The New
Literacies project has been very useful in thinking about what literacy really
is and in the development of my own learning about how I will teach my students
and what activities I will do to help foster their learning. In regards to my
ideas of what literacy is, this project has helped me expand them greatly. My
original definition of literacy was “literacy has always been a collection of
cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular
groups.” I liked how this definition wasn’t the traditional “literacy is
reading and writing,” but I don’t think the definition encompasses enough.
Literacy is more than culture and communication, as well. It is definitely incumbent
upon a context, but the contexts are uncountable. A person can be literate in a
million things, meaning that they have a knowledge base of a certain idea or
concept and are able to apply this knowledge base and dig deep into it. My
literacy, environmental literacy, helped me see that it is about way more than
just reading and writing. Environmental literacy is all about experiences with
the natural world and looking at the connections between that world and how
humans impact it. The literacy is intended to spark action in its learners,
rather than just passive knowledge intake. The literacy is much more alive and
useful than my original definition; while there is reading and writing
incorporated into this literacy, those are just two tools in the exploration of
environmental literacy.
Having
to use a new technology to put together a presentation to explain this new
literacy helped me develop my understanding of literacy even more. Not only did
I have to formulate the information about environmental literacy into an
understandable, concise, engaging manner, but I learned more about literacy
through the actual use of the technology. Digital literacy expands the
traditional definition of literacy even more. Literacy expands way beyond the
paper and pencil into the digital realm. There are infinite resources and tools
that computers and the Internet provide, and it is important that teachers tap
into these resources, use them, and show their students how to do the same. I
was learning two different kinds of literacy in one project. Environmental and
digital literacy seem so different, but digital literacy was a means of my
learning of environmental literacy. This helped me understand how woven and
interconnected seemingly opposite types of literacy are. Using a new technology
was a challenge for me, but it was also very engaging. I am a digital native,
and it is probable that most of my students will be too. It was highly
motivating for me to deliver the knowledge I learned about environmental
literacy into a Prezi. I feel like I worked harder and longer on how to
concisely explain what the literacy was all about than what I would have worked
on with a paper or blog post. I learned more about how to display information
visually and more interactively, using a variety of media outlets. I learned
how to use design to make a project more appealing and display the literacy
even in the design. I was able to use a lot more skills in putting this project
together, as opposed to traditional methods of delivering information, such as
a paper.
My
perspective of what literacy is and what English Language Arts is has been
expanded greatly through this project. I definitely had a very narrow view of
what literacy consisted of and how to deliver this information. The New
Literacies project was one of the most engaging projects I have had to
complete, and I know that I got a great deal out of it. Reflecting on all of
the skills that I obtained through research of the actual literacy I was
assigned to and in how I researched and presented the topic, through digital
literacy, it is incredible to me how many skills I could pack into an
assignment for students if I make it meaningful.
The
research that I did and development of digital literacy helped me get an idea
of what it means to “provide effective literacy instruction to diverse
learners.” I saw all of the skills that I had to use to pull information from
the different sites about environmental literacy and use different forms of
technology to convey my message, like a YouTube video and a Wordle. This is
promising for the amount of skills I can have students practice in one
assignment, but it also shows how much instruction they need in developing
digital literacy. I know that most of my students will be digital natives and
able to navigate through technology pretty easily, but teaching them skills to
be efficient and effective, just like when they first learn to read, is
essential to make them successful in using digital literacy. I will also have
to keep in mind that my students will be diverse, and some may not have had the
technological exposure that I got as a child or that some of my other students
get. I will have to keep in mind that background and prior knowledge vary, and
have lessons where I can break down different concepts of digital literacy. Not
using digital literacy in my classroom would be a disservice to my students in
preparing them for the real world; this isn’t an option anymore. I do need to
provide support and opportunities for practice of this literacy, however.
My
concept map from the beginning of the year focused on the four traditional
skills of “reading, writing, speaking and listening.” While these are essential
in learning, digital skills like “navigating, scrolling, skimming, and
resource-checking” are also needed for a student to have proper literacy in our
technological world. Classrooms need to be enhanced to reflect our culture and
globalization. The Common Core State Standards for language arts are focused on
those four traditional skills, as well as “language.” There are mentions of
students developing both print and digital skills within those traditional
skills, however. For example, a third grade standard reads, “Consult reference
materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and
digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning
of key words and phrases.” It is good that “digital” is included, but I still
think our nation is trying to react to the technological boom and what that
means for classrooms. Luckily, the CCSS gives some flexibility in how to teach
the content standards, and it wouldn’t be impossible to be incorporating
non-traditional methods of instruction and learning into the classroom.
As I reflect on this project, I can’t
help but think forward into what this means for my future classroom. If I think
this project was one of the best that I have completed and very beneficial for
my learning, I need to use this in my own classroom for my students’ benefit. It
would be easy for me to follow the traditional method of teaching Language Arts
and go through the motions with this in my classroom. This would be doing a
disservice to my students, however. To put a little more effort into developing
lessons to help students learn digital literacy skills by engaging in new
technologies, giving them time to use these technologies, and providing the
proper support and scaffolding so that they are effective in using them is what
I want to do. In order for students to develop digital literacy, I need to
provide a lot of experiences for them to do this. The best way for them to
learn is hands-on experience with the literacy. I want to isolate certain
skills and teach those, and in turn have students apply the skills in an
experience. For example, skills such as skimming, fact checking or navigating a
search engine are important to give mini-lessons on. This literacy isn’t
innate, just like traditional reading, and skills and scaffolding need to be
provided for successful development. In turn, experiences need to happen so
that students are able to see how these skills can be used in their use of
technology. Repetition and multiple experiences are necessary for students to
be able to concrete these skills.
In regards to environmental literacy,
this literacy has a huge focus on experience and action. In order to teach
about it, exploration has to occur and knowledge given where students are
applying and making connections. This literacy is way more than a simple
science lesson about nature. It is connecting our natural world, which is a
huge component of life, to human systems that govern how we think about life.
This is a big feat. It is digging into issues that are affecting our natural
world and human-built systems, and thinking about what change needs to occur.
Students need the chance to have time to research and explore the issues, to
work with them in a deeper manner than just swallowing facts. They need to go
beyond the classroom to have firsthand experiences. This literacy is very broad
and would probably take a lifetime to become fully literate in. Nonetheless, I
would want to provide my students exposure to some of the pressing issues going
on, starting with the local and connecting to the global. I found so many
resources that help students explore what is happening in their backyard and
different organizations that would help students engage in causing change. I
want to use these resources and provide time for student-led campaigns in what
directions they are interested in taking. Digital literacy skills would be very
important for learning environmental literacy, as well as traditional skills.
It is very interesting that I was able to really dig into two different types
of literacy that don’t originally seem connected. I would love to model how
this project incorporated different types of literacy and skills into creating
one finished product in my classroom. I think it would be very engaging and
help students take ownership of their learning.
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