Post #12- Toward a Theory of New Literacies

Toward a Theory of New Literacies

This article gave great insight into how the concept and definition of literacy has changed over time, but also how we need to include it into the technological aspect and what it means to be literate on the Internet.  "New literacies change regularly as technology opens new possibilities for communication and information.  We see this happening today as people redefine literacy practices while they communicate on a chatboard associated with a website, talk to one another using a video cam, or participate in virtual reality role-playing games."  It is clear that the Internet isn't just for attaining information anymore; with Web 2.0 we are not only getting information, we can also put in our own information and change what is already posted, especially with websites like Wikipedia.  Another aspect that is quite obvious is that with the changing technologies, the literacy instruction in classrooms has also changed.  With schools incorporating different types of technology between Smart boards and other types of technology in the classroom, it is no wonder that the way we teach is changing too.  Teachers are finding different ways to teach literacy instead of the traditional, text-book ways, so their definitions of what it means to be literate are changing too.  I think we all need to take into consideration the 21st century skills that students are going to need to know, as soon technology will be everywhere.  Literacy won't just be being able to read and write anymore and comprehending what they've read; it'll be comprehending information on the Internet to use when writing research papers, how to read recipes found online, etc.  When reading through this article, I thought the following quote was very important and explains a lot about how the Internet has changed our lives, both at home and in the classroom: "The new literacies of the Internet and other ICTs include the skills, strategies, and dispositions necessary to successfully use and adapt to the rapidly changing information and communication technologies and contexts that continuously emerge in our world and influence all areas of our personal and professional lives.  These new literacies allow us to use the Internet and other ICTs to identify important questions, locate information, critically evaluate the usefulness of that information, synthesize information to answer those questions, and then communicate the answers to others."  It is definitely important to teach out students how to be literate in a non-technological sense because even now, technology isn't everywhere and it always isn't in either school or the home.  When students aren't exposed to technology they need to know how to be literate to comprehend a text or decode information.  When students are literate in a non-technological sense, it will be a lot easier to apply their prior knowledge about literacy and their skills and use them to navigate the Internet and different technologies.   

Post #11- Becoming Critical Consumers and Producers of Text; Teaching about language, power, and text

Becoming Critical Consumers and Producers of Text

It is quite clear there is a difference between Web 1.0 and 2.0.  Web 1.0 allows us to be mostly consumers of information, finding resources and other information online.  Web 2.0 is much more different; not only can we consume information, we can actually be "authors" of some sort.  The creation of blogs and sites where people can write reviews or comment on news articles allows us to be authors and write our opinions on whatever we like, whether it's a product we've bought, a news article that strikes a chord, or just writing down our thoughts and opinions on whatever.  I liked the teacher that used Writer's Workshop in her classroom using different types of Web 2.0 tools, from Comic Creator to blogs.  While reading the article, I definitely think that using the blogs was much more successful than using Comic Creator.  At least with the blogs, Kristin could monitor the students' work and even put in her own thoughts and feelings or postings about book she's read.  I think that was a very good idea; if students can't get a thought out or don't know what to write, having their teacher write a posting about something they've read, it would allow students to respond to the posting.  This way it keeps the classroom conversations going and enhances what they're reading about or learning about in the classroom setting.

Teaching about language, power, and text

From reading this article, I definitely think the following quote was true: "Classroom literacy practices that involve students in reading supplementary texts, reading multiple texts, reading from a resistant perspective, and producing countertexts all help develop an understanding that text is given meaning, as opposed to containing meaning (pg 487)." I think that all too often, students are hesitant to read books that make them think outside the box or aren't exactly within their comfort zone or aren't part of their interests.  This makes them more leery of reading something in school as part of an ELA class or a history class.  I liked the part of the article that discussed students reading a variety of texts that had the same theme.  This exposes different types of books to students so they can see the differences and similarities of the way the books are written while they have the same themes or topics within them.  Students are able to tell which books they like from doing this kind of reading activity.  "Reading multiple texts encourages students to understand authorship as situated activity.  Students can consider who constructed the text, when, where, why, and the values on which it was based.  By experiencing different treatments of the same topic or event, students begin to recognize that text is not "true" in any absolute sense but a rendering as portrayed by an author (pg 493)."  I think this quote was very important and basically sums up the whole article.  It is very important for students to read multiple text so they can understand different points of views, and compare and contrast books that have the same themes or similar topics.

