New Literacy Project Reflection

For my New Literacy Project, I chose to present my new knowledge of cultural literacy through a web page.

How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?
As frustrating as this project was at moments, I really found it to be beneficial to my learning. Just weeks ago, my conceptual understanding of literacy was very limited. In fact, I originally defined literacy as the ability to read and write. I had never before thought that being literate could also mean being knowledgeable of your culture, emotions and even the environment. There are so many aspects of literacy that goes beyond what you can learn from just a textbook. This project has made me realize that as a future teacher, I need to expose my students to all aspects of literacy – both print and digital. Especially now a days, technology has become such an integral part of our everyday lives that it is more important than ever to expose children to digital resources that will make their lives easier. Teaching students to merely read and write is not enough anymore. Instead, teachers need to incorporate technology, authentic literature, and engaging activities that promote knowledge of culture, students’ emotions and issue of environment.
One of my biggest strides through this whole project was actually putting together my web page. I chose this technology knowing that it would be a challenge for me, but also knowing that it was about time I learned how to build one. A web page is not only a great way to inform your students about upcoming assignments and events, but it is also a great way to communicate with parents who will not always have the time to make the phone call or set up a conference. One of the biggest struggles with building my web page was becoming familiar with uploading pictures and creating links to other websites. Unfortunately, the web page I originally created on Microsoft FrontPage was not compatible with our class Wiki. Once I figured out how to publish my site, the images failed to show up. Although this was extremely aggravating, I tried to see it as a blessing in disguise. All of the problems forced me to spend hours getting familiar with the software and navigating through files. I ended up having to start all over with a new program, which I actually found easier to use. Despite all of the trouble and problems I encountered, I can now say that I have built a web page I am actually proud of.

What does it mean to provide "effective literacy instruction" to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?
Effective literacy instruction requires teachers to incorporate a balance of teaching methods that benefit all learners. When it comes to cultural literacy, students need to gain an understanding of their own culture and gain an appreciation for the differences between their peers in the classroom. By creating a comfortable classroom environment that is welcoming and risk-free, students will feel like they can express themselves and their differences without the fear of rejection of ridicule. Not only does literacy encompass several aspects beyond reading and writing, but it also requires the use of several resources. Literacy lessons should encourage active participation from students by utilizing activities that familiarize them with technologies like PowerPoint and web pages.
When it comes to the knowledge, capacities and commitments required of students to use the technology successful, it is the teacher’s responsibility to incorporate web pages into their lessons to get children familiar with the new resource. I don’t know how beneficial a web page would be for students in lower elementary, but I can definitely see students in upper elementary utilizing the technology by incorporating it into different lessons. For example, students can visit web pages to assist in research, or use a classroom website to communicate with their peers or post projects of their own. In order to build knowledge, it would be helpful to first get students familiar with navigating the web. I think a great way to do this is to have a scavenger hunt on the computer. Students can pair up and navigate through websites to answer questions. If students are given the opportunity to build their own web page, it is going to be essential that they are able to compose complete grammatical sentences, as well as being efficient at typing. It is also crucial that students learn how to identify authentic and credible information. Since the internet is open to anyone and everyone, students will need to be able to recognize when information comes from a credible source. The more students are exposed to different technologies when they are young, the more effective they will become in their own lives as they grow older. I wish my teachers had incorporated more technology into our lessons so I would not be struggling as much as I am today with becoming familiar with all of the new digital literacy.

New Literacy project review

I learned a large amount about creating an interactive map by doing this “New Literacies” project. From my own experiences and looking at the projects of other students, I felt that I gained a much better perspective of how I can use new technologies to keep the interests of my students. For my project, I decided to create a map using Google Maps. On the map, I placed about 30 points of interest, each containing at least a picture. In each point of interest, there was a label of what the place was highlighted for, and then I gave a brief description of why that place is important, and how students could be more culturally literate from learning about this place. I also embedded links to external websites and YouTube videos, things in which students could explore, and not feel like that they were doing “real work” but instead just having fun.

How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?

Before taking this class, I thought that literacy was just being able to read, write, and speak well. However, after doing this project, I understand that literacy is on so many different levels, and that every day, every person in the world is working to become more literate in some aspect without even realizing it. I think that using an interactive map informed my thinking of this because it allowed me to realize just how big of a place that this world is, and how different everyone is. That being said, I found it hard to just highlight one part of a culture to deem the most important. Because people need to understand other cultures to become culturally literate, I think that I learned a lot about cultures just trying to figure out what points to highlight on my map.

What does it mean to provide “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?

