1) At the beginning of our class, I thought of the well-known definition of literacy as being able to “read and write.” I knew that there was much more to this definition, but I wasn’t really sure what that was until we began this project of exploring new literacies. My group and I chose to research “Social Literacy,” which opened my eyes on how important the communication aspect of literacy truly is. Together, we decided that social literacy was, “Having the competence to interact appropriately in society during face to face communication and also through various technological mediums.” Because our world is indeed changing, we are doing most of our communication through a computer, a phone, or some other type of technology. It is important to understand the rules of interaction and communication on a face-to-face basis as well as through technology. For example: one might need to understand the norms/expectations in a social setting when meeting someone new. You often hug, shake hands, smile, and you might even say something like: Hi, I’m Kelly. It’s nice to meet you. However, it is equally important to be tech savvy when it comes to online communication such as having a “clean” facebook, or how to construct an appropriate email to a professor. Exploring this new literacy has really opened my eyes to what it means to be “literate” within the classroom, and that there is so much more to focus on that just reading and writing. After completing our New Literacies Project and seeing what others have created, I am now open to new ways of teaching literacy. I was so intrigued by the youtube videos, wikis, blogs, facebooks and scrapblogging that I saw in my peers’ projects, and I was getting excited to use these new technological ways of presenting literacy in my future classroom. I realize now that we have a responsibility to teach our students about how to read, write, act in a social setting, view things differently, stay active in the community and environment and stay aware of their feelings and emotions. These are all important! It’s honestly hard to pick out which one might be “better” to teach in a classroom, because I think they are all necessary to educate our students and help mold them into educated, informed and involved citizens of the community.
2) To me, being able to provide effective literacy instruction is not just teaching your students how to read and write – it is so much more than that! Just by being in my 1st grade placement, it is easy to see that we all learn in different ways. I have some students that love to act things out when they get the chance. I have some students who absolutely need to see the pictures in a story or they won’t pay attention or understand, and I have students that can just sit quietly during instruction and soak up everything with just their ears (which I find amazing). However, learning about these new literacies and technologies has really opened my eyes on how I would use literacy instruction in my classroom in order to reach all of my diverse learners. Although I have been using “Facebook” for about 4-5 years now, I have never really put together an “event” or “group” on the website. Doing this made me realize how we might be able to incorporate students, parents and teachers into a working facebook community and really strengthen our communication skills together. The 1st grade GLCE’s ask teachers to help their students develop reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning skills, etc. and this can all be done through technology (as well as the traditional form that we are used to). However, our students are indeed in a virtual generation, and we need to educate ourselves on how to HELP them succeed. They are obviously interested in the internet, videos, games, etc. so why not cater to them and develop our lesson plans around those things?
If I were going to develop a lesson around Facebook and Social Literacy, my students would need to know how to work facebook, and they would need to know how to read words and type on the computer. These skills would allow my students to begin a lesson on social literacy/facebook use. However, my students are in 1st grade, and I do not know how I would be able to use Facebook with them. Right now, my students know how to read simple words, but do not know how to type, so this would be a difficult lesson to teach. Dominic taught us about a program called “WeeWorld” that is similar to facebook, only it is a kid-friendly version, so I would be able to use this with them. Using WeeWorld would allow my students to develop their social literacy by communicating and also learn a new type of technology at the same time.
3) BRIEF LESSON OUTLINE:
Target area/Rationale: By using the photo technology of “Flickr” my students will be able to create a photo slideshow to talk about the importance of planting new trees. By doing this, they will be able to learn about a new form of technology, educate themselves on environmental literacy and also educate others.
Objectives: My students will put together a slide show of pictures by using Flickr about how to plant a new tree and the steps it takes.
Materials:
- book on planting trees
- computers in the classroom
- pictures/clip art of the process
Outline of Key Events:
1) First, we would read a book together on the environment and how important it is to plant trees once we cut them down.
2) We will talk together about steps we might want to show people on what to do once you know a tree has been cut down. (Buy a seed, dig a hole, place seed in the ground, bury seed, water/sunshine)
3) Together, we will take pictures or look for them on the internet and upload them to the “Flickr” account
4) We will put together the slideshow of pictures with a few words underneath each one
5) Once we are done, we will present our slideshow to other classrooms to teach them about environmental literacy and the new technology we are using together!
Summary: Because my students are only in 1st grade, it would be necessary for us to do this lesson together for the most part. I would hope that my students would develop an understanding about their environment, be able to educate other classrooms, and also learn a new way to use technology.
Ongoing Assessment: Throughout the year, I believe that we could try this “Flickr” program to upload pictures on all kinds of literacy and use it with every subject. We would be able to put together slide shows for science, math, literacy and social studies and continue sharing them with others.
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