New Literacies Noteblog

How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class? How does your research on a new literacy and development of your own digital literacy (using your new technology) inform your thinking? What new knowledge, skills, strategies and dispositions are you now aware of, and how do these compare/contrast with more traditional literacies?

Since the beginning of the class my understand of literacy has changed a great deal. From previous learning’s I have learned that every student is different and every student has a different learning style but now I understand how literacy interacts with the idea. I now know how having a different learning style can affect their LA learning or experience. Take a student who is a visual learning compared to a student who is a kinesthetic learner. These student both have very different opinions on what is the best way to learn. Students come from all different cultures and experiences which can make for a classroom full of students who come from all different backgrounds. By allowing students to look at literacy in not just the traditional fashion will open up your classroom to become more diverse just like the students in your class. With technology ever changing and the students growing up in the 21st century it is important to let your students experience literacy in the 21st century. In the beginning of class I thought of LA as more of traditional literacies as in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. After completing this project I have learned that intergraded into the traditional literacies should be cultural, visual, social, emotional, and environmental literacy. It is time to close the books and open up some new forms of teaching. By looking at visual literacy with using a scrapblog I have learned how easy it is for students to be able to use this technology as well. I have learned in this class how important literacy is for students and how it is important to think of interesting and fun ways to get students motivated to read and learn. Know that I am comfortable with using a scrapblog I feel that it is important to think of lessons that allow students to create different pieces of writing and allow them to publish their writing on a scapblog. From class I have learned that it is important to have students writing to a certain audience, a scrapblog is a great way to achieve this.

What does it mean to provide “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners? How does your research on a new literacy and development of your own digital literacy (using your new technology) inform your thinking?

As stated earlier, every student comes with different experiences and background. Thus, as a teacher it is my job to not just teach one cookie cutter way and that I need to adhere to different learning styles. By researching visual literacy I have learned that not every student is going to look at a image in the same way but when looking at an image we are going to have some kind of reaction. As a teacher, it is important to provide background and important methods and visual thinking strategies for diverse learners. This is because many of the images that we are used to might be very foreign to someone who is not native to this area. Literacy is a form of communication and the ultimate goal is to have students be able to comprehend and create messages. If it be through reading images or through environmental literacy.

If I were to do a similar investigation with K-8 students I would need to consider many things. I first would have to consider their background knowledge with using technology and with visual literacy. I would have to consider their ability to use the technology to research visual literacy. My students do not have the ability to have much freedom without getting off task. So if they were to research something on their own it would take many practice runs ahead of time. I would also have to think about the access and time constraints to use a technology in a lesson. There is 4 computers in the class but I don’t think all of them even work. Also if they were to go to the library or computer lab I would have to consider when other classes use these areas and how this would work into my planning To help on timing on technology issues I would consider tackling one subject at a time at first, having the students explore visual literacy first and then explore the new technology.


Mini Lesson Plan

• Target area and rationale: Visual Decoding – because images create many different meanings depending on the student. Also some times the meaning can get lost in translation.
• Objective(s): Students will identify the main events to create a graphic organizer of the story, Flotsam by David Wiesner.
• Materials and Supplies Needed: Flotsam by David Wiesner, 24 graphic organizers, pencils.
• Outline of Key Events:
1. Teacher will read Flotsam to students.
2. Throughout the story the teacher will point out certain pictures and ask questions about what the picture is saying.
3. Students will ask and answer questions based on what they are comprehending throughout the story.
4. Students will go back to their seats to fill out the graphic organizer which has the beginning, middle, and end key points that they have to fill out.
5. Students will share their beginning, middle, and end and see if any other student read the images the same way or how they differed.
• Closing Summary: Teacher will re iterate how important it is to make sense of what we see (visual literacy.)
• Ongoing Assessment: Teacher could use graphic organizers to help students comprehend other visual literacies.

New Literacy

1) What am I learning about the new literacy I am researching?