I think that “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners means that you need to work on many different levels of literacy to work on students’ literacy. I think also it means that you need a balance in what you work on in the classroom to help the students become literate. For example, if you work too much on writing and reading literacy in the classroom, you risk the students becoming ignorant of other cultures, the environment, or new technologies. I think the part of effective literacy instruction that interactive mapping help me understand is that in this age of technology, students need a way to be entertained using technology while learning in the classroom. Because of this, I thought it was important for me to include in my map links to things like YouTube, and other websites. I am a true believer that students can learn from YouTube, if they are appropriately guided there.

New Literacies personal reflection

Hello All!
This new literacies project proved to be very educational for me, and helped me understand all the possibilities literacy can offer in the classroom. This not only includes what we think literacy is in terms of being able to speak, read, and write, but other literacies that we explored through this project. For my technology, I chose to use PowerPoint. This may seem basic, but I unfortunately never got to spend time working with this technology to become proficient at it, since all the times I have used PowerPoint, it was in a group setting, and someone else usually took that job over. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to work with this technology on my own, because this could be very useful in my own teaching. I already had a basic knowledge of this technology, but I needed more to really become proficient at it…so I took time to just play around with PowerPoint, using all the features, and seeking help options from the program. It also took a time commitment as well, making sure I understood how this technology worked, and spending time learning all I could about it. In terms of K-8 students using this technology, I feel that PowerPoint is well known, or has been introduced to older students, and that in today’s classrooms, with all the technology they use (or hopefully use), students can pick up quickly on this form of technology. Students will need to have the capacities of using a computer, typing skills, and managing the options provided in this technology to really be successful, but this can be done with instruction, practice, and time.

- How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?
It is very easy for me to say that I did not think literacy was so broad of a topic. When I thought of literacy, I thought about books, reading, and writing. This is so far from the truth. Thankfully, through our class topics, readings (Tompkins and Gibbons), discussions, and working with technologies, I have learned that literacy is so much more. More than reading, writing, and speaking, literacy is about understanding the world that surrounds you, it’s how you interpret things, how you read, write, and communicate to others. Literacy can span through all topics, not just staying put in a language arts class. Literacy can be broken into so many sub-divisions, and this is what educators need to understand and work with to promote this type of literacy instruction in the classroom. This growth has led me to understand that I need to be knowledgeable about so much more if I really want to make an impact on my students, and develop in them as many forms of literacy as they are willing to take in.

What does it mean to provide “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?
There are so many components that go into “effective literacy instruction”. For one, you should begin by building a classroom community, where students are experienced with class discussions, open dialogue, and understanding and being open to others comments and viewpoints…and then build from there. Teaching fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, word recognition, vocabulary recognition, etc. are all components of literacy instruction. To make it effective, teachers should make sure to accommodate, modify, and use multiple strategies for each component, highlighting students natural strengths, while working on areas they need to improve on. This really emphasizes the component of diverse learners as well. Teachers should understand what each student needs to succeed in literacy, and tailor their literacy activities and strategies from there. This can also be said for using the technology I chose for the New Literacies project. Students would need the knowledge of how to use PowerPoint, and therefore, have previous understandings of technology, typing, writing strategies, etc. To understand all this, they would have needed to have formal writing instruction, as well as instruction as how to write informally, such as in an outline format, or using bullet points. They would need speaking instruction of they were to present the technology, such as how to orally present a PowerPoint, or something of that nature, and how to address the viewers. They would need viewing instruction as well, since visual education about this technology is one of the best ways to learn. As you can see, literacy instruction goes beyond reading and writing, it extends into how students speak to others, use technology, and various other things. In terms of sing this technology in curriculum; a PowerPoint could be used in almost every subject to make teacher and student presentations, outlines for a class activity/lesson, a lesson on technology, etc.

Overall, I enjoyed working with my technology, and learning about a new literacy, and literacy in general, in the process.

New Literacy Project

The new technology that I used was websites. This was new to me because I have never created a website before. I am around people everyday who create websites, but never have I done one. I am pretty familiar with the old literacies, such as reading and writing and how to accomplish both. I am familiar with how to navigate my way around websites, but never have I created one.
To create a website you have to know where to begin. Here at MSU we are all given a website (www.msu.edu/~username). I know about Homestead and DreamWeaver, but I have no clue on how to use them. You need to understand what is important and what should be included in a website. What information will be important for people and what will they want to gain from your website. I had to figure out how to guide myself through the process of creating a website. Creating a website is a huge commitment because you are putting your name on something that can be seen by people from all around the world. It took time to find all of the resources that I wanted to include in my website and make it what it is. I would say that the commitment to website is huge because it is a big project.
The knowledge that students are suppose to have about websites is how to use one. Students will have to guide themselves through a website to find the information they need. Students also have to be aware of what websites are educational and helpful and which ones are not. Students will have to use their reading skills, writing skills, and computer skills. Their capacities will be using the computer and if they are creating a website their typing skills. The commitment would be that students are positive that they can rely on the information they are collecting from the website or they are committed to the website they are creating. They are proud of their accomplishment. With websites, students need to make sure the information they are looking at is accurate and/or they are using accurate information in their own website.
By learning this technology is was important for me to understand how hard it is to create websites and to find out if the information you are getting from your sources is accurate or not. It is also hard work because you are putting something up on the world wide web where everyone can see it. Not only do you have to write the website, but you have to proof read it too. I think that websites are an effective way to teach literacy because for one, you can have students read websites, find, and determine if the information is reliable or not. Students can also create their own by researching information and writing the website themselves. Students can use the traditional reading and writing in creating a website of their own.

