NEW LITERACIES

My conceptual understanding of literacy has changed a lot over the past ten weeks. I have become more aware of literacy all around me. Before this class I did not really give much thought to anything except regular print literacy. After exploring different types of literacy and researching information, I am more aware of literacy in different places. This is important for my growth as a teacher candidate. It is my job as a teacher to expose my students to various types of literacy whether it be cultural, environmental, etc. For my students to understand the importance of diversity within literacy, I must understand diversity within literacy. Before this class, I did not really think too much about how to expose my students to various types. I thought I would obviously include everything I could but now I realize how much scaffolding needs to be done. Connections have to be made. This is something I learned in this class and about literacy in general. It is great to read a lot to students but connection need to be made apparent to students. Students must also understand the purpose of the lessons. Before this class, I thought as teacher you could tell the students why it is important to learn concepts but you have to show them the importance as well. For example, phonics is not only an important skill so someone can sound out a word and hear the sounds but so they can learn words in the future. The students need to see the necessary links between concepts and life. I have also learned a lot about the technology aspect of classroom literacy. Technology is an asset that has not value. It also students to gain insight into a whole new world. For example, in Digital Photo Telling, students are exposed to worlds far away from them or the world they live in. Prior to this class, I thought digital photo story was just something done for weddings or graduations. Now I know this technology medium can be used for any concept in any grade. It is also very easy to work with for students to use by themselves. The technology I explored just adds details and evidence to my understanding of literacy and my way of thinking.
The technology that I explored helps provide effective literacy instruction to diverse learned in several ways. This type of technology (digital photo story) aids in the teaching of any concept by adding pictures and sounds along with text to explore any concept. Effective literacy instruction means relaying a concept(s) that touches all students of all backgrounds, races, genders, socio-economic levels. The instruction is not bias in any way and does not explore one-sided arguments. Students can relate to the instruction and feel like the concept is meaningful. Students are a part of the lesson and share ideas. Digital photo story can help with this because students can share their own stories through this technology. This can connect everyone in the class. This also builds classroom culture. This technology can be used in any curriculum in any grade. The teacher could use this technology to do a picture walk, explore the theme of a story, create another medium for writer's workshop, and more. Since the author of the digital photo story can add sound/voice to the story, the students are increasing their skills level not only in reading but in writing, listening, and speaking. The students can better grasp the concepts if they are passionate and having fun with their ideas. This technology really informed my teaching involving literacy. This showed me literacy instruction isn't dry and repetitive. Every day and every concept can be different. It is up to the teacher to effectively teach literacy using many different mediums. The GLCE's outline many different skills that can be developed through the use of techonology. Communicating with others, exploring text features, reading graphs, making connections, taking postions, and providin evidence for ideas are all things that can be shown through digital photo story. This medium is prefect for all age levels and many concepts. Using specific ideas, teachers can use this program to their advantage and bring the whole class together.