For my new technology, I explored how to make a website. The entire process was new for me compared to new literacies, because the only literary thing I am used to constructing are sentences, noteblogs, and scholarly papers. To create this new literacy, I had to develop a lot more knowledge on simple things like which sites provide website creators. How do I find these sites? Eventually, I used our class wiki to access old projects and saw which sites they used and selected from there which website creator I would use: Weebly. After I selected Weebly I had to figure out how to sign up, so I attempted to do this with my internet browser, only, my internet browser did not support Weebly, so I needed to download a new one. As I have never downloaded a browser before (I have a father and boyfriend who do that for me), I had to figure this out. Turns out it’s quite simple! So, I downloaded and installed a new web browser, and then created an account (or four because I could not figure out how it actually worked, meaning you create an account then sign in with that account you just created in the top corner). Once I created an account the typical type of literacy was necessary. I had to find a website, read, process, and reproduce information on my own. This was the easiest part for me! Throughout this entire experience I needed to learn to save my information as I typed it, because as it turns out, web browsers sometimes cannot support what I click on and then things are deleted but with websites, there are no save buttons. I also needed to do a lot of typical literacy work through editing, which was great fun, because often the edit I wanted to make, such as moving a line up or down one line, took twenty minutes with logging in, out, finding the page, saving, publishing, checking on one browser, not showing up, checking on another browser, and re-editing. With my usual literacy, a word document, it would have taken about two seconds.
I believe that a lot of students K-8 have the capacity to create a website already. They are, after all, digital natives, and I am a digital immigrant. As a matter of fact, a friend laughed at me when I told him I was struggling with my website, because he thought everyone knew how to make one. So, I think many students will already have the capacity for this but if they do not, they are in need of a number of things. To begin, they will need to know how to type quickly, effectively, and to preview their work on a computer screen instead of paper, which for me, was much harder. Also, they will need to understand how to use Internet browsers, find effective and credible sources, how to cite these online sources, and how to compile all of this web information into one, cohesive page of information. To prove authentic students need only try to create a website, and each and every instructor will see that this computer work will push students to their literacy limits, because they will be incorporating something new into something they think they already understand, and may potentially challenge and change their own understandings of literacy as I have changed mine.
Since the beginning of the class my conceptual understanding of literacy has changed immensely. When we first began, before I had examined the GLCEs as our participation logs required, I was completely unaware that literacy encompassed listening, speaking, and viewing on top of reading and writing. Why these things were included completely escaped my grasp. For me, comprehending written text and being able to write text that people can understand was literacy. However, when we started this project I realized literacy was more a full understanding of a topic. To be literate did not necessarily mean that one is able to read a sentence or paragraph and translate its meaning, but that one is able to take information from any medium and understand and apply it appropriately. For instance, with environmental literacy it is important for one to understand the inner workings of human and non-human interactions on the environment. Then, they should be able to take what they know of these interactions and their effects and apply them appropriately to help take care of the environment. In regard to visual literacy, students should be able to take information that is presented visually and connect to it in a way that is meaningful, so they can remember it. Furthermore, when working with technology, I realized that digital literacy is definitely something that is a reality, and in reality, I do not pass this literacy test. Technology could easily, from my experience, be incorporated into effective literacy instruction. My website, and our class’ projects prove that many different literacies can be explored through different technological venues, including traditional literacies, like reading and writing.
With this in mind, to provide “effective literacy instruction” has taken on a completely different meaning to me. Considering all of the new literacies we have learned about, I am not actually sure that providing comprehensive and meaningful instruction in all of these areas is even possible with the time that we have with students. However, what I have learned about teaching literacy is that is important to help students become fluent in all aspects of a classroom. For instance, just because a person can read a book and comprehend text, does not mean that they can understand and take information from movies, or websites, which is why the GLCEs regarding viewing and listening are important. Also, as my case study of myself has proven, teaching a new literacy outside of the window of opportunity (a.k.a. youth) becomes an incredibly difficult venture. So, my thoughts on students are that we should incorporate as many of the literacies as we can at a young age. In a school with the finances to have a lot of technology access, young children should be making webpages and digital storybooks, and scrapbooks. For another option, students could at least be exposed to these things, if not making them, via a classroom computer, or literacy activity centers. Students of all ages, K-8 (or even 12) can benefit from exploring these different digital literacies, because they are growing up in an age when they are going to need to know how to use them. The more about technology that they know and understand, the more doors are open to them.
Overall, this was an incredibly educational project. I loved learning about both my new literacy and my new technology, even though the technology was stressful at times. In fact, I was so proud that I immediately showed my dad, who is always my computer guru, and he told me I did a great job. Hearing that from him meant a lot because often I cannot even get my own word processor to work correctly. So, I enjoyed and benefited from this experience quite a bit! I may even explore another new technology in my own classroom, or on my own! Digital storybooks looked really interesting!