Post #10- Exploring the Online Reading Comprehension Strategies; Research on Instruction and Assessment; Expanding the New Literacies Conversation

Exploring the Online Reading Comprehension Strategies

With so much information on the Internet and so many web sites to find it on, it's almost no wonder how important the Internet and the many resources have become for teaching and learning.  However, even though a reader may be very "book smart" and proficient in finding information in a text there are, "new types of reading strategies necessary to learn within this interactive, informationally rich, and relatively new text environment (pg 217)."  Even though a student could find important information within an informational or narrative text, using a computer and the Internet to find information is much more complex; students need to know how to navigate a search engine to search for what they need, how to scan through the sites to determine if the information is pertinent, and how to connect the information.  So, naturally, "reading comprehension becomes an important issue to study because new comprehension skills, strategies, and dispositions may be required to generate questions, and to locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information on the Internet (pg 217)."  Since children and adults have more difficulty reading informational text than reading narratives, "the processes and strategies readers employ as they interact with informational texts also differ from those they employ while reading narrative texts (pg 217)."  Not only do we now have to take into account the different skills needed to evaluate and analyze the information found in informational texts, we have to employ those skills and more to analyze and decode information found on websites and search engines.  I think this is even more difficult for people to handle, because most of the information found on the Internet is more informational text than narrative, and now people need to incorporate their 21st century skills to find the information within the text and hyperlinks.  When all these skills come into play, I definitely think that readers don't forget one of the most important skills when reading: prior knowledge.  "Readers who draw on prior knowledge of a topic and prior knowledge of text structure are most able to mentally organize and remember the ideas gained from information text (pg 219)."  While the study part of the article was a little confusing, all in all I thought this article was very informative and instructional on how to incorporate the skills necessary for finding information in informational texts and how to apply it to the Internet and websites while using the 21st century skills to navigate through different sites and hypertexts to find what is needed. 

Research on Instruction and Assessment

One thing I agreed with right off the bat with this article is that "proficient readers offline are not always proficient readers online (pg 2)."  I think this could be because a lot of students aren't exposed to computers, much less the Internet, so they don't have the skills necessary to read and look for information as they're surfing the Internet.  While I knew a lot of people have Internet access, the actual statistics that were shown in the article were a little surprising to me.  A lot of classrooms and colleges use the Internet for homework and other assignments, but I had no idea that more than 90% of adolescent students in the US are using the Internet for homework (pg 3).  That showed me that a lot of schools are making the effort to be online and do more with technology, and that can be very useful and helpful for teachers and students alike.  I think a huge part of using the Internet correctly and proficiently, especially for readers, is locating information, as shown on page 4.  "Locating information online is another aspect of online reading comprehension.  It also requires new online reading comprehension skills such as using a search engine, reading search engine results, or quickly reading a web page to locate the best link to the information that is required."  When a reader doesn't know how to narrow down their searches when using a search engine, they won't get the information they're looking for, or will find out more than they need.  When teachers give out an assignment, it seems that a lot of them just assume the students know how to correctly use the Internet to find what they're looking for.  Instead of just assuming, teachers should run through a quick tutorial on how to properly locate information to help the students with their assignments. 

Expanding the New Literacies Conversation

I definitely think the Internet has become a huge highway for communication and information gathering.  Not only can we find information on a subject we're looking for, we can even put in our own information on the Internet on that subject.  While using the Internet and different literacies and technologies in the classroom is useful and effective, I think many schools are hesitant for many reasons.  For one thing, the districts don't have enough money or funding to pay for these new literacies, with many classrooms staying with textbook-based instruction.  Another reason is that the Internet can be seen as a literacy issue, especially when students don't know how to navigate the Internet to look for important information when doing an assignment.  I think that the phrase "new literacies" can be somewhat intimidating to teachers and school officials, but we need to be able to think outside the box and look into what can help our students, since many of them are exposed to new technologies outside of school and can use them quite proficiently.  Since students with cell phones are texting and emailing and surfing the Internet on these different devices, they must have some knowledge about the literacy skills needed to read the information they're receiving.  When we have students using different devices outside of class, I think teachers should learn about the skills the students use to read the information they get from their devices and enhance them in the classroom with the Internet and search engines.  This way, the students will be working on their online reading comprehension skills for when they need to use computers to do assignments for school. 

Post #9- Becoming literate in the technological age, Acquisition of Information Online

Becoming literate in the technological age

Right off the bat in this article, I like how it compares and contrasts the two different activities Ms. Doyle implemented in her classroom.  Looking at the way the activities were carried out and the resources used, I can understand why scenario two would be the best way to go.  With 21^st century skills being on the forefront of education today, it is important that teachers learn and understand how to use a variety of technologies to implement and use in their classrooms, and potentially have their students use.  The following quote sums up this statement very well: “in order to be literate in this technological age, students must learn to make meaning not only out of text but also out of the vast amount of visual information conveyed to them through images (pg 571).”  I think that using a variety of technology, such as the digital cameras versus non digital cameras, in the classroom is beneficial to all students, including the bilingual students as featured in this article.  Whenever technology is used in the classroom, especially using the Internet to look up websites for information, it is important that a teacher screens websites before presenting them to the students, as Ms. Doyle did.  “By prescreening information resources, she ensured that her students were presented with only those that were appropriate to their ages and the task at hand (pg 572).”  I definitely think that the Internet and other technologies, when used correctly, can help each other as well as other members of the community collaborate and learn from each other, as stated in this article.  Using technology not only helps students within the classroom, but can also provide more opportunities to learn so much more outside the classroom.  The students and other community members can use this knowledge in the future, providing so much room for growth.    