How has you conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?
When we started this class I saw literacy as reading and writing. I saw it as reading books and writing stories. I now see literacy as all around us. It is much more. I learned that literacy means "the competence "to carry out the complex tasks using reading and writing related to the world of work and to the life outside of school"" (Tompkins 11). Literacy is how we interpret the world around us. It is the way we think, speak, and write. It is important for students to exposed to all of the different forms of literacy and that there are many more than just reading and writing. The different literacies are cultural, emotional, environmental, numeracy, print, social, visual, and digital. I would never had thought of all of those things being considered literacy. I feel like I can better teach language arts now that I am aware of all of the different literacies. I feel I can make the class more interesting and I can better get students involved. Exploring websites made me realize how hard it is to create websites and how much time and effort people put into them. I know people who work on websites everyday, but I never realized all the work they did to keep it up to date. I now know to make sure that my students know how to tell if a website is educational and the information is reliable. Websites are very informative and can teach students a lot about the world around them.

What does it mean to provide "effective literacy instruction" to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?
Effective literacy instruction begins with a good classroom community in which all students feel comfortable to speak in front of each other. The class can hold classroom discussions. It also means engaging students into the lesson. Make the lesson interactive in which students can participate such as creating PowerPoints, websites, or interactive maps. When students are hands on they become more engaged and they get more out of the lesson. Teachers should allow students to participate through reading and writing activities that they can do independently, provide opportunities for experience in reading and writing, and provide practice for students in reading and writing (Tompkins 28). It is important for a teacher to give students the tools for success in reading and writing and that can lead to an effective literacy instruction. If students were creating websites they would need to know how to pick out information that they know is creditable. They will also have to be able to write in complete sentences. Students will have to proof read what they write because people from all over the world will be reading it. It is important for students to look at other people's work and decide what to use and not use. Students need to be able to use computers and their typing skills. Students will have to use their technology skills in creating websites and today's students know how to do that. A website is a huge commitment for students because it is something that they will call their own. It is something that people from around the world will see and use. Students will have to put in the time for research and putting it all together. Students will have to view other websites to get ideas of what they would like and not like to use. If students use their knowledge of technology, their computer skills, and time they will create successful websites. I can bring websites into my classroom and instruction by having students research a topic and turn it into a website like I did for this assignment. This is a hands on assignment that students will enjoy doing because they will be able to control and have a say in how it is created. Also, they can create their own personal website. By working with a website I am more informed about how hard it is to incorporate all the different information on one topic into one website. It is hard to figure out what is important knowledge that people should know and take away from the website. Websites are very informative and I am glad that I got the opportunity to work with one.

Vocab Minilesson Notebook

For the minilesson, I will be focusing on Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell. The lesson I will be focusing on is a word study based on some words that the Navahos used, that may be introduced for the first time to the students through this book.

Lesson Introduction

For my lesson, I would start by asking the students to pull out their Sing Down the Moon books. Next, I would have one student briefly give a summary of the book, just to get the students. Next, I would pass out the following word list, which contains 8 words that can be found in the book along with the page number that each can be found on. Next, I would take a word from the book (orchard p2), and I would use this word to demonstrate a word investigation. I would create my word investigation (See Tompkins p199) on the white board for the whole class to see. I would then pass out worksheets to the students, and tell them that they would be creating their own word investigation

Sample word list:

Barranca (p 1)

Mesa (p6)

Tortillas (p 39)

Turquoise (p 41)

Dwellers (p 68)

Fleecy (p 87)

Speckled (p 101)

Scorn (p 110)

The Worksheet/Assignment

The first part of the lesson would address the concepts and word meanings component of word study from Tompkins. In the first question, students would be asked to find the word on the page that has been given to them. Next, they would be asked to write down the sentence that it was found in. Following this, they would be asked to write down what they think the word means based on the sentence. For the second question, I would have the students first choose a word from the list, grab a dictionary and look up their word. Students would then read all of the definitions of their word, and choose the best fitting definition, and write that down. Next, I would ask to do a morphemic analysis of the word. This means the students would break the word down into different morphemes, or sounds. I would have the students record their word’s morphemic analysis. The fourth, fifth and sixth components of word study from Tompkins would be addressed in the next question. Using a thesaurus, would ask the students to find one or two synonyms, antonyms, homonyms (if possible) for their word. Next, I would have the students go back to their dictionary, and find a word history of the word. Finally, I would ask the students to write the word in a sentence, where it is used figuratively.

