New Literacies Reflection

Before this project, I always considered “literacy” to simply be the traditional definition given in Tompkins: “Literacy used to mean knowing how to read but the term has broadened to encompass both reading and writing.” (p. 22) while I also believed that it included speaking, viewing, and listening, I had not known that “literacy” reaches far beyond these five things. Through this project and this course so far, my conceptual understanding of literacy has changed greatly. I now know that literacy is “a tool, a way to learn about the world and a means to participate more fully in the technological society of the 21st century.” (Rafferty, 1999) This quote, taken from Tompkins p. 11, acts as a window into the new literacies that are becoming more relevant today. For example, there is digital/information/media, cultural, emotional, environmental, visual, social, and numeracy literacy among others. These literacies, although not the traditional types, are still very important for students to learn.

Learning about these new literacies has also altered my ideas about what it means to effectively teach language arts. Previously, I thought that this focused mainly around helping students learn to read, write, and communicate effectively. Now, however, I realize that if the goal is to help students develop tools to participate in society, this alone will not be enough. Providing effective literacy instruction for diverse learners means helping all students, regardless of their background, learning styles or experiences, be able to succeed in society. This means that students need to not only read and write, but they need to understand the world around them: social norms, how to express emotions and interpret those of others, how to be responsible citizens, and environmental issues, among other things.

One way to make sure that all students are becoming literate in both traditional and new literacies is to use new, innovative methods that are relevant to students’ lives to reach them with the lesson content. One great example of this is using technology that students are familiar with. During this project, I decided to gain experience with making a website, because I feel that it is a very useful tool for students and teachers alike. This was an interesting and meaningful experience because it required me to step outside of my comfort zone and try to master a new technology that I use every day but have never created myself. It was “new” for me because I had to approach literacy without a paper and pen in hand; instead, I had to write on an electronic page. And, what I was writing on this page was new for me as well. Through this project, I learned about emotional literacy and that it involves being aware of our own feelings, being able to master the vocabulary associated with emotions, and expressing our feelings to others while also interpreting their emotions.

This project required knowledge, capacities and commitment on my part to make a website just as it has similar requisites for K-8 students to use it authentically. First, I had to know where to go to make a website. After deciding to use Weebly, I had to use my reading and deductive skills to view and interpret the instructions for creating a webpage. From here, I also had to use reading and researching to find information about emotional literacy, and then writing to create the page content. In terms of commitment, I had to devote a lot of extra time to the project because I was in the emergent literacy stage and did not really know what I was doing. Only through time and practice was I able to become technologically savvy with webpage creation (relatively speaking). In my placement, I highly doubt that my kindergartners would be able to use this technology because they are too young and do not have the skill sets yet. However, upper elementary students could definitely use websites to demonstrate their learning about different units or topics. To do this, they will need to be literate in the traditional literacies of reading, writing and viewing, but listening and speaking will not be utilized as much. A benefit of using these would be that students could access them from anywhere, but they will need to be willing to put in the time and use their knowledge of the Internet. One area of concern I do have with websites as well as using the other new technologies in the classroom is that students without a lot of exposure to computers, etc. at home will be at a disadvantage because they will not have the same background knowledge as their peers. A division could definitely emerge, and while it could be overcome with extra time and practice by students, it may make using new technologies in the classroom more difficult.

Overall, this project was a great learning experience. Not only did I learn about a new type of literacy, but I also learned how to make a website. Both of these will be valuable to utilize in my future classroom, depending on the grade level. As I worked, one thing I noticed was that my definition of literacy was much narrower before beginning. While I have now expanded my understanding of literacy, I still think that it is important to remember the necessity of the traditional literacies. While I worked with these new literacies and technologies, I still had to use my reading, writing and viewing skills to research and present the information. This project definitely broadened my view of teaching language arts!