New Literacies Reflection

For me, the big mystery of how web pages get made was finally solved with this project. Not only did I learn how to make and use a website and pages, but it also sparked interest for me to create a professional website for me to help in my process to achieving a job. I had a lot of fun doing this website and after I was done with the New Literacies Project and have been continuing to edit it, add to it, and make it better overall in general. I had heard of people creating pages through google so I started there. From there, I created my account and started to create my website. If I had to do this again, I would probably choose a different medium through which to create a website, because Google gave me very limited templates and options. I would have liked to have the chance to be more creative with images/fonts etc. I know there are many applications out there that can foster a moving images, have sounds, etc. that I would have liked to have the time to learn to do. I now understand why people are hired to create websites for companies! There is so much you can do to be creative with them. But as I said, Google seemed somewhat limited, and I only discovered this after I was halfway done with the project so I decided to just continue with it and finish.

Creating the website was the best part of the project for me. Finding the information to put on the website was not the best part for me. I have always been uninterested in research (but I do believe it is a necessary thing to do!) and every time I hear someone who's life goal is to become a researcher, I get a bit sick to my stomach, because this seems so boring to me. I'm the type of person who wants to get out there and DO IT (Dear Nike, I am not stealing your slogan, merely borrowing your idea). Thank the dear Lord for creating the internet, because it made my research of visual literacy so much more convenient. I can't imagine how much more time this project would have taken had I only the option to use books, magazines, and articles. With technology, knowledge is at the tip of our fingertips, ready to grab at any possible moment. It is now possible to take the internet with us in our pocket. With a few seconds, all sorts of things can be gotten from phones with internet capability. So having the vast database of the internet made my researh woes go away a little bit. And once I got down to it, researching went rather well.

The last part was simply converting knowledge I had gained into my own words and putting them down at creatively and as appealing as possible. Again, I regret not knowing other sources to do my website (ex. weebly) but life is a learning process, isn't it? Knowledge is best retained by learning through mistakes. That's my opinion for many instances.

Lastly, of COURSE I learned a ton about literacy, especially mine. Before this project, and more so, before this class, I had a limited understanding of what it meant to be literate and what literacy was. I learned that it comes in all types of formats, which appeal to all sorts of senses. I gained so many new ideas for how to run my classroom and what I wanted to teach about literacy. Before this class, I thought of the traditional definition of literature: reading and writing, but literacy is so much more that just reading and writing. I learned from my area that literacy can come in a different form: visually. Even this can be done in a variety of different ways using different media (ex. painting, photographs, graphs, charts, etc.) which are awesome for teaching in the classroom. I learned through my aspect of literacy that all people learn differently, and by using visual literacy in the classroom, we can appeal to those who are more visually inclined to learn, thus creating the learning more meaningful. I also learned with Kristin's project that literacy also has a lot to do with how we feel we know ourselves, and how knowing ourselves creates better communication, self awareness, and social interactions. This will help stop a lot of problems before they are even started. I really didn't think emotional literacy was even connected to behaviors, but in a way it might quite possibly be the best form of literacy because it helps in so many other aspects of peoples' lives .

Overall, I think this project was a great learning experience and very beneficial for the class as upcoming teachers of the future. Technology is no longer a tool, but a necessity in today's world, and as future teachers it is out responsibility to keep on top of our education so we have the knowledge and means to be prepared for anything that the world of technology throws our way. I learned so much from our groups' projects and will continue to look at other types of literacies as they are made aware to the world. We must learn to not be afraid. We are all lifelong learners, regardless of where we came from or where we are going.