Before this class, I had thought of literacy in traditional ways; concepts of print, comprehension, vocabulary, etc. Although those are definitely still important, from doing this project and viewing my classmates' projects, I have broaden my definition of "literacy." There are so many different facets of literacy that can be used in the classroom! My new technology was a Prezi. I had never used one or tried to use one prior to this project. I have seen a Prezi presentation once before, and it really captured my attention. It was extremely easy to make things exactly the way that you want them to. You are able to add files, pictures, and videos with just one click, which is awesome. For my literacy, social literacy, I decided to focus on book clubs. I talked about why book clubs are important to develop social skills for the students. I now understand that social literacy can be anything from eye contact, to making appropriate comments in class discussions, to relating and connecting ideas with classmates in their own distinct book clubs. It is important to understand the literacy that you're teaching before starting it in your classroom.
At the beginning of the semester, we found out what kind of learner we are. I am a firm believer in getting to know your students as people, as well as learners. I think that by incorporating all of these different types of literacy into your classroom, you have a greater chance of reaching some of the students who may learn differently than just the traditional way. For example, for a classroom that reads a chapter and answers questions on a worksheet may work well for some students. However, working in small groups where the students feel more comfortable working with one another may bring out the shyness and apprehensiveness in some students, where they may be more willing to participate and connect ideas to the text.
These different types of literacy can also help the students who do better with technology. I reviewed a digital/media literacy presentation, and really enjoyed it. I particularly liked the fact that teachers can take risks with teaching with technology, making the literacy more accessible to their students. This type of literacy may spark more of an interest with some students who lack social skills and feel uncomfortable discussing the text in groups. For something as easy as listening to an audio book, a student may feel more connected and engaged in the story, than if a classmate were reading it to them.
By seeing all of the different types of literacy, and having the opportunity to view all of the different presentations that come along with them, I am certain that I will be able to use my colleague's ideas and thoughts in the future. If I was curious about using emotional literacy in my classroom, and needed ideas, I could easily come back to our class wiki page, and find it right there at my fingertips. This project was a hugely effective way of helping me understand the different types of literacies, while letting me explore different technologies, all in one.
Andrea, I really enjoyed reading your reflection! There were a couple things that really stood out to me while reading. First, I really enjoyed how you mentioned when we figured out what type of learner we are and related it to this new literacies project. It is so true that using these new literacies and technologies we can truly incorporate nearly any type of learning style into our lessons as long as we plan and organize thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to mention how we both did social literacy, and our projects were so different! It just goes to show how broad and open social literacy is to different ideas of teaching and demonstration. You mentioned book clubs while I talked about social networking etc. in a classroom, both of which are great uses of social literacy but are targeted at different people. For me, I used social networks and online resources as a way to connect parents, teachers and students, while you talked about book clubs as a way to connect students. Both of which are great!
I think you did a great job! :)