McGhee,+Joshua+Martin

The cool tool I discovered which I found to be innovative and creative was Blabberize. Blabberize is a display and presentation tool. It allows the user to use a still image such as a photo, cartoon, statue, logo or other. These images can be of actual people, graphic characters, animals or something else. Once an image is selected and uploaded the user then selects and designs a graphic mouth over the image. After this the user would then record or upload audio conversation to the program. Upon completion of the work the image will be displayed and will speak the audio conversation. This will make it appear that the image is speaking in a comical way.
 * Cool Tool-** []

How I will use this tool- This upcoming school year I plan to try out this new tool with my students by incorporating it into an existing project we do now. This project is entitled “The Scientist Scrapbook”. In this project students research a chosen scientist and then produce a number of project pieces about them. These pieces include birth certificates, time lines, tombstones etc. The one piece that I plan to use Blabberize with is when they need to find a famous quote from their scientists. In the past students have just made posters or displays of these quotes, this year though I plan on having them load a picture of their scientist into Blabberize and use the program to make the scientist actually speak their quote. This is just one new tool that I intend to use with this project, others that I also plan to use include Animoto and Google Docs.

1. Now that you’ve had this #|professional development experience, how are you defining “new literacies?” How do you think your definition has changed or evolved this week?
 * Having now gone through the experience I would define "new literacies" as being able to communicate and stay informed in the 21st century digital age.
 * Prior to the start of the week I thought the workshop was going to be one based on teaching students to read. Now having gone through the traing I see that I couldn't have been further from the truth as "new literacies" while they include reading they are so much more than that alone.

2. Describe some new literacies that you learned about this week? What did you know about these topics before the week began and how has your experience this week contributed to your understanding of these new literacies?
 * Two of the new literacies that I used and learned a lot about this week are Google Docs and Wikis. Both of these I have used at school and was familiar with, but prior to this week I had not developed anything for myself using these tools. Now with the week behind me, I have used both, developed some personal materials, and have become much more informed and comfortable using them.

3. In what ways are the new literacies prompted by technology? How do they affect one another?
 * To be literate means to be able to read and write, both of which are done to be able to communicate with other members of society. In todays digital era people are communicating (reading and writing ) using technology. These technologies include both the physical hardware tools and the numerous software programs. This being the case to communicate effectivley and efficiently in todays world one needs to stay abreast of these technologies in addition to being able to read and write.

4. How do new literacies affect the way we think about academic]] content? Describe an examples of how some specific academic content is affected by changes in the ways we reading write and thinking (i.e. new literacies).
 * In today's world our students communicate through technologies, such as texts, tweets, facebook messages, etc. These communication tools can send messages anywhere even across the globe almost instantly. This being the case the messages that we send to one another are becoming much shorter than the days when communication to others was done with pen and paper on letters sent via the mail. While some may say that more thought and emotion went into writing and sending letters, others may argue what could be more personable than having a synchronous conversation.

5. How do new literacies affect the way we think about our teaching practices? How do they affect the development of new teaching practices or approaches to teaching?
 * Technology is how are students and society communicate today, this being the case it is through technology that we will be able to teach the students of today's world. It is because of this reason that teaching practices are changing. This is also the reason that there are now so many technology teaching tools available which allow us to be teaching and presenting to our students in new and creative ways.

6. During the week, you learning about several conceptual / theoretical frameworks for understanding the new literacies including, project-based inquiry, TPACK, Bloom’s revised cognitive theory, online identity, and #|global literacies (i.e. cultural competence, cultural awareness, cosmopolitanism). Describe your personal perspective on new literacies as it is informed by these conceptual and theoretical ideas. 7. How does the design process you learned about in your design studio work and the video digging deeper session support your understanding of the creative process? 8. You learned this week about how to manage, and in some cases create, your online identity. What action steps will you take (are you taking) to manage and further extend your online identity?
 * I think all of these frameworks tie together as students learn when they need to research and answer a question for themselves (PBI). Best practice with this is to have the students answer the question and make something which demonstrates their knowledge of the subject. This is the revised Bloom's taxonomy with creation being the highest level of learning. Lastly the more people whom one can present a work to and being able to do so in a way that makes sense to all ties to global literacies which have been made so much easier by the technologies of today.
 * It gave me the opportunity and the initiative to work on building lesson materials that will be used by my students. In building these materials I learned how to blend a number of technologies together into a finished product. It also taught me the importance of looking at the product from the view of my students. Would they be able to understand what it is I wanted them to do? Will they know some of the prior needed skills?
 * For some time I have been reserved about creating an online profile for my self (such as making a Facebook page). Much of this has been because I was unfamiliar with and not sure of how these tools work. I guess you could say it was the fear of the unkown. But as my work as a teacher has continued and particularly my time in the IMPACT program I have become more comfortable and informed with these technologies. Perhapse I'm almost ready to begin the creation of my online profile.

9. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why?
 * I would have liked to have had time to do more mini assignments with other groups such as when we had to produce the wrap up videos and digging deeper subject sessions. The reason for this is that each time we were in these scenarios I was able to see what others were doing from other schools and learn and teach new tools.