As a digital immigrant, multiliteracies are definitely a challenge, but it keeps my brain active trying to figure out how to use these technologies and best put them to use with students. It's good for me, I tell myself. Actually, as I use many new applications and interfaces, I see how engaging they are for students. I also watch students of all ages and abilities use them freely, as digital natives. I realize they may be advanced far beyond my ability in the use of many digital resources. What can I do about this? Well, I can keep learning. But I can also recognize their expertise and let them show me and others. I can change my attitude about students who may struggle in other areas and see them as experts in these literacies. All of these changes are positive for myself, other students, and other teachers. These talents can be used to help students move forward in other areas. So these new literacies help us view students differently, give us additional tools for teaching, and give students additional means with which to express themselves. They also open up a new area of literacy, complete with texts, graphics, resources, and etc., which students must know how to navigate and analyze.
These possibilities excite me. That's why one of the articles discussed last week was so helpful to read. "Envisioning New Literacies Through a Lens of Teaching and Learning" provided a list of roles for the New Literacies Teacher. I thought they clearly spelled out how we should be working with technologies in our schools. The roles show a clear shift in how a new literacies teacher will interact with students. The classroom example given illustrates how traditional literacy instruction is enhanced by new literacies. Now there's the hard part. Synthesizing our current instruction to use new literacies is a great challenge. I think that's where many teachers are stuck. Fortunately, some school technology specialists are helping to bridge the gap. Where there are not specialists to help, individual teachers and teams will have to help adapt our traditional curricula. Just as we study a topic of study in order to teach it, we need to study and practice using new literacies. Not an easy task, but a necessary one.
One thing that concerns me in the migration to new literacies is movement away from some of the hands-on learning that has been so beneficial to education. While it's convenient to do frog dissection on the computer, it doesn't replace the experience. And that's at levels where students have a good grasp of the physical world. We have to be extra-careful with children's use of technology when they are younger, more impressionable, and may even alter their neurological and physical development by overusing technology. I was reading a report called Facing the Screen Dilemma, about young children and the use of technology. It's good to keep in mind.
My last point is that our students still need traditional literacy skills to be strong in order to process information through the multiple literacies they use. We have to keep all of our literacy instruction strong. I'm all for the benefits of new literacies, but I do want to safeguard children's development and the "old" literacies.
Carolyn, I enjoyed reading your post on “new literacies”. I agree with your final comment, “I'm all for the benefits of new literacies, but I do want to safeguard children's development and the ‘old’ literacies.” All of the advances in technology come so quickly that it is hard to keep up with them! I am new to many educational technologies. When I first came back to teaching four years ago, I did not even learn how to get my emails for two weeks. And it took me half of the year to figure out how to navigate through all of the different systems in the county, including how to access important things like teacher-shared files. Thank goodness that I have learned a lot since then! One of the best parts about technology is the ability for people to share! There is so much out there… whether it is an engaging, interactive website for kindergarten students or the world-wide web on which students can "google" just about anything. I would love to have a Promethean Board in my classroom because I think that they can be so engaging for students. However, I will have to settle for using my computer and television until then. This year, I have been much better at using on-line resources and websites regularly in my instruction. However, just because something is on the computer doesn’t mean that it is good for instruction. As teachers, we need to evaluate what tools we use and how we use them. For instance, there are a number of Power Point programs which have been created for instruction by people in my county, some of which are wonderful materials. However, I have found that sometimes students need “hands-on” pictures or objects instead of looking at pictures on a monitor. So, I agree with the fact that teachers need to have a balance between traditional best practices and teaching with new technologies. I think that technology will become an increasingly larger part of the world in general and in our classrooms. We just have to keep it “hands-on” for our young learners!
ReplyDeleteDorothy