• Review the definitions of literacy (see sidebar) that you and your colleagues posted.  How does becoming 'literate' in the area you are investigating compare and contrast with these definitions? Reviewing the definitions my colleagues have posted of being literate in the area we are investigating differs from my definition since I developed mine from the view point of a teacher whereas I think some of theirs are more in the eyes of a learner. I tried to think of how I would be incorporating this new vocabulary into my career as a teacher. We all came to the same root understanding of visual literacy, just had different points of view of them.
• What part, if any, do the traditional literacies (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing) play in becoming literate in the area you are investigating? Reading begins with visual literacy as students associate words with visual cues which leads to letter recognition and then to word recognition and so on to develop sentences. Signs and symbols (stop signs, restroom symbols, etc) are alternatives to writing out words for convenience, a faster way to get across information, and as a more universal language than using one specific language. Visualizing doesn’t involve speaking or listening as much since it is viewing.
• What new content are you learning as you become more familiar with this literacy? What new skills and strategies are you learning as you become more familiar with this literacy? I was interested in learning about visual literacy since it is not something I’ve spent much time thinking, researching, or learning about. Through this, I realized how much of the world around me is made up of visual literacy and its importance in my everyday activities. Driving through town, I read signs that are wordless to know where to go and what lane to drive in. Dropping books off at the library, pictures show me how to insert the books in the return bin properly. Arrows placed at the entrance and exit of restaurants help avoid confusion and accidents in the parking lots. In education classes I gathered that it was important to have visuals available for students who are visual learners, ASL students, or just for reference, but now I understand the critical need to teach students how to read visual literature.
• What surprises have you experienced during your exploration?  As stated above, I didn’t realize how much of the world around me was influenced and convenienced by visual literature.
• Think about the students in your field placement.  If they were exploring this new literacy, what support would they need in order to become literate in this area?  Is this type of literacy already present in the curriculum at that grade level, or would this be a new learning area for the students?  Being that they are in first grade, they have already begun to associate pictures and words together, however, they struggle with using pictures in picture books to helping them read. I think kids learn early on to use pictures to assist reading and word decoding, but the reverse helps as well, reading and developing pictures. They are learning about summaries right now and drawing pictures from sentences they read could be really useful for them in organizing the story plot, events, characters, and leading into a summary.
• What else are you learning about your new literacy? I am noticing how integrated the other literacies are as I continue to research visual literacy.

2) What am I learning about how my digital literacy is developing as I use a new technology to create my product?

• Are you using reading, writing, speaking, listening and/or viewing in new or different ways when you use this technology? If so, how?  I am using all of those techniques in learning about my technology since I am completely new to mixbook. I have had to read the help tips on how to put the scrapblog together, write out an outline of what I want, I called Kelly from class to ask how she was structuring her mixbook and ask for some help, I listened and viewed the tutorial on youtube.com to also help me understand this new technology.
• What do you find especially challenging and why? Mixbook.com has so many options that it is hard to pick a theme to begin with and get started. There are so many different ways to create a scrap page, to change colors, add text, add pictures that I struggled with being overwhelmed with choices.
• How well do you think you are able to use this technology as a medium to teach about your new literacy? Now that I have one scrapblog under my belt, I think it would be much easier to use a second time around. For a lesson on genealogy or family this method would be great! The risk of losing, ripping, or finger smudging pictures would be diminished and everyone would be able to see this kind of presentation at once. How are you able to take advantage of its features to communicate your ideas? With lots of options, I can choose the text that stands out as far as size, shape, color or position as well as which pictures get put in and where. What limitations does this technology have in helping you communicate your ideas? Animations and sound aren’t available to add in so tying visualization in with other forms of literacy isn’t an option in this particular program to my knowledge.
• Which aspects are the same as when you use more traditional forms of print such as reading books or writing papers to communicate your ideas?  The structure of the scrapblog is much like a book and the text appearance is much like it appears in a paper.
• What else are you noticing as you work with this technology? The option to save this scrapblog to your own computer is not a convenient option as far as I see which makes me a little nervous for fear that my internet could disconnect and I could lose all my work!
• If students in your field placement classroom were learning to use the technology you explored, either as content readers or authors, what knowledge, skills, and strategies in reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing would they need to develop in order to be successful? My students would need to have a very organized, clear, and detailed plan on what they were going to create their scrapblog on, what they were going to include as far as pictures and words because it can be overwhelming with so many options if you don’t have a clear idea of what to do. How would you incorporate that learning in your language arts curriculum and instruction?  The first part of the lesson we would develop an outline together as a class and the first scrapblog they did would all be on the same topic like “Our Class” for example so they could help each other, exchange ideas, and relate to each other.

March 21-Notes on New Literacy Project

1) What am I learning about the new literacy I am researching?