Acquisition of Information Online

This article was a little tough to follow, especially when it came to the study of how having prior knowledge of a subject associated with their navigation of a Website to find out more information about that subject.  I think what is stated in the article was true: “Users with higher prior knowledge within a domain tend to constrain their navigational selections to specific topics within a hypertexts system, explore these topics in greater detail, and move in a more nonlinear manner though the information space (pg 292).”  I definitely think that when a person has more prior knowledge on a subject and would like to know more about something pertaining to that subject, they will know just what to search for and read closer on a Website to find out more information.  I also think they will be more focused and less distracted than users who do not have prior knowledge on a subject and navigation skills.  With so much emphasis on 21^st century skills nowadays, “twenty-first century readers must not only know how to decode and comprehend texts that they are reading as they have in the past.  They are now responsible for efficiently finding and evaluating these texts, apprehending information across multiple modalities simultaneously, and orchestrating dynamic strategies that facilitate learning in these complex environments (pg 291).”  I think these two sentences are very important in how we access information on the Internet, not only having prior knowledge about a certain subject but how to navigate through different links and texts to find out what we need. 

Post #8- Webquests, "I Guess It Was Pretty Fun"

Webquests

I think this article gives great insight on what a WebQuest is for anyone who would like to use it in the classroom and needs to know more information about them.  Just like other web 2.0 teaching techniques we’ve been learning about, I think that the following quote in this article goes very well with everything we’ve been learning about, not just WebQuests: “in addition to knowledge of pedagogical theories, preservice teachers are also expected to be competent in the use of technology for teaching and learning (pg 109).”  I think that WebQuests could be a very important and useful tool to use in the classroom to supplement the teaching going on in the classroom, but of course before students can dive into using the WebQuests it is very important that the teacher learns about them as well as the positives and negatives, as highlighted in this article.  I like that WebQuests are basically tasks that are designed around major themes of a topic to be learned (pg 110), and these tasks could be very motivational for students, as it includes technology instead of using the same old textbook to look for answers to questions.  Just like with any aspect of Web 2.0, there are negatives or weaknesses to everything; I think one of the strongest weaknesses of WebQuests is that students who don’t understand the work or aren’t at grade level in reading will have difficulty with some of the tasks or be unmotivated if the work is too difficult.  It is the teacher’s, as well as all the students in the class, responsibility to collaborate and work together to get through the tasks of the WebQuests.

“I Guess It Was Pretty Fun” 

This article gave great insight on how to use the technology of WebQuests in a middle school setting, and I thought this article really hit home.  When I was student teaching in a 6^th grade classroom, I had the opportunity to use the Smart board with my lessons and the students really liked it.  I think with any opportunity to use technology in the classroom as a supplement to a core classroom lesson really helps the students focus on the tasks and collaborate with their classmates.  One problem I did find during the article was on page 153, where “some students jumped right into the sites that contained primary sources, while others had to visit secondary source sites to find background information about the war.”  I think that having students visit other sources besides the ones that are on the WebQuest could be useful, but it subtracts from the time spent on doing the actual activities by poking around websites that won’t even be as useful.  That part goes along with number 6 on page 154: Maximize class time on the computer.  When students aren’t prepared or are poking around different websites trying to find information, they aren’t on task and won’t be able to get the tasks done in the time allotted.  Number 7 on page 154 also goes hand-in-hand with maximizing the class time on the computer- clarifying student rules in the computer lab and what is expected of them on the WebQuest is also extremely important.  Students should be using their time wisely in order to get the tasks done as well as learn something from the activities they’ve been doing.  I think this article is very helpful and informative on using new technologies in the classroom and especially how to use them in a middle school setting, since they are usually the toughest to please lesson-wise.    

Post #7- Elementary Classroom Web Sites, Making the Most of Your Class Website, Using Websites Wisely, School-Based Websites

Elementary Classroom Web Sites

I definitely agree that “classroom web sites can provide children with literacy opportunities.”  Having links on the website can allow children to play games, collaborate with other kids from across the country and the world, and even look at books that are recommended for children specific ages.  One thing I found somewhat surprising was that governments around the world are “supporting their citizens so they can compete in the information-based global economy.”  While it might offer positive benefits, I think it might create very negative feelings.  If students are competing against one another in a game or a project online, good sportsmanship may not be exhibited if a kid loses or wins for that matter.  Another good point that was made in the article was about the literacies of different cultures and how no two students learn the same.  That could also be very bad when competing online against other students, especially if one student is at a “disadvantage” because of different learning abilities and reading levels.  The new literacies part of the article was very informative; I think teachers and administrators could learn a lot about the benefits of using these new literacies in the classroom, especially on a school website and how students from the school, the district, and beyond could learn and improve their literacy skills from what is on the school website. 

