Lewis,+Bobby+J-Closing+Reflection

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?

My ideas about new literacies, I feel might not have changed all that significantly, I still feel that it describes those 21st century skills that we have been discussing for years now. However, what has changed about my understanding is the vastness of tools that are out there that our students will be responsible for using in their everyday lives. The second thing that I now realize about the new literacies is the speed at which they are evolving and changing, which makes me concerned that such a small number of our students are capable of using them, and such a small number of teachers are using them as well. I now feel more concerned that we are almost 13 years behind teaching these 21st century skills. We must continue to push for the increase in the availability of technological resources for students and teachers alike, if we are to make up some ground against this learning curve. 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? I have heard about the value of using social media in the classroom, I’ve read about it in the magazines, but haven’t planned on using it in my classroom, but now I’m feeling more compelled to use things like twitter in my classroom. I also renewed my belief that students should be making ePortfolios, and now feel like I made the right choice in building my framework using PBWorks instead of Livebinders, I just feel that the tool is more accessible and long standing. We have been using and championing the use of social bookmarking in our school for the last year with mixed success, hopefully when we all get our new computers we can again continue that campaign, while also using Symbaloo as well. But I am a lead by example kind of person, so if I want others to start incorporating these tools then I have to show them how my kids are using them and using them effectively and not just using them to waste time.

3. In what ways are the new literacies prompted by technology? How do they affect one another? I think the Internet is the most important technology associated with the new literacies, as we move away from machine -based software that were taxing to our technology budgets to new more universally accessible, and cheaper web based tools. The most amazing thing about the Internet is the level of speed and accessibility that we have seen over the last 2 decades, which for a large part has been pushed by the evolution of computers from desktops to laptops and in cell phones from bag-phones to smartphones. It has gone from the one home-based computer for use by the whole family to nearly everyone having a web-enabled device in their pockets. Not to mention the increase in worldwide availability of the Internet as well. So as we increase the level of technology that we have daily access to so will we increase the level of tools out there for our students to use.

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).

I think we have advanced so far beyond the old day of paper and pencil and bookwork it is unreal. We new think of most text as web-based, so our ability to verify its sources is so much more critical then when the teacher just handed out the approved textbook. It is helping to reduce some resource cost, but is costing us to increase our spending on per pupil devices instead. For me personally, biology has become a more global topic, even though the standard course of study still focuses on microbiology, I can use the Internet to find global tools to demonstrate my point, and to help the students understand the value of bio-diversity. But I have also learned that with the ease of photoshoping, it just important to teach student the value of scale and double-checking to confirm sources, as it is to teach them about the topic itself.

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?

I think that new literacies are pushing to completely redevelop our teaching practices, we are finally moving from the teacher centered strategies that have dominated for decades and with the use of technology are starting to develop teachers that are affective facilitators of learning instead disseminators of knowledge. I think that this is much a better strategy for preparing students for the real world, where it is up to your own personal level of motivation to advance your own knowledge and understanding. Hopefully we are moving to a point we’re our students will be more able to control their own learning instead of “blaming” their lack of personal knowledge on the teacher who “doesn’t know anything.” I think we have developed a generation who has to have things handed to them and hopefully through the use of new technologies we will be able to counteract those years of poor character building. Now I see two drastic changes that have to happen for this to occur, first we must reform the teachers who are still in practice and eliminate those who fail to reform, and we must start producing new teachers fresh out of university that have that altered mindset from the beginning, which means the leaders of our schools of education must also recognize these changes as well and work to reform their educational practices as well.

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.

I have like the idea of project based learning since I started in education, but I came into the business at a time when school let alone departmental budget were at mission critical levels, so having the resources to do projects have been extremely limited. Now with our school going 1:1 I would like to think I have been given the largest project resource ever know to mankind, and for this I am thankful. The Internet provides us with the access to almost anything we need to know, as long as we teach the students how to navigate it well, which is a project in unto itself. I also appreciate the perspective of the Bloom’s revised cognitive model that increases the emphasis on student produced collaborative and creative learning. This is helping to push my development toward being a better learning facilitator.

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?

It has made me hyper-aware of the need for effective short, middle and long term planning during the learning process. For these tools and strategies to be incorporated effectively teachers must have a well thought out plan for what and when they plan to cover so that they can integrate the most effective tools at the best possible times to support learning. On top of that, it seems to be very important for teachers to “sell” their projects to that the students feel invested in the process, in the same way that a person in hell might desire ice water. Because they will inevitably be more creative if they feel there is a direct personal reward for their efforts.

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 really haven’t thought about my online identity much before, but I was welcomed to find out that I didn’t have all that much stuff out their about me. But I guess I have operated with forethought about this from the beginning, attempting to limit such information from ever making it on to the Internet in the first place. I think for our students who are not being necessarily raised by hyper-paranoid law enforcement officers probably don’t think about this in the same way and I know from looking at a few of their Facebook’s they are very free with what they express about themselves, phone numbers, addresses and the like. So I do now realize the importance of informing them about the possible repercussions of having detrimental information on the Internet. I know I certainly can relate my experience with Facebook as we progressed into student teaching, because Appalachian was extremely critical of our online identities even before social media was so popular.

9. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why? With so much going on at the institute, I think one more day would be a struggle for most people, but in the spirit of the question I will say this. I wish we had spent more time focusing on how to bring what we’ve learned back to our home schools. I would like to see some time spent addressing how to motivate our fellow staff members, how to help them get on board with the ideas that we already embrace, and how to develop staff development that reinforces the needs of 21st century learners.