• Review the definitions of literacy (see sidebar) that you and your colleagues posted.  How does becoming 'literate' in the area you are investigating compare and contrast with these definitions? My colleagues and myself posted definitions of literacy mainly concerning the action of learning to read, write and comprehend the two.  I am investigating visual literacy, which also requires one to learn to read and write, but it goes beyond this basic definition.  Visual literacy is the ability to make meaning from pictures.  It requires comprehension and thinking skills to sort ones thoughts to be able to identify what he/she is viewing in pictures and therefore what message is being conveyed.  Both literacy and visual literacy definitions rely heavily on comprehension and thought process skills.
• What part, if any, do the traditional literacies (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing) play in becoming literate in the area you are investigating? To become literate in visual literacy one must be able to interpret messages from pictures as well as make meaning based on what they are seeing as a communication tool with others.  Reading plays a part in visual literacy because one will have the ability to interpret pictures more clear if they are able to read the words on objects in the pictures.  Writing plays a part in visual literacy because once someone has interpreted pictures they should be able to explain their thoughts to others in writing as well as through verbal communication.  Having listening skills when focusing on visual literacy will help one to not only think of their own ideas and thoughts when interpreting pictures, but also others giving them a wider variety of ideas to think about when making meaning from the visualization.  Clearly, viewing plays the highest role in visual literacy because one must be able to view pictures and interpret them carefully to make sure they are looking at everything in the picture before interpreting the concept from the print.
• What new content are you learning as you become more familiar with this literacy? I am learning that visual literacy is not only being able to interpret pictures, but also the ability to interpret the environment around you based on what you are viewing.  By seeing things and using ones senses they are developing skills to communicate based on visual literacy.
• What new skills and strategies are you learning as you become more familiar with this literacy? I have learned the importance of encouraging children to be critical thinkers.  Not only does being a critical thinker connect to literacy in general, but it plays an important role in visual literacy.  When looking at pictures children need to be taught to ask themselves questions before interpreting the meaning.  For example, students must ask themselves questions related to the picture based on what issues, information, who's involved, persuasion attempts and assumptions that are being conveyed in the image.
• What surprises have you experienced during your exploration?  Many people believe that visual literacy is where education is headed due to the increase in technology that continues daily.
• Think about the students in your field placement.  If they were exploring this new literacy, what support would they need in order to become literate in this area?  Is this type of literacy already present in the curriculum at that grade level, or would this be a new learning area for the students?  Being in kindergarten visual literacy is very present in the curriculum.  Reading first begins with children telling what they see in pictures instead of actually reading the sentences.  Pictures are also displayed to show children where materials in the classroom are and to give children clear explanations of what is expected of them before completing a task.  I believe the main support children would need when working on visual literacy is the constant reminder to ask themselves questions about the pictures they are viewing to help interpret the message as well as to help them to become a critical thinker, which will then help them to become good readers.
• What else are you learning about your new literacy?  I am learning that it is not important for teachers to be technology experts, but rather allow time for their students to work with technology programs such as adobe and photoshop.   

2) What am I learning about how my digital literacy is developing as I use a new technology to create my product?

• Are you using reading, writing, speaking, listening and/or viewing in new or different ways when you use this technology? If so, how?  When creating a scrapblog I am using my reading skills to follow directions on how to use the software.  I am viewing the technology on the program repeatedly to see which way I prefer setting up my scrapblog, since there are many ways to do so and each create a different image.  This is different than how I would use my reading and viewing skills when doing 'literacy' because I am setting up a format of pictures for others to view and comprehend and instead of following a word format to write a paper I am following directions.
• What do you find especially challenging and why? I find it challenging to create a scrapblog, because there is so many options of how you can set up your visual images.  I find myself setting up the images and then realizing that it could possibly be interpreted differently than I wanted it to be.  Although I find this the challenging part about using this program I also find that the endless number of possibilities is the best part about this program.
• How well do you think you are able to use this technology as a medium to teach about your new literacy? How are you able to take advantage of its features to communicate your ideas? What limitations does this technology have in helping you communicate your ideas? I believe that this technology is perfect to teach about visual literacy-its composed of all images.  The features allow you to set up pictures in any order you want allowing for the person using the program to create one image based upon multiple images.  A possible limitation of using this technology would be if your students were viewing the blog at home instead of in class the importance of asking questions based on what they're viewing may be lost.
• Which aspects are the same as when you use more traditional forms of print such as reading books or writing papers to communicate your ideas?  With this program I believe your 'readers' will still be looking from left to right and you will still have to have your audience in mind when creating and your audience will have to think about the author when viewing it.
• What else are you noticing as you work with this technology? Not only are the possibilities endless because everyone is different creatively than others, but it gives you a lot of experience with working on the computer in general. 
• If students in your field placement classroom were learning to use the technology you explored, either as content readers or authors, what knowledge, skills, and strategies in reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing would they need to develop in order to be successful? How would you incorporate that learning in your language arts curriculum and instruction?  Being in kindergarten I think the students would first have to learn how to use the technology as readers.  This could be incorporated in the language arts currirculum and instruction simply based on the importance of creating critical thinkers and explaining the importance of asking yourself questions to help interpret meaning from print.  Not only can the teacher example this to the class by explaining what questions she asked herself, but also answering the questions and then allowing for children to think of questions they would ask themselves.  To be successful students would have to continue working on their listening skills to make sure they're following directions correctly, their speaking skills to make sure they are able to convey the message they see to others and their viewing skills to make sure they are looking at everything being shown on the scrapblog and not just one specific image.
• What else are you learning about your literacy knowledge, skills and dispositions as you use this new technology?  I am learning that the most important thing to remember as a teacher is that literacy is continually developing.  With technology ever changing I find it important to keep testing my literacy skills and exploring new things to make sure I continue to gain new skills to add upon the old, but never replacing them since I find that everything can build upon each other.