Making the Most of Your Class Website

I think class websites are very useful tools.  It gives teachers a chance to let families and community members an idea of what is going on in the classroom, upcoming events, homework assignments, etc.  Since most teachers have access to a computer, whether in their classroom or somewhere else in the school, it almost makes sense for teachers to set up a classroom page.  Most school districts have links that take you to a place to search for faculty and staff, and most of them have set up a classroom page.  Some keep it simple and only list a few things on their page while some go all out, have links to authors, have slideshows of things going on in their classroom, etc.  Because most schools have places on their websites where teachers can set up a classroom page, it’s kind of unnecessary to make a separate website.  If teachers want to go all out and the school website doesn’t allow it, then it would be fun to get acclimated to and set up a new website.  I think that classroom websites can be very beneficial for everyone: teachers, students as well as family and even community members to support the school.  It helps students get more out of their learning and it allows teachers to use technology to reach out beyond the classroom. 

Using Websites Wisely

I definitely agree that teachers need to make clear what kinds of websites their students should be on when researching a topic.  When I was student teaching, one of the activities in my unit was a research project on recent geological disasters, and it was important that I not only gave the students a guideline on how to do the project, but also gave some websites such as CNN and other news websites that students could research the geological disasters.  It was important to give the students an idea of where to go so they could get as much information as they could, and they weren’t just searching on random websites that wouldn’t help them.  I really liked that this article gave some examples of informational websites teachers can give to their students as well as some of the information that’s on these websites.  I also liked how the websites featured in this article had an age range, making it more appropriate for viewing for specific reasons.  The Science Website for Kids site seemed like a fun way to learn about science through different games mainly focused on science.  I think students would find the subject much more interesting after checking a website like that out.  I definitely agree with the very last quote of the article: “By concentrating on key learning goals and performance-based skills, teachers can design tasks and supports that make students’ online work meaningful and worthwhile.” 

School-Based Websites

This article started off like the “Making the Most of Your Class Website” article by stating the benefits of having a website through the school.  I definitely agree that they “may help foster a deeper understanding and commitment from the community at large, developing communication across classes, grade levels, cultures and even continents.”  Since diversity is quite common in classrooms nowadays, students who are from different countries or have family in other parts of the world can tell their family members about the teacher’s or school’s website.  The family members can then check out the website and get an idea of what is going on in the classroom, school, and community.  I also agree that when planning a class website, teachers need to keep in mind the audience targeted as well as the content on the site.  I looked at the table which showed specific features usually seen on school websites, and I thought about some of the school websites I’ve seen and some don’t even have everything on that list. I think the one thing that a lot of school websites lack is teacher/staff biographies/email addresses.  I would understand not having biographies on the teachers, but teachers should at least list their email addresses somewhere on the website.  If a parent needs to get ahold of a teacher during the day, usually an email is the way to go.  As I read through the article further, I noticed that after the study, most people within a school district didn’t know what should be on a school website or didn’t have a lot of the recommended features.  I think that it might be because people who aren’t technologically savvy might be afraid of messing something up, or it could be because school officials don’t want to divulge so much information.  Whatever the case may be, I think having more information about the school on the website can be beneficial for people who want to learn more about the schools or the district, find teacher websites, and just be very informational to whoever comes across the website.

Post #6- Chapter 7, The Commons on Flickr, The Unexplored Promise of Visual Literacy in American Classrooms

Chapter 7

Even though I personally don’t have a Flickr account, I like the positive attributes it can have in the classroom, and that it seems easy enough to use.  “From a classroom standpoint, think about the ability to capture daily events or highlights and easily share those with parents, community, and colleagues.  Field trips, speakers and visitors, special projects, and much more could become a part of any classroom’s “photo stream” and could be a great way of sharing the teaching and learning experience (pg 102).”  I really like how this can be used in the classroom; if a student is sick or a parent can’t come into class, they can be up to date on what goes on in the classroom and even the school through the Flickr account.  I also like that “the real power of Flickr lies in the ways it can connect people from around the world (pg 105).”  If the students have an event or go somewhere, the pictures can be uploaded to Flickr and the photos can have the tags in them.  Then someone from a different part of the country or the world can search for photos that have a certain tag and see for example a class that went apple picking.  That person can then comment on the photo and can learn more about the field trip or the area.  I didn’t know much about Flickr before this class, but I did know that it was used to upload photos and share with friends.  I didn’t know that it could be used in classrooms, especially to the extent showed in the book.  I think the positive uses of Flickr in the classroom can be summed up in the last sentence on page 110: “Flickr is a great tool for introducing students not only to digital images and publishing, but also to the social conversations and collaborative learning opportunities that the Web now offers.”

Photostreams to the People: The Commons on Flickr

This article was very informative on how to use Flickr, not necessarily in the classroom, but just getting started with the whole process of starting an account.  The Commons part of Flickr is like the driving force, where people can look through different pictures and even change them, which I really like.  One thing that I saw in the article that could be used in the classroom was using Flickr to make collages.  A project that came to mind when I came across this was at the beginning of the school year, the students could use Flickr to look up pictures of things they like to make an “All About Me” collage as a way of introducing themselves to each other; another project that this could be great for is doing heritage appreciation.  Each student could find pictures of food or the architecture in the country they’re from and present it to the rest of the class.  I also liked that the article gave background information about how Flickr came to be; sometimes it’s difficult to find out how a website has gone worldwide in a short period of time or how it was even founded.

