Theme 2 Learning Log

Loving Theme 2 Chapters!

There was so much great information in these chapters. I am not a huge textbook reader, but there are lots of post-it tabs in these chapters!

With new standards comes new definitions of literacy. According to chapter 2, new literacy is shaping how we teach literature and how students have access/learn literature. Because of things like the internet, social media, blogging etc., students have access to so much more information at a much more rapid speed. This, to me, leads to one important question: How do schools keep up with all the new media and literacy?

Two terms used in chapter two, which I found to be interesting, were “hypertext” and “hypermedia” (p. 37). Just the list of options available for these terms is incredible. Anything from videos, to website text, to sounds. It is incredible what students have at their fingertips. However, sometimes having too much at their fingertips can be a problem. That is where teachers, and parents, become so important. How can we teach them the appropriate tools to use and when? On p. 40, we see a chart that needs to be taken into account. I think teaching students about internet reliability is very important. I have a research center during my centers, and I have to do the rundown about how wikianswers and ask.com are not really reliable websites. Webquests, which are talked about on p. 46, are a great way to get students started on the internet at the beginning of the year! I love doing webquests, but must admit that is has been awhile since I have done one. I think adding one at the beginning of the year next year, would be a great first week of computer centers!

Blogging is a great way to get students to communicate using new literacies. Sites like kidblog.org and goodreads and safe and friendly for students. Some districts have even started implementing moodle. Moodle is a social network site that is fully school related and kids can communicate with students and teachers on it. I do not have experience with moodle, but have found that as of now it seems friendlier for older students. I think it might be a few more years before my fourth graders go fully online with me! However though blogging falls into new media, I feel that it helps out tremendously with authentic assessment. The rubric used on p. 41 is great for students. It gives them a rubric, so they clearly know what to do. Also, it gives teachers a great authentic assessment to use in their classroom. Blogging also gives students new ways to study texts collaboratively and while using technology.

For my personal choice article, I chose an article on New Media Literacies. In this article, Lin et al. (2013) talk about how simply exposing students to new media is not enough. For this type of literacy, just like all types, students need to interact and be able to be the one producing the new literacy! Also during their article, they do a great job of tying the Blooms Taxonomy into using these literacies. I found this article interesting because some of ideas in the textbook could be placed on this spectrum. By doing that, teachers are able to decide at what level their activity is “hitting” (for lack of a better word).

Chapter 10 was fantastic and focused a lot on studying different types of texts. Graphic organizers was a big focus in this chapter and it gave lots of great examples. Graphic organizers are such a powerful tool. This is the first year in many that I have not been the ESE inclusion homeroom. I found that organizers were a great way for my students to get their thoughts together. One thing I must say is, in my opinion, there should be some leeway on these organizers. I have seen some teachers who think all graphic organizers should look the same. I do not believe this. I hate Venn Diagrams for instance. The similarities portion is TOO small. Students struggle with this. So I like to show them different ways to do comparing and contrasting. I also show them how to adapt the diagram. Some kids are list orientated, while some are bubbles. I think this goes to different types of learners.

I believe that chapter 2 and 10 are very important towards chapter 11. Chapter 11 does a great job of talking about other resources outside of the textbook. However, just like websites, teachers should think about the list on p. 40 which talks about what should be taken into account. Chapter 11 talks about different texts, and some of these may be new to your students. Instead of doing a webquest, students can take a bookquest. I think it would be cool to allow them to explore nonfiction texts. Each group can be given a chapter and they have to take a walk and then present it to the class. Do they see headings? Pictures? Captions? Graphs?

Another way to tie in new literacies and trade books is allowing students to form literature groups. Though not everything can be tied into technology, teachers have so many options. Allowing students to have an online book club is a great to integrate discussion on books and writing as reading responder—talked about on p. 387. Students can blog their written responses and then discuss each others’ on the message board. Students can do research projects on authors or the subject matter their group is reading about. All of this can be used as an authentic assessment as well. Chapter 11 talks about unmotivated readers as well. Tying new literacies and using authentic assessments in place of simple paper/pencil tests can allow your unmotivated readers to want to participate. Another way is pairing them up with a motivated reader who may have the same interests as them.

The chapters this week, I found were quite interesting. Because though this class is a lot about content area, I think my job as a language teacher is to tie in content area. Students are interested in science and social studies. To me, this is an advantage and would benefit me highly to find ways to incorporate.  I also am a big fan of new media literacies, but wish I had more materials to use to implement these!

 

Citation for personal choice article

Lin, T., Li, J., Deng, F., & Lee, L. (2013). Understanding new media literacy: An explorative theoretical
                framework. Educational Technology & Society, 16(4), 160-170.