Wilson,+Loretta


 * __ Closing Reflection __**


 * 1) Now that I’ve had this professional development experience, I define “new literacies” as teaching students how to read, analyze, and utilize online sources to collaborate with others to create new products. I really don’t think my definition changed that much, but my knowledge of new tools has grown and changed immensely.
 * 2) The best new literacy practice that I learned this week is SCIM-C. I use primary sources with every unit I teach, but I think these questioning and corroborative skills will make my students deeper and better historical thinkers.
 * 3) New literacies are tied to Web 2.0 tools and new ways to get our students to think, collaborate, and to use these tools to better learn the curriculum. Web 2.0 tools should enhance and enrich the Essential Standards, not replace it.
 * 4) To me, academic content must come first. We use the new literacies to support and enhance academics. Students need to be able to successfully search the Internet for reliable sources to help them with academic research. They need to use the new literacies to aid their searches and to check the validity of the sources. They then need to be able to use these sources to write to a specific audience and any given situation.
 * 5) I think we need to be more conscious about checking the validity of the Web 2.0 tools we use. New tools and applications are being developed at a rapid pace. We need to stay abreast of these tools and communicate with other teachers to see what is working effectively with their students.
 * 6) We need to teach our students to maintain a positive online identity. Any thing that is put on the web stays on the web and can follow them forever.
 * 7) The video digging deeper session gave me a student’s perspective of this project. I worked with my group to access articles from various perspectives and to do some independent research. We got to decide what media we would use to represent the US’s role in Egypt and decide what information we would provide in the script. I know we felt rushed, but this experience allowed me to see the various levels of thinking my students would have to use and how engaging this activity was.
 * 8) I have a teacher web page and blog that I maintain and update regularly to keep my students and their parents informed of class and school events. I have a professional and a personal Twitter account. I am very careful about what I tweet or retweet on both. I have a Facebook page that I keep private. I NEVER accept a friend request from a student. I am intrigued by the idea of having a professional Facebook page for my students to interact with me and their classmates. I plan to research this idea and discuss it with my administrator before moving forward.
 * 9) If I had another day at the New Literacies Institute, I would like to delve deeper into SCIM-C, because I think the more practice I had with it the better I could transfer these ideas and methods to my students.