Connecting the Dots: The Unexplored Promise of Visual Literacy in American Classrooms

One of the problems nowadays is the large achievement gap in schools.  Another big problem is that some of the schools that have the largest achievement gaps don’t have the technology necessary to use in the classroom.  I definitely agree that having technology in the classroom, with the bright colors and different graphics used in lessons, it captures the students’ attention more instead of just reading from a textbook, as is usually the case in most traditional classrooms.  When I was student teaching in a 6^th grade classroom, I had the opportunity to use a smartboard in my unit.  I loved learning all about it and how to use it, and all the things that could be done on the smartboard really intrigued my students.  They loved the different pictures, videos, and other bells and whistles I incorporated into the presentations.  Using technology, for me, gave everyone a way to learn something new while tapping into their previous knowledge.  I do think that from the experiences I had during my student teaching shows that although technology in the classroom won’t completely close the achievement gap, it will help.  It has to start somewhere.

Post #5- Chapter 8, Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, Digital Language Experience Approach

Chapter 8

“If there is one thing for certain it’s that the explosion in the last few years of multimedia publishing on the Web is going to continue, and that more and more of what we consume online is going to be self-produced, home-made entertainment (pg 111).”  I definitely agree that people do a lot of home-made videos, and it’s only going to continue.  With digital cameras having a movie feature on them, it’s almost a no brainer that home movies are going to be more popular since people don’t have to worry about lugging around a bulky camcorder.  I knew that YouTube was a huge generator of home-made movies and videos, but I didn’t know until last semester that podcasting could be used the same way, even though it’s mainly for audio.  I had never done a podcast until my junior year of college when I was at SUNY Cortland.  We didn’t do much with it, but we all got into groups of 2-3 and had to reread a book chosen for our courses.  It was an interesting experience for me because we were taught that we couldn’t make any mistakes, and my group members and I found ourselves reciting the chapters repeatedly until we got them right.  The thing I like most about podcasting is that “most podcasters are just average Jills and Joes, with day jobs and kids and responsibilities, and ideas that they want to share (pg 113).”  In Dr. Leogrande’s class, she showed us how podcasts can be used in the classroom; several examples she showed was reviews for tests as well as chapter guides.  I think podcasts would be a great way for students to receive extra help outside of school, especially for a test.  I also like how there were tutorials for guiding people through screencasting websites such as ustream, but I still think that the best way to learn about these sites is to experience them for ourselves. 

The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling 
I never knew about digital storytelling before reading this article, and I liked that this article provided a definition right on the front page.  I like that digital storytelling “revolves around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia, such as images, audio, and video (pg 1).”  This can be especially useful in classrooms, as different types of information can be portrayed in different ways.  One project that could be extremely useful, as it lets the students talk about themselves, would be to have them do a personal narrative.  This way, the students learn more about themselves and their families; if the personal narratives are presented to the rest of the class, the other students can learn about each other and where they all come from.  One example I especially liked was how to use digital storytelling in the classroom, and it involved a teacher making their own stories.  This way, the teacher learns the steps of actually creating their own story through digital media, and the students can learn more about the teacher and what goes on in their lives outside of school.  While digital storytelling can be time consuming, students should feel proud of their finished products after spending so much time on a project.  When people learn how to portray things on the internet through various ways of multimedia, it takes a great deal of time to figure it out then actually do it. 

Podcasting in the Classroom

I think that college professors doing their lectures via podcast was a great idea featured in this article.  I have sat through lectures and the professor speaks so quickly and nonstop for a whole hour that it’s impossible to take perfect notes, then when it came time for the test I would be unsure if my notes were adequate enough to study from.  Having a lecture on my iPod or in my iTunes library would be perfect for a college student because if they missed something in the lecture or missed the class altogether, the lecture would be right there to listen to over and over and take better notes from.  One thing that struck me was that Duke University gave an iPod to each incoming freshman, which had the capability to record audio.  That would be perfect to use in lectures instead of carrying a bulky digital recorder around.  Of course, as in the case of using podcasts in the classroom, it takes time to learn something and get it perfect before actually using it in the classroom.  If students were to do a podcast for a project, the teacher would obviously have to learn how to do it first before instructing the students for the project.  

Digital Language Experience Approach

I had never heard of the D-LEA before reading this article, and I really liked how this article portrayed using this approach with three different students in the same class.  I think that using this approach is very important in districts where technology is limited.  However, I think it could also help to enhance the technology that is already there and make learning more interactive.  For example, the three students that went through the D-LEA learned so much about literacy and technology, even if they didn’t know it.  I liked how three students of different learning abilities were chosen to experiment with the approach, and I especially liked how the article mentioned the things each student learned, no matter what ability they were at.  One thing that was evident from all three students, no matter what they learned- the instruction was authentic and tailored to their levels.   

