For the New Literacies project, I chose to use the scrap book as my new technology that I would investigate. I chose scrapblog.com to be my guide for this scrap book. The difference between the scrap book and for example, a powerpoint is that the scrap book that you produce online can be published for the world to see, or kept private. There are many resources that you can access while creating this book, such as stickers, videos, photos, and backgrounds that are all easily accessible through this website. The opportunities are endless on this site, as you can build anything from a one page scrap blog, to a 100 page blog, using different themes or backgrounds to display your information. The scrap blog also offers unique transitions between slides. The scrap book was an interesting choice because it still allowed for creativeness and being unique, while it didn't confine you like the traditional powerpoint presentation. In order to be able to use this new technology, I had to utilize a technology expert. My roommate works for the MSU computer department, and was able to introduce me to everything I needed to know in order to use this technology. In order for children under grade three to be able to utilize this new technology, they would need a step-by-step instruction of the technology. They would also need to be literate in reading, viewing, and writing, as well as using a computer. Anyone in the higher grades would be able to understand this technology through trial and error, but in order to be able to investigate the technology on their own, they would need to be literate in writing, reading, listening, and viewing in order to be successful in using this technology. Being literate in technology is an important concept for children in our society, so as a teacher, it's important to introduce them to other technologies besides powerpoint, such as creating a website, wiki, blog, wave file etc... Teachers can turn routine projects into learned experiences by having children choose new technologies to investigate. In order to be literate in todays world, we all need to be able to understand technology and how to use it. These ideas fit with my idea of literacy because investigating these technologies turned into a new way for effective literacy instruction.
At the beginning of this class, literacy was a new concept to me. Although we had explored literacy in TE301, I believe that my true understanding of the concept did not begin until we began investigating it in this class. My understanding of literacy is an individuals ability to read, write, visualize, and speak in order to function in everyday society. Literacy is always evolving and individuals in our society will always have to keep up with changing technologies, creating a paradigm of individuals who need to constantly be keeping up with the changing times. Literacy also encompasses the outside world. Although this is my current understanding of literacy, at the beginning of the class, I assumed that literacy was the ability to being able to write. After reading assigned readings for this section from Literacy for the 21st Century, as well as assigned research articles, I was able to put forth my best definition of literacy. I feel much more prepared for my own classroom of learners. Understanding the definition of literacy is needed before stepping into a classroom. Word recognition, letter recognition, phonological and phonemic awareness, etc... are all apart of literacy. For my New Literacies project, I explored the use of the scrap book. This technology was completely new to me. I had created scrapbooks out of printed out pictures in my home but using a computer and a foreign website was a new experience. By exploring this technology and creating a project, I was able to inform myself about technology as well as cultural literacy. Through this experience, I was able to inform the other members of this class about cultural literacy through my own travels. In the fall of last year, I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. During these adventures, I was a traveler in an world in which I knew nothing about. When in Asia, I was unable to understand their language, leaving me in the dark when it came to ordering dinner, or ordering a cab. Through this experience, I was able to understand what it meant to be fluent or literate in another culture or language. It's important for teachers to be able to provide "effective literacy instruction" as well as it's important for teachers to recognize other cultures and ethnicities that may exist in our classrooms. Students that grow up in other places may have different customs than U.S. raised children, making it important to learn to adapt to providing effective literacy instruction. By exploring this literacy, I was able to open my eyes to the cultures I encountered when abroad, and how many of the particular things I did while in those countries may have been peculiar or out of the ordinary for Thai citizens. Providing effective literacy instruction may be different for different cultures. In Thailand, children are supposed to give respect to their elders by producing a wai, a greeting as well as a goodbye. The wai appears to the average American citizen as a religious prayer. Therefore, teachers need to make sure that they tailor each lesson towards the children in the classroom.
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I really liked the fact that you expressed how awesome it is that you can share your scrapbook with the world. I never really thought of how cool that was and I think we take this technology for granted. I also did a scrapbook and had a great time learning this new technology. When I was younger, I never would have thought that I would be creating a scrapbook that anyone across the world could view. I thought that it was interesting that we both thought of different ways to incorporate this new technology in our classrooms. You mentioned ideas of how the children could create their own digital scrapbooks and I thought of different ways that the teacher could use scrapbooks to teach the children. I never even thought of having the children create their own scrapbooks online. What a wonderful idea! How would you connect this new technology to kindergarten classes?
You mentioned that literacy is always changing and that people in our society will have to keep up with the new ways to explore, demonstrate, and teach literacy. This is an interesting statement because until this class, I always thought that literacy could be described in one sentence. However, as time goes on I have learned that nothing could be farther from the truth. It is very important that we as future teachers understand that the description of literacy will constantly change as children have higher expectations and requirements in school. Do you think that there are teachers that still believe that literacy is only reading and writing?
I really enjoyed reading the part in your blog when you talked about being unable to communicate or read in Asia. I have never been in this situation but I think that it would be very interesting to be in a country where you were not fluent or literate in their language. The other day in our classroom, one of the ESL students was going to go home with her mom to change into her Halloween costume. He mother only speaks Spanish and it was very difficult for or CT to communicate when to have the child back at school for the parade. The child was trying to translate back and forth between the CT and her mom and did a great job. It was interesting to watch because I could see how that the cultural barrier could be frustrating at times. In what ways could you create your scrapbook so that you are catering to ESL students? I also did my scrapbook on cultural literacy because I think that it is important to teach and learn about other cultures around the world.
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