Edwards,+Michelle+E+-+Reflection

Closing Reflection 1. Now that you’ve had this experience, how are you defining “new literacies?” How do you think your definition has changed or evolved this week?  New literacies are those competencies required in schools and society that include computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, etc. With the introduction of the internet the way we receive and disseminate information has changed. We must help our students become literate in our multimedia society by teaching our students to critically select, read, and evaluate the many sources available. My definition of new literacies has not changed this week, however, my responsibility of teaching new literacies has become more clear and I have more tools and ideas for guiding my students as they develop new literacies. 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?  Some of the new literacies I learned this week involved the cool tools Ning for online role-playing in argumentative writing, Tricider for soliciting responses from students, Sliderocket for creating presentations, and irubric for creating assessment rubrics. The most important new literacy I learned or gained a better understanding of was Problem-based inquiry. I knew of the process of PBI and had a desire to learn more about how to create lessons that followed the model of PBI. The NLI gave me the opportunity to explore the process further and create a lesson plan based on the model. This experience has developed my confidence in creating more plans to implement in my classroom and I look forward to mastering the process and teaching it to others in my building. 3. In what ways are the new literacies prompted by technology? How do they affect one another?  Technology has grown exponentially over the last several years and there is a need to use these technologies effectively. Not all communication easily available to us is reliable or valuable in all situations. We must learn to critically select, read, and evaluate new technologies in order to become digitally literate. 4. How do new literacies affect the way we think about academic content? Describe an example of how some specific academic content is affected by changes in the ways we read, write, and think.  With new literacies it is important that we revamp how we teach academic content to include a more critical evaluation of sources. Our students are exposed to a variety of media that requires them to read, write, and think differently than our previous academic system required. In order to prepare them for a world after high school, we need to ensure they can critically evaluate and transfer knowledge to solve real world problems. This problem solving and evaluation reaches across all content areas (social studies, language arts, math, science, etc.) Each area must begin to focus on developing classrooms where students are actively engaged in questioning and problem solving while incorporating critical reading, writing, and thinking. 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?  Again, it is imperative that our teaching practices move away from the instructor led classroom and towards a more student-centered investigative classroom. These practices have been around for a long time, however, the focus on test scores and the limits of time keep many teachers from adopting the student-centered model. With new literacies and the need to develop students who can be globally competitive we cannot afford to continue teaching the same way. 6. During the week, you learned 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.  In our world we need to find methods that will allow our students the opportunity to become literate in multiple areas. The ease of communication with others globally and the competition our students face with students from other countries makes it vital that our students are culturally aware and competent in their communications. Our students also need to learn to think more critically and be able to create viable products to demonstrate knowledge. Bloom’s revised cognitive theory is an excellent tool for teachers to use as they plan lessons to ensure they are incorporating higher levels of thinking in our lessons. PBI is another good way to ensure students are prepared for the future. Posing questions that require student investigation, analysis of information, and synthesis of information is an instructional method that will help the students develop the skills they need to be globally competitive. 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?  The design process helps keep the focus on the components required for a successful PBI plan. During the design studio work, I found myself checking the reference guide for NLI frameworks to ensure I was including components in my lesson that would require students to gather and analyze information, creatively synthesize, critically evaluate and revise, and opportunities to publish and share. Working through this process following the framework gave me a deeper understanding of how to create effective plans to ensure student success. 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? <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As a teacher, I have already begun to use Twitter to communicate with others and keep up to date on new technologies and educational issues. This summer I am beginning to connect more with Google+ and sharing documents via Google Drive. I have published several Prezi presentations and created two blog posts. Moving forward, I want to continue to add to my online identity using these tools and others. It has taken me a while to accept the fact that everything I do is permanent online and feel comfortable enough to publish and share my work and ideas. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. If you had one more day in the institute, what would you like to learn more about and why? <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> If I had one more day in the institute I would like to learn more about the other Cool tools and hot topics that were offered. Only having time to attend one of the sessions was disappointing. Although my team members attended the others there is nothing like the hands on experience of attending the sessions first hand.