Post #4- Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Keeping Up 2.0 Style, Digital Literacies, Radical Change and wikis

Chapter 4

I don’t know where I stand on the whole “wiki” thing honestly. I know that having them in the classroom can be a good way for students to get their feet wet on creating and editing something. However, I have been told time and time again that using a wiki, such as Wikipedia, just isn’t a good source for information.  I understand that with people editing and looking through information others have written that “there are vastly more editors who want to make it right than those who want to make it wrong (pg 56),” but you still can’t guarantee the information is correct.  I do think that using Wikipedia does “help our students become better learners- namely collaboration and negotiation skills (pg 58).”  I think that if a class has their own wiki page, it’s a great way of having their thoughts and opinions, as well as some work they’ve done, on showcase for others to see.  If it’s a private wiki that only the teacher or students can edit, then it’s even better because nobody else can edit the page and add whatever they want.  I also liked the following quote on page 69, which I think sums up what using wikis in a classroom is all about: “The collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort.”

Chapter 5

The one thing I really liked about reading about RSS is that the pages you are subscribed to have the information coming at you all the time instead of you having to go get it.  I think using this is good and helpful because when a teacher needs to show their students a website or an article, it’s much easier to just pull it up that way instead of going through Google and searching for it.  All the teacher would have to do is pull it up and there it is; I also like that the user can delete information that’s not relevant at all to the topic, so you can easily get rid of unnecessary information.  I also like that the RSS feeds have comments which can establish more of a community and bring educators and community members together; “well-established conversations and communities lend themselves to better reading and potential network building (pg 74).”  I liked how on page 82, Richardson says that once the feed has new information on it, it’s hard to keep track of the information when so many new things are coming in.  “If you do stick with it, you’ll begin to notice some changes in the way you go about getting your information.  First, odds are you’ll find yourself buying fewer newspapers and magazines (pg 83).” 

I liked how Keeping Up, 2.0 Style basically reiterated what chapter 5 stated, that using an RSS feed is helpful in keeping information that would otherwise be missed brought to us on a regular basis.  I think this is important because sometimes people don’t have the time to check the newspaper, so having this kind of feed allows them to be up-to-date on important information as soon as it comes on the feed.  Having wikis in education could be important, as they “have great potential for promoting online and offline collaborating and for disseminating research and practical resources among educators in accessible ways (pg 631).”  Digital Literacies opened my eyes on how to use wikis in the classroom a little more, especially when it was combined with chapter 4.  Both texts brought up great points on using wikis in the classroom, and I particularly liked how websites such as NewLits.org provide tutorials for new users, as shown on page 632.  I think that is very useful and important to have for people who aren’t very technologically advanced yet want to use a wiki in their classrooms.  I had never heard of Radical Change texts before reading Radical Change and wikis, so I found it a little confusing at first.   However, I liked the work that was done with the 6^th grade students to make their own meanings of books that were brought in.  I agree that the students were making their own meanings of these texts: “…the students were noticing and engaging in a different practice of meaning making (pg 218).”  It is important for students to make their own meanings of something especially when they might not understand it at first.  I think that with changing technology and new way of being able to post information, it is important that we’re “aware of how the manifestations of literacy are broadening and changing.  We need to think less about teaching content and more about engaging students in the processes (pg 222-223).”  I think that quote is only partially true; it is important to still teach content, but it is important for teachers to use these new literacies in their classrooms to engage their students.      

Post #3- Chapter 6, Chapter 9, Tweacher & Social Networking Goes to School

Chapter 6

I thought Chapter 6 was very insightful into the world of social networking and using it in the classroom.  There was one quote on page 89 I found especially interesting about using Twitter in the classroom: “…more and more I see Twitter as an excellent resource for assessing several of the skills that are fundamental to learning and living such as: the ability to make mistakes and immediately get positive critical feedback [and] the ability to take part in a communal discussion.”  I like that Twitter is like a discussion; everything is put out for your followers to see.  With more and more people getting social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, it would be much easier for teachers to keep parents as well as other teachers and other school officials informed about what is going on in the classroom, school- and community-wide.  The part of the chapter that confused me was about Diigo and Delicious, two sites I’ve never heard of before.  It was tough for me to try to follow how these sites are used, probably because I don’t know what they are and have never visited these sites for myself.  After reading the chapter, though, it made me curious about these two sites and I might check them out in the future.  It may just help me in my classroom someday.

Chapter 9  
One thing that struck me right off the bat was that kids are using social networks to “explore interests and find information that goes beyond what they have access to at school or in their local community (pg 131).”  I think sites like Facebook are very hard to ignore in school nowadays because it seems that literally everyone has a Facebook or a Twitter.  While I don’t think everyone needs to have a Facebook, I think “we have a responsibility to understand what Facebook is all about, even if it’s just to the extent that we participate there for ourselves, on our own time, for our own connections (pg 133).”  One thing I found amusing while reading about Facebook was that it’s not as simple as it is written in the book; Facebook keeps changing its layouts and everything about the site, and it just recently changed again this week.  It’s not as simple anymore; the user actually has to poke around and pay attention to what they’re doing.  While I think using Facebook in the classroom is a very controversial issue, I think that it could at least be tried out for a little while.  Just like Diigo and Delicious, I had absolutely no idea what a Ning was, but I think it could be something to look into if it’s useful in the classroom.  While the book may help get started with a Ning, I always think it’s best to log into the sites for yourself and learn about it that way, especially since sites like Facebook and Twitter are constantly updating the looks of their site and where things are.   