3/20/11-notes on learning

Looking back over the definitions posted for the meaning of 'literacy', most included in their definition "the ability to read and write." I agree with this statement that to be literate or to be illetirate would be based on the ablility to read or write but I think this is the most broadest definitation available. Literacy is so complex and ever changing that it seems almost unfair to stick a one sentence definitation to the term.
As I explore visual literacy I begin to think of many more adjectivites and qualitlies that could be added to the definition of literacy. In order to become literate in visual literacy it takes much more than just the ability to read and write. First and foremost, to be a successful visual learner you do not even have to do any reading or writing. The most important "traditional literacies" that play a role in visual literacy would be speaking and viewing. After speaking and viewing was taken place then would come in the reading and writing.
Based on the skills needed to accomplish visual literacy (speaking and viewing) this will actually help with students language becuase they are trying to put into words what their eyes are seeing. If a student is able to pratice their speech and commucate what they are viewing/feeling this is a great skill that will reen much reward to them in the classroom and most of all the real world.
For a student to be able to have the skill to look around and reason about what is going around them with their eyes is a very important skill. But schools very rarely take advantage of this strength. This is something that I found shocking because after doing some research on visual literacy and the benefits students reveive while practicing this literacy it is a shame that teachers are not taking advantage of this literacy skill.
As a TESOL minor, I understand the benefits of using images to help students understand and make connections to the English language. While exploring on the wiki I found a great website (http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/esl.html) that talks about how digital story telling can be very beneficial to the students. The website also has a short movie that introduces food found in the kitchen. In the movie it will show a picture of a potato, the word potato will come on the screen, and then it will state potato. Having all three of these (picture, word, text) is very benefical when introducing new vocabulary for ESL students and all students.
I am going to be using a scrapblog as my new technology. I chose to use a scrapblog becuase of the features that I will be able to use. With creating a scrapblog you are allowed to upload images as well as add text along with the pcitures. With being able to design the blog however the creator wants to will allow for the blog to become very unique. After researching visual literacy I have my own definition and ideas about what is most important about this type of literacy. With using a scrapblog I am allowed to display my learnings in a creative, fun, and unique way showing off my own point of view.
This is the main thing that I am noticing when looking through different scrapblogs is that they are all different. Even if all of the scrapblongs are about visual literacy the different images, text, and design of each page of the blog makes them all unique. Which I enjoy becuase I think that one of the main aspects of visual literacy is based on the viewer (student) and that each viewer is going to have a different point of view or take on what they are viewing.
If the students in my field placement (2nd graders) were learning about how to create a scrapblog I would first start off with some finished examples to give them an idea of what a finished product could look like. Then I would find a step by step guide that I could show the students to help them see the order and steps needed to make a finished product. I dont think I would let the students go right away. I think I would start off with one page at a time and guide students for the first couple of pages. After students are comfortable with the technology, I would let them go some exploring and let them work on their scrapblog at their own pace.

3/13/11-reading comprehension

After reading through the readings I have learned a little more about my own reading comprehension. Like all other sbuject areas, every student is different and has there own learning style. After reading Thompkins, I have learned more about my visual learning style. On paage 297 it shows a beginning-middle-end story map and this would be helpful for my visual learning style along with many other visual learners. I enjoyed this comprehension stragety becuase it is a way for students to express their understanding of the book through a visual outlet instead of just paragraph writing format. As a future teacher it is important to switch it up and use different comprehension assessments and tools for all different learning styles. Being able to provide multiple tools to help guide students through their reading will also provide success in their comprehension and enjoyment of reading. There are many different tools to successfully master this, K-W-L charts, shared reading, learning logs, and book club, to name a few. Having more organized guidence will be helpful for different learning styles and be helpful for students who need that extra guidence throughout the reading.