Shifting the Goals of Instruction with New Literacies in Mind

Chandler- Olcott and Lewis (2016) discuss Gee’s cultural model and new literacy studies This involves discourses that are a part of our identities. People from different race and class backgrounds have different values on language and literacy. These are different from the teacher’s cultural model of their classrooms. We must be aware of what we present in class, and take into account our own values.

Chandler- Olcott and Lewis (2016) also discuss technologies that focus on social communication. Students have various social media accounts and blogs already, these incorporate a variety of skills. Student’s don’t see themselves as a part of one single area of the world, with technology, they are able to engage in a global world. Teachers in this study worried about a decay of culture because of how they use the internet. One teacher asserted that students don’t have to look at something that’s uncomfortable or challenging, so they will not put themselves in a situation where they don’t have to think that way. Another teacher in the article, Lynne, thinks that students are not as informed as previous generations because they can control the flow of information to them. Teachers also raised concerns about how students search, the difficulty in breaking search habits, differences in technology skill levels.

Fake News and Online Literacy

This podcast addresses some of these teacher's concerns, it discusses the importance of teaching our students how to navigate the vast amounts of information available on the internet. 

Common Sense Media This site has many resources for students, parents, and teachers. It includes units and lesson plans for teachers that can be integrated into any content area.

Question: Do you agree that students are more apt to filter out information or be selective of the information they chose to expose themselves to because they have a variety of choices that they can choose from?

Teaching Beyond the $1,000 pencil- My school had Alan November speak at a conference day last year and I was so inspired by his book and lecture. He talks about engaging students in learning using technology. This article talks about how technology should be transnational, not just a substitution for a pencil. This is so important because we need to prepare our students for a changing working world. Basic tasks are becoming automated and our students need to think critically and creatively in the workplace. We can use technology to connect our students to their community, state, country, and the world.

Math Train TV - This site was developed by a teacher who realized that his students were more engaged when learning from other students. This became an embedded part of his class, where students created tutorials of different math concepts to teach their peers. This idea was extended by bringing the products to a global market, through posting them on an accessible website. Students care about producing a quality video because they know that it is going to be seen by others. These videos can be viewed, rated, and commented on, engaging students in authentic exchanges with other students around the world.

Example: http://mathtrain.tv/videos/172/converting-fractions-to-decimals

Global Student News Network A news website produced by students for students. GSNN students tweet out a monthly theme and encourage other students from around the world to produce multimedia projects that address the issue. GSNN students then review the videos and featured chosen projects on their website.

Question: How can we use technology to make our students become a part of a global community?

One of the teachers in Chandler-Olcott and Lewis’ (2016) study has been teaching for seven years and feels set in his way because, “...the way I teach came from the way I learned… I kind of base my English classroom on what my English classroom was like when I was in high school” (p. 196). This is embedded in the cultural model of secondary English classes. The privileged skills are  print based and traditional school literacy.

Most Likely to Succeed-Movie Trailer

This film looks at turning the old model of school on it’s head by engaging students in real world problems and projects. A major part of this film also looks at bringing the community into school and having students explore out into the community, combining in-school and out of school literacies.

SAMR Model This article depicts the SAMR model in two ways. In the first picture, the model  is displayed as though transformation is the highest goal and augmentation/substitution are below it. Although transformation is a great goal, one can not only stay at this high level. There should be a mixture of ways technology is used in the classroom to introduce content.

Question: How would you approach teachers who are resistant to integrating new literacies in their classrooms?

Other Resources:

Shmoop-  In Chandler-Olcott’s (2016) study, one teacher, Gail, asserts that students are being wired differently because they are not always interacting with print text. They are engaging in a variety of modalities online. Video is an extremely popular modality. Shmoop has fun videos on a variety of topics that can be used in class.

Example on primary sources: http://www.shmoop.com/video/english/

Flocabulary: Vocabulary and educational topics mixed with rap and hip hop

I  use some of their videos as examples for when I have students create music videos on SCRATCH.

References

Chandler-Olcott, K., & Lewis, E. (2016). “I think they’re being wired differently:” Secondary teachers’ cultural models of adolescents and their online literacies. In D. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents’ online literacies: Connecting classrooms, digital media, and popular culture (pp. 183-202). New York: Peter Lang.