   

Tweacher & Social Networking Goes to School

I use twitter for personal and entertainment purposes, but reading these articles gave me more insight into how teachers and even administration in schools can use social networking in schools for education purposes.  In Tweacher, Adrienne Matteson showed students can use Twitter for photo sharing with their classmates and teacher.  I liked the example used in the article how students can post a photo of a leaf in the news feed and their classmates can respond to the photo.  It allows the students to be more creative than just going out and collecting a leaf to bring in, plus it’s a lot less messy.  Since Twitter is home to many celebrities tweeting about their daily lives as well as events they’ve gone to, it would be beneficial for the students to see if authors they like or are reading about have Twitter.  Sending messages to the author would be a lot quicker than sending a snail mail letter to them.  While celebrities and authors don’t always respond to their followers’ messages, it would be cool for the students if someone they’re following did send a response; it would definitely allow the students to feel more connected with their favorite authors.  I liked how in the article Social Networking Goes to School, I liked how right on the first page it talked about the principal who formed a partnership with a company that ended up donating the technology equipment to his school, all based on his followers on Twitter.  Even though school officials are so against using social networking in the classroom, something like this shows how beneficial using these sites can be.  It shows that school officials are willing to “step out of the box” and go deeper than what is done in the school building.  I can see why using social networking sites can be dangerous for students, but if things like teaming up with other schools from different parts of the country are happening because of these sites, why can’t it at least be tried out in schools?

Post #2- Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Teaching With Authors' Blogs, HOT Blogging

Chapter 2

Right off the bat, I found some astounding facts on page 19: “Remember, two new blogs are being created every second, and that pace shows no sign of slowing down.  Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone who creates a blog becomes a dedicated blogger; two-thirds of all blogs go for more than two months without being updated.”  This surprised me, though I feel like it really shouldn’t considering how many blogs are out there on the web on almost any subject.  One thing I liked about reading about blogs is that they can be very useful in the classroom.  Similar to our blackboard site, blogs can be used to do just about anything for the class.  “From a teaching standpoint, having a place to publish the course curriculum, syllabus, class rules, homework assignments, rubrics, handouts, and presentations makes a Weblog a powerful course management tool (pg 21).”  I liked the fact that weblogs can be used as an “online filing cabinet,” so “students never misplace their work (pg 22).”  During my student teaching experience, I would have students who misplaced their work, forgot it or just didn’t do it.  I think using a blog would be better for students to submit their work because they need to log in to actually submit it, reducing the need for printing papers, “running out of ink or paper,” or any other excuse students might come up with as to why they don’t have their work done.

Chapter 3

It is important for a teacher to experience things for themselves in order to explain it to their students; blogs is one of these.  “The best way to fully understand the potential of Weblogs as a teaching and learning tool is to become a blogger.  Just as writing teachers should write, and literature teachers should read, teachers who use blogs should use blogs (pg 43).”  I think this is very important to teach their students how to use blogs in the class as well as outside of school.  That way, students and teachers can collaborate using the blogs outside of class, expanding time in the classroom and each other’s knowledge.  “Don’t be afraid to include some posts that are totally personal or just fun; your readers want to see the person behind the blog as well (pg 44).”  I think it’s important for students to see how their teachers are outside of school, and teachers blogging about their lives outside of school will let the students be even more in tune with their teachers.  While a teacher shouldn’t reveal everything about their personal lives in their blogs, it is important to highlight some interesting things; what sports they watch, what they did during their day with their pets or children, etc.  I also liked how this chapter highlighted how to use blogger; I actually wished while I read that I had this book for last semester when I had to do the literature blogs for Sunita’s class.  Even though everything is pretty self explanatory, it takes a little while to get used to everything on the site. 

Teaching With Authors’ Blogs

One thing that struck me right off the bat in this article was on the first page.  In Sunita’s class we had our literature blogs, and one of my classmates was lucky enough to actually get a comment on her page by one of the authors of a book featured on her blog.  We thought it was really interesting how she got a comment from the author, and it showed that the author could take time out of their schedules and reach out to the community.  That said, the quote that reminded me of Sunita’s class was: “Rather than remaining at a distance, many of these authors desire to create a stronger connection with their readers, which blogging allows them to do (pg 172).” I definitely think this is true, and teachers could use author’s blogs to make important points in their classes.  “Another way students develop depth of knowledge about authors is by understanding their perspectives on varying issues.  Authors often post their thoughts about issues of importance to them (pg 174).”  I think this is also important to do, especially when looking at different blogs in the classroom.  If students are passionate about certain issues in our society, they will want to see if their favorite authors are too, or at least their standings on the issues.  This way, the students can look up to their favorite authors even more and appreciate their work. 

