Scarfpin,+John+David+-+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? In my opinion, new literacies is a term that is used to describe the paradigm shift that we are facing in education today. As educators, we are having to learn "new things" and teach them in "new ways". If we do not accept our new roles then our students are going to suffer.

The "new literacies" include all of the traditional literacies but add a technological and global spin to them. In order to be literate a person must be able to take in information in multiple modalities and be able to apply it to their environment. Due to the nature of technology and the ability to communicate and move around the world in a short period of time students must understand their position in the world and be knowledgeable of other cultures and how to interact with them. The paradigm shift that needs to take place not only in education system but our culture as well is that we must prepare our children to compete in a global economy. Our children are not just competing in a state, region, or nation for jobs, they are competing globally. Companies will locate facilities in areas where their work can be done and with the increasing level of technology skills required it is imperative that students become familiar and comfortable working in collaborative technology rich environments. As a part of the future work force they will be collaborating with individuals from around the world on a daily basis to get their jobs done.

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?

The thing I learned this week is that many of the things I have been doing with my students are being called "new literacies". In the STEM lab I have been having my students work collaboratively, researching using the internet (refining search skills), working with advanced technologies (CNC, CADD, Robotics, etc), and looking at how it all ties into other disciplines. In addition, my experience with Fulbright Japan on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has made its way into my curriculum as we have worked on alternative technologies, performed energy audits, discussed how energy priorities vary between countries, and how Japan is promoting peace through cultural understanding. I am still working on getting my classroom communicating with students in another country, but some in the school system are concerned with student safety in communicating beyond our boarders.

3. In what ways are the new literacies prompted by technology? How do they affect one another?

The new literacies are entirely prompted by technology in how it has made knowledge common. The problem is not knowing, it is what do you do with the information once you know it. Data is everywhere and being collected about you with every key stroke. With 3 billion people accessing the internet that is a lot of data. There are many perspectives to be learned from, so it is important to be able to identify bias and recognize false information. The intimidating part of all of it is there are still 4 billion more people to contribute their views in the world. The ability to sift through all this information will become even more important as these individuals come online. These literacies affect each other by generating a need for new skills such as protecting your identity in a virtual world. Scammers are becoming more sophisticated in their abilities to deceive people and companies are collecting more and more information about our internet behaviors. The questions we need to learn the answers to are: what information is being collected, what is the purpose for collecting the information, and how is that information going to be used?

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).

The new literacies are blurring the lines between disciplines. This is changing the way we need to think about academic content. The idea of any discipline being taught in seclusion from the others will become extremely rare in the future. Math classes can integrate ideas from Language, Social Studies, and Science all while teaching a lesson on statistics. Think about an authentic lesson on water pollution, in the lesson the students could collect multiple sets of data from multiple sites along a waterway and also collect data about communities along the tributaries in order to get the entire picture. From a Social Studies stand point students will be learning about the demographics of the communities and the geography of the area. From a Science stand point students will be doing water sampling and ecology surveys. From a Math stand point students will be using statistical measure, data sampling, and graphing. From a Language stand point students will be using literacy skills as they research, write survey questions, and write their final report on the quality of the water in their area. Students can even go a step farther to create an actionable plan on how to clean up their area waterways as part of a civics project.

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?

My teaching practices are viewed as non-conventional in education. The stereotypical classroom has straight rows of silent children reading and writing about what they are supposed to learn. My view of teaching comes from my view of what Science education is. Science is how the world works, so in order to learn how something works you must use it. If you want to learn how an electronic device works - take it apart, if you want to know about the physiology of an organism - dissect it, if you want to understand how things fly- build a model that flies. Don't get me wrong, there is a time for sitting and reading silently and working silently, but not all the time. My teaching practice is more experiential than anything. The new literacies have shown me one very important thing, don't waste time on learning trivial facts. New technology has made facts easily accessible through a computer, tablet, or cell phone. I focus on teaching problem solving and creative solutions. It is important to encourage children to use their imagination and not to condition them to answer the way they feel they are expected to answer. Do not discourage them in endeavors that are perceived as too hard for a student, but assist them in reaching as far as they want to go.

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.

The idea of new literacies seems to be the glue in the PBI planning process that ties together a cross curricular plan. The ideas of integrated technology, cultural awareness, and global literacy are what I have been working toward for the last four years. I have made some great in roads, but have a long way to go. I want my students to embrace the idea of "think locally and act globally" in their everyday lives.

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?

At first the process was uncomfortable for me. I am more of a backward design kind of person. I start with the final vision and work back to the question. In this process I had to develop the question in the beginning and I was not sure what to ask. As I developed my question and began to do some research my question began to evolve the deeper I got into the process. As my vision for my project grew the question changed from a superficial question to a deeper more complex question. I think as I develop some other PBI units this process will become easier.

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?

My online identity is something I have been aware of for quite a while. I have done a good job keeping my private information private and have quite a few positive professional things online such as news paper articles and announcements of grants received. When my students Google me they find links to my website and awards not random junk from my personal life. I came to terms with the fact that as a teacher I am a public figure and so it is necessary to maintain a positive public image.

9. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why?

If I had another day from the Institute I would not want it to be concurrent with the initial workshop. I would want another day on PBI after I had a chance to implement it in the way it was presented so I could check to see if I was doing it correctly. I have been learning about PBL/PBI from materials I received from the Buck Institute and will be completing a PBL course with NASA's ePDN this fall. What I liked about this workshop is that I was learning in person rather than from a book and website.