Post Assignment

When the students have completed all of the tasks of the assignment, I would ask them to get a sheet of paper and create their own word investigation. I would allow the students to finish their word investigations in class.

Rationale

My reasoning for choosing this lesson is that it involves all eight components of Tompkin’s components of word study. Using this assignment, students would learn a wide range of information about words, and make connections between words and concepts. This will allow them to go in depth of investigation of one of the words, and give them a deeper meaning of how it is incorporated into the text.

Sing Down the Moon Vocabulary

Vocabulary Mini-Lesson

Topic: Introducing Navaho Words
Grade: Fifth Grade

The Students are learning about Native Americans. They will be reading Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell. This is a good story to show students all the hardships that Native Americans had to endure when Europeans came to North America. The vocabulary words that the students will be looking at deal with the language that was used by Navahos at that time.

1. Introduce the Topic
We have been learning about Native Americans and now we are going to be reading the book Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell. There are words that they used in their everyday language that we may not be familiar with. There are many words in this text that you may have difficulties with. I have 10 words that I have written on note cards and they are: mesa, cedar, Utes, Long Knife, Canyon de Chelly, piñon, hatchets, Navaho, Señora, and Hogan. These words are found throughout the book and it is important to be familiar with them because they will help you understand the story.

2. Share Examples
The students will be given anticipation guides in which they will rate their knowledge of each word. The students will see four columns. In the first column will be the new vocabulary words. The next column will be titled “I know the word well” the next column will be “I have heard of it” and the last column is “I don’t know this word.” The students will place a check mark in the column that applies to that word. After completing the reading, the students will again rate the words again.

3. Provide Information
The students will get into groups in which they will be given 20 cards. On 10 of the cards the vocabulary words will be written and on the other 10 cards the definitions will be written. The students were responsible for creating the 20 cards once they received to words. Now, they will be using them to match the vocabulary words to their definitions.

4. Guide Practice
As the students are continuing to read Sing Down the Moon they will repeat the word sort activity. Once the students have read a chapter using one of the vocabulary words, the word will be removed from the matching game. Sentences from the chapter with that new vocabulary word will be added but omitting the word to the matching game. This will be continued until all of the words are now being put into blanks of sentences from chapters.

Lennemann 2
5. Assess Learning
The 10 new words will be put onto the word wall. The students will write a paragraph summarizing Singing Down the Moon and they will have to incorporate five of the vocabulary words. They can also write about what they learned from the story about Native Americans. This will show if the students understand the new vocabulary words and how to use them appropriately.


**I took this mini-lesson from Tompkins, page 198. I thought this was a great idea and I would love to use it in my own classroom. It incorporates many things, such as seeing if students know the words, matching definitions to vocabulary words, and being able to use the word in a sentence.**

Vocabulary Development Lesson

Book Club Lesson – Vocabulary Development
Becoming familiar with content-area vocabulary words – 3rd Grade

We have been reading Sing Down the Moon for awhile now, and as students progress through the book, they encounter many unusual or unfamiliar words along the way. I would like for students to become familiar with these words, and use their knowledge of the story to determine what scenario these words could have occurred in.

Introduction: Briefly summarize the book up to the point we have read, or the entire book if that’s where the class is at. Explain that there are some vocabulary words that many students have not come in contact with, or words which are simply not that commonly used. I will show the students the vocabulary words, and have tem share their ideas about what they think these words mean, and observe how it was used in the context of the story/sentence it was in. I will explain that they will define the words by looking in the dictionary, and then have them make a graph that includes different scenarios of the story, and place the words where they occurred in the book, using the sentence the vocabulary word was in, along with the definition (they can go in more than one place if students can find multiple sentences using this word).

Words Scenarios
Mesa Fiesta - Living at Canyon de Chelly
Hatchets Tortilla - Bright Morning is kidnapped, and made a servant
Navaho ravine - Bright Morning escapes
Hogan canyon - Bright Morning’s tribe is trapped in the canyon
Senora gourd - The Native American sent to Spanish prison camps
- Bright Morning and Tall Boy escape

During: Students will see how the vocabulary word is used, and will use the dictionary or any other (credible) source to define the word. They will then make a graph or chart with areas designated to different parts of the story, which were given, and students will fill these areas with vocabulary words that were used in these scenarios.

After: Students will display their charts, and share them if they choose to do so. We will then go over the definitions of each word, and students will volunteer to make their own sentences using these words, and I will write them on the board for all to see. They will be assessed on their overall completion, accurate definition, and matching the vocabulary word to the place in the story where it belongs.