HOT Blogging

I liked how the definition of a blog was right on the first page of the article, for those who don’t know what the technical term of a blog is.  I think that’s always important to have, because people know what a blog is usually but can’t explain exactly what it is.  I think that using blogs in the classroom is important as it develops students’ communication skills but can also develop their thinking and analyzing skills: “As online readers gather information to solve a problem, they frequently analyze information, critically evaluate, synthesize across multiple texts and communicate with others using instant messengers, e-mail, blogs, wikis, or other communication vehicles.  These essential new literacies of online reading comprehension emphasize higher order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation (pg 652).”  I think these skills are very important, especially with using blogs in the classroom, or even instead of a physical classroom, like I have had in some college courses.  The professor will pose questions to the class, and we as the students need to find the answers as well as analyze the importance or significance of what we’ve found.  It makes you think deeper about what you’re posting, which is what I think students need to do.  They can’t just post what they think is the answer without reading it through and thinking it over first.  An important fact for all students was under the Prime the Pump headline, stating that, “A final aspect of prime the pump is to require students to read what others in the class have posted to prepare for a conversation (pg 657).”  This is important because the students may agree or disagree with something another student has posted, but it’s not just enough to agree or disagree with the posting; the student should back up their opinions with facts from the conversation or from other sources.      

Post #1- Chapter 1, 10 & Article: What is New About the New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension

Chapter 1 
Chapter 1 discussed the Read/Write Web, referring to it as a more collaborative way of using the Internet.  “Blogs are the first widely adopted easy publishing tool of the Read/Write Web, which people use to create personal journals of their lives, build resource sites with colleagues, or filter the news of the day for audiences large and small with no need to know how to code pages or transfer files (Richardson, pg 2).”  I think the use of blogs can be useful but can also be dangerous, so I think it is important to learn about keeping our students safe on the Internet, as shown toward the end of Chapter 1.  It’s extremely important to keep our students safe on the Internet, and the only way as teachers we will know how to keep them safe is to search unsafe websites for ourselves; we will need to find appropriate website for the students to be on to do research as well as what to do when inappropriate sites are found, if they aren’t already blocked by the school system.  I liked the idea of sending a letter home to parents explaining plans for using the Internet in class and asking the parents’ permission for students to participate in certain projects where their works will get published, as shown on pg 13.  On page 14, I liked the quote that says, “With blogs, the ability for people to leave comments can be a very powerful and positive learning tool.”  When I was doing my undergraduate work at Cortland, I took an online politics course and a lot of our work was done on the discussion boards.  It allowed us to post our work and then leave comments, letting us learn from others as well as the professor.  I think that discussion boards can be very useful in classrooms as it allows the students to see other peoples’ opinions and ideas.

Chapter 10 
I think one very important fact in Chapter 10 was brought up on page 148: “But today, anyone with an Internet connection can now publish without any prior review.  Although this is good in terms of creating a wider body of knowledge to draw from, it obviously requires that we teach our students to become more active consumers of that information rather than passively accepting it as legitimate.  Editing, then, means being a critical reader and viewer, not simply accepting what is presented.”  I think this is relevant with such websites as Wikipedia.  Although it gives information about a certain subject, teachers need to reiterate to students that it is edited constantly by people, and that the information presented may not always be accurate.  I definitely think that the Internet is taking on a different way we think about the content taught in classrooms.  During my student teaching experience, I used the smartboard to not only project presentations to show during class, but could also show websites from the Internet (usually CNN or other news websites) to show relevant information pertaining to the information I presented.  I thought Big Shift 5: Know “Where” Learning was an important topic; during the online course I was talking about above, it wasn’t so much the answer to the question presented by where the information was found.  I’ve heard of texting a questions to CHACHA, but not GOOGL; it shows that we’re constantly learning more information about the Internet and ways to use it, even at your fingertips.

Article: What is New About the New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension
On page 40, I agree with the statement “the Internet has rapidly appeared in the workplace; it permits access to the information required to increase productivity.”  My mom works in an accounts payable department at her workplace and is constantly on her computer and the Internet while talking with venders and customers to ensure the job has been done right and to research payment histories with the company.  There is another statement on page 40 I found to be true, that Internet usage is especially frequent among adolescents.  This may be a positive attribute to the classroom, as their knowledge can guide the teacher and others on using the Internet and the computer to do different things in the classroom.  However on page 41, it says that “increasing Internet access does not necessarily mean that students are being taught the skills necessary to locate, read, and think critically about online information.”  I think this goes along with what was said in chapter 1 of the Richardson book; students find information online but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true.  I think the informational literacies do require new skills, strategies, and dispositions for their effective use, as stated on page 42.  In order to use them in the classroom, we as teachers need to know how to look for information that is true about a certain topic.  I think it’s also important that as teachers, we need to recognize that the Internet isn’t always the most useful way to teach a topic; it can be used as a supplement, as I have done such as in my student teaching experience.  When I was teaching a unit on geology, I wrapped up the unit by doing several things, and one of the activities was having the students do a project on a recent geological disaster (earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, etc).  After explaining the project to the students and going over the requirements, I used the Internet to show the students an example of a recent geological disaster using cnn.com.  The videos and articles on the website helped me get my point across to the students, and I was glad I was able to utilize the Internet in a way like that.