett and Buchanan article that I read discussed the benefits of book talks when used appropriately in a classroom. However, I have never seen any evidence of these kinds of book discussions used in my field study classroom. Although there is a large focus on language arts/ literacy and the majority of the days schedule is comprised of some type of reading and/ or writing activities, very little of this time is spent actually discussing what is being read. More often than not students will read a short passage and complete an accompanying worksheet. My field study elementary school is required by Grant to use only literacy materials provided by the Houghton Mifflin publishing company, therefore many of the reading and writing exercises resemble this type of worksheet activity. The Article I read discussed the benefits of book talks on reading comprehension. Most recently the students at my field study were completing exercises to help with speed and fluency in reading, yet when I sat one on one with a student and asked them to tell me what the story was about, very few children were able to explain the story to me. This makes me think that these students really need to start focusing more on book talk- type activities.

One of the students in my field study classroom that could benefit from scaffolding in particular is actually an ESL student. He is a very bright boy and often does not comprehend what is being asked of him on the first explanation, therefore he benefits from rephrasing and simplifying the request until he is able to best comprehend what is being asked of him.

Response to Noteblog # 1:

After having read Alison and Rachel’s noteblog entries describing their goals and concerns for this course, I realized that we have many common goals and interests. Our most common concern seemed to be with the language arts curriculum and standards. Although we all know the stress that is put on this content, we have more often been advised to avoid teaching to the tests and to find creative ways to incorporate these standards, rather than discussing exactly what the curriculum and standards may entail.

One thing that Alison and Rachel focused on in their noteblog’s was their desire to learn more about actually teaching language arts. I had not included this as one of my goals, but it made me realize that I really don’t have much experience with creating and facilitating language arts/ literacy lessons. I have taken several other courses on childrens literature and I have been exposed to numerous examples of great children’s and young adult literature, but I really haven’t had the opportunity to teach the material. This is definitely something I am interested in learning more about this semester.

NoteBlog#1.5_CommentsAboutLearningGoals

Something I notice that seems to be very important about this course is experience. We are all hoping to have new experiences associated with language arts and teaching that will help prepare us for our internships and future classrooms. Being able to try things out, in a lower pressure situation, is a valuable experience for us. We also all hope to have a better grasp on what it means to teach language arts in todays schools. Standards and testing have put a high priority on students ability to read and on the language arts generally, but language arts should also foster creativity and critical thinking. Improved use of technology is also a commonality, we all see the importance of using technology in our classrooms as we prepare our students for the world.

Reaction to Noteblog #1

One common goal we all have is to learn more about language arts curriculum. Not only have we not been students in a K-12 language arts class for some time, but now we must re-examine language arts from a teacher’s perspective. What reading/writing skills should students acquire? When? In addition, what are other branches of language arts that should be incorporated? I noticed that Alison brought up speeches and viewing movies critically. These are both important skills that I did not originally think of, and I’m sure there are more that would be considered language arts. I think it will be valuable for us to learn what is expected of us before we can decide how to fulfill those expectations.

Learning strategies to use to meet those curriculum standards is something that seems important to us all. Monica mentioned making technology applicable in the language arts classroom. Although I am familiar with technology in the classroom, I would like to learn more specific ways to use for language arts. Also, learning about resources beyond this class are also important to me. Alison mentioned sources such as web resources or journals. Collecting resources such as these that will change over time will be useful for life long learning.

NoteBlog#1_LearningGoals

As a language arts teaching major I have felt over the last year, unsure of what it means to actually teach language arts. I have read a lot of great books, both adult and children's literature, but do not know how to translate those experiences to the classroom. Here are some questions I hope to get answers to:

• What is my responsibility as a language arts teacher? How do I fulfill that responsibility?
  
• To get students to read? To enjoy reading? To write creatively? To write research type papers? To be able to give a speech? To understand grammar? To teach technology? To view a movie critically? To be aware of genres, and parts of a story, etc? To teach vocab and spelling?
  

• How do standards effect the way LA is taught?
  
• Can I still foster creativity and enjoyment and get my kids to pass tests? How?
• And how can I use a Basal effectively?
  

• What resources will help me be a better LA teacher?
• On the internet? Organizations? Journals?
  

• How can I use technology to help my students learn LA content?
• Although I have more experience than many with technology, I want to become an expert in integrating language arts and technology. How do I use the internet to provide an authentic audience for student publication? How do I let students create something meaningful to them using technology (like maybe comic strips)?
  

NoteBlog 1: Goals for my learning in the course

Monica Nakonezny

A33578840

1/15/08

Noteblog 1:

Goals for my learning in the course

The syllabus describes the 7^th standard for Michigan’s entry-level standards for beginning teachers. This standard, and focus in this course, deals with developing fluency with technology. Furthering my understanding of technology and its applications in the classroom is definitely a personal goal for my learning in this course. Although I am fairly familiar with basic computer functions, there is so much more I would like to know about using technology for educational purposes. Although Alison and Rachel have introduced a few forms of technology to our class, such as smart board and story board on windows movie maker I am interested in becoming more accustomed to these types of technology and their uses. This is also a goal for my learning in the course because I am interested in developing a personal web page or electronic resume for professional purposes.

Developing an understanding and more thorough knowledge of the curriculum and standards/ benchmarks is an important goal for my learning in this course. I understand the importance of becoming familiar with this content in order to best prepare myself as a literacy teacher. Not only do I think it is important for me to become comfortable with the curriculum, but one of my goals is to also learn how to best teach that curriculum.

Another goal of mine for learning in this course is to further develop my abilities to work with others and accommodate for different types of people. Not only is this goal important in helping achieve collaborative learning, it is also important in helping me prepare for working with colleagues and parents in the future.

Goals for Semester

* Become familiar with curriculum and assessment of that curriculum

• Also become familiar with Grade Level Content Expectations for grades I plan to teach

* Teach literacy lessons so that I can reflect on them - Experiences help me decide what I would or would not do again
* Learn how to plan lessons for and teach language arts to a diverse group of students
* Learn strategies for integrating language arts and other subjects, including technology
* Organize my ideas about teaching language arts and formulate a philosophy