Lebrato,+Alina+-+Closing+Reflection

**Alina Lebrato **
 * **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?


 * After completing the New Literacies workshop, I believe that new literacies is more than just technology tools. It is also about the way you approach learning. Learning must be engaging and fun. This proved to be true in the project inquiry model we used to complete our assignment. My perspective changed from thinking of new literacies as more than cool tools. It is also about the process that is used to deliver the content in order to engage the students in their learning. **

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?


 * During the workshop, we learned about a number of cool technology tools and the Project Based Inquiry model. The technology tools included: Voki, Google Forms, QR Codes, Sock Puppets, Prezi, GapMinder, Symbaloo, Edmodo, Collaborize, Voice Thread, A number of the tools we have been exposed thru our Master’s program courses and Impact V sessions. Edmodo is a tool that we are starting to use in our district and some of our teachers are using with their students. The tool I have used and like very much is Symbaloo. It is extremely helpful in keeping up with Internet shortcuts, particularly when you use different computers. I am now able to access my bookmarks from home that I have at school and at school that I have at home. It is also easy to categorize your bookmarks and share them with other teachers. We were exposed to a number of new tools such as Sock Puppets and how we can use them in the classroom. **

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


 * I believe that there is a strong tie between new literacies and technology. Today’s students use technology every day. Students are constantly texting, posting to Facebook, looking at websites, etc. Today’s students are not writing using pen and paper as much as 19th and 20th century students did. **

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 reading write and thinking (i.e. new literacies).


 * New literacies creates a shift away from the traditional teacher led monolog presentation style to a more student centered environment. I believe it is a challenge for traditional teachers to make that shift. Today’s learning environments require more intense lesson planning and more collaborative activities for students. The pace of technology changes quite frequently and it is at times hard to keep up. In Math students traditionally only worried about getting an answer to a Math problem. In today’s world students must understand what a particular problem is and not only solve the problem but be able to explain how they solved it. **

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?


 * New literacies helps me as a Math teacher to create new ways to teach the Math content using real world problems. Math is a very stable type of content that students find boring at times and not connected to anything real world. Math has been a traditional teacher led content. Shifting to a more problem based learning concept shifts the knowledge to the students and helps them become more focused on their learning. **

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.


 * TPACK helped me to conceptualize the integration between technologies, Pedagogy and Content and how each of these play an important role in the 21st century learning. I do better in understanding the theories when they are applied. The weeklong workshop did a great job showing us how to apply the theories instead of memorizing them. Our focus followed the revised Bloom’s Toxonomy where we were creating and as such learning. **

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 studio and the guiding questions helped me to understand how to put things into action for my students. It helped to focus me in getting things accomplished since I am a list person. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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="color: #1f497d; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">First I did a search on my name to understand what content was out there. I was extremely surprised at the results. I am in process of looking at my professional associations and creating own online identity. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">9. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why?

<span style="background-color: #939895; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
 * <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If we had one more day at the institute, I would like to have more time exploring real world applications of cool tools for the various Mathematics contents (Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Statistics). ** ||