Journal #1: New Literacies
“The
distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in
the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do
with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own
purposes in their own learning lives” (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p.9).
When
I first became enrolled in the New Media and New Literacies course, I was
unaware of how much this topic related to my life as well as my career as a
music teacher. Being an educator, I have seen firsthand the impact of
technology on my students and on myself. My students were telling me that I
needed to “get with the program,” and I soon started integrating these new
forms of literacy into my lesson plans.
The
1991 Christie Report stated that “all students should be required to learn to
use computers in their course work, with the aim of attaining word processing,
principles of electronic text design and publication, using printers and
exchanging electronic data on a network" (Christie et al. 1991, p. 233). From
1991 to the present, a lot has changed in public schools, including the difference
between requiring students to attain
a certain level of knowledge on computers and technology, from having the
student’s be experts in the field. In
my school district, each student in grades 4th-6th is
given their own individual mini I-pad and each is overly qualified to download
apps, research online and explore different forms of communication. Teachers
can also now upload their notes, classroom information, administer tests and even
answer student’s questions on a new database. Many students find this new form
of text and this new approach to literacy a simple transition from the old days
of handwritten notes and raising your hand in class when you had a question.
As
an educator, I agree with Dana Wilbur when she states that there is a
“necessity for teachers to learn, as part of a new literacies framework, visual
literacy and critical pedagogy, in order to engage students to better
understand their world and construct learning" (Wilbur 2010). In order to
benefit our students to the highest level, we need to understand that literacy
and “what people do with texts” (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p9) is constantly changing,
and we need to not only change with it, but also take advantage of the new
possibilities it creates.
References
Dana J. Wilber, Beyond ‘new’ literacies, Digital Culture
& Education 2010
Gillen,
J., & Barton, D. (January 2010). Digital literacies. Teaching
and Learning Research Programme.1-32.
I also share your thoughts on Wilbur's argument that there is a necessity for teachers to learn, visual literacy and critical pedagogy, in order to engage students to better understand their world and construct learning. It is a challenging time to teach students because along with technological advancements and changing surroundings of education, there is more and more being demanded of teachers. As Gillen and Barton state, "current context of social and technological change requires a shift in thinking about pedagogy. It is not possible for teachers to be the possessor of all knowledge and demand knowledge and skills beyond what teachers have (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p.21). I personally feel that it's important for teachers to first establish amongst their students, the responsibilities involved in being citizens of digital era. If a child who is not emotionally and socially ready gets dependent on screens (social media, games, entertainment streaming sites, etc), that child's learning time can be traded off for simple entertainment and engagement. While digital equipment have such prominent role in today's society, I think it is crucial that person-to-person contact, conversations and learnings are kept in healthy balance with online activities.
ReplyDeleteHere is the interesting thing: many of our students cannot create a document nor write, cut, paste, save on a computer. As much as their lives are dedicated to and dictated by the digital, I took for granted that our children knew how to really exploit all the possibilities of a computer.
ReplyDeleteAs I read about Critical Pedagogy, I am reminded of just how much education is indoctrination and have often wondered to what extent the computer contributes to this indoctrination. After all, media tells us who we are, what we want, how to think. Professor of Linguistics at MIT, Noam Chomsky contended that media provides an audience for advertisers (2015). Any teacher who has dialed up a You Tube video in class can tell you that.
So, in critical theory, to what extent am I contributing to the status quo by using this tool to up engagement?
Certainly literacy will go beyond teaching that Wikipedia is not a proper source for research papers. New literacies will be about so much more.
Russon, M., (2015, May 26). Noam Chomsky buzzfeed and vice are 'distorting free media' with native advertising. International Business Times. Retrieved at
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/noam-chomsky-buzzfeed-vice-are-distorting-free-media-native-advertising-1503028.