Week 4 - Planning for New Literacies/new literacies

As you read the BABR chapter and the articles, think about how the ideas they put forth are part of planning for instruction.  How are they related to last week's readings? Compare and contrast the different frameworks? How are the readings all connected to this week's overarching topic? What is new to you about this process and what is just an expansion of what you already do?

As I read this week’s articles and chapter from BARB I was really impressed with the plethora of ideas that were shared with regards to technology, for example the different websites, programs, apps, links, and tools that can be used both in and outside of the classroom for students and teachers alike. I really appreciated Lewis-Spector’s article Precautions with Educational Technology The benefits abound, but there are implementation considerations that must be taken, as I found that she shared a lot of good information about how we should be precarious about technology. She gave great insight into what we know is happening, like the divide among students with internet access at home, and the fact that some children are simply not as tech-savvy or interested as others. Moreover, I liked when she said, “Technology itself doesn’t improve teaching. Teachers need classroom support and effective professional development to maximize the technologies....” I think this is so true, even though technology provides different modes of learning it does not improve learning unless support is there and it can be used to its full potential.

What part(s) of the readings sparked your interest this week and why?

Last week’s readings gave a great look into frameworks, which included TPACK where teachers integrate technologies once they have their curriculum goal in mind, the TPACK+, which is a framework that involves “artistic technology integration” (Steckel et al. 2015) . As well as 21^st Century Literacy learning, open learning, activity based curriculum, IRT, where students are gradually given responsibility, and Literacy 2.0. These frameworks allow teachers to successfully provide instruction for students of all learning levels, and too for the integration of different technologies. With this week’s reading I can see how important frameworks are, because if there isn’t a framework in which one uses then there will be difficulty with the implementation of new literacies/technologies and accommodations for students who need them. I guess what I am trying to say is that, frameworks act as the base/foundation for technology integration. All these frameworks have the student’s best interest at heart and help us to plan for New Literacies and new literacies. New literacies (nl) help to provide support for teachers and students, they help students make connections, become more engaged and overall exposed to the use of multimodal texts. As a result students are exposed to many alternative perspectives. BARB indicates that “Awareness of alternate perspectives leads students to perceive the limitations of their own perspectives, or their “myself bias.”

What kind of activities do you incorporate into your lessons in order that students are exposed to alternative perspectives that challenge their existing perspectives? How do you know these activities have worked?

Planning for New Literacies and new literacies encompasses the use of both text in print and on screen. Also, different forms of learning are implemented as students are exposed to a variety of new tools, apps, and websites. The readings are connected in that we not only learn about what we can use with regards to technology to help our students, but we learned about how they can work as it pertains to collaboration, differentiation and creating an overall balanced environment for all students. All of the readings go hand in hand to show us as teachers that the implementation of technologies can be an easy task, but too can sometimes be a daunting and a challenging one. Also, we are reminded that not all new literacies are appropriate or easily   adapted by students, and that when dealing with new literacies we must be careful, especially with the assumptions we make pertaining to students and their connections to technology, as we read in Spector’s article. Moreover, like one of the headings in Boyle’s article, Edutainment or Effective Technology Integration? How to make differentiation drive your technology-integrated instruction, we should “Teach that reaches diverse learners,” and I do think all of what we have read will help us to reach all learners as we ensure their safety and attend to their needs.

What do you consider to be the most difficult part of planning when teaching for diverse learners, and how do you work around it in order that instruction is carried out without delay or mishap?

Last, even though I knew there where many sites and apps out there to help me in the classroom I never imagined it could be this much. This too can be said for the frameworks that have been presented thus far. I have gained much information with regards to New Literacies and new literacies and it has all broaden my horizon. I will no longer see instruction like I did before, and will make it a priority to also remember that there are affordances and constraints to consider when implementing different technology. Moreover, I know technology in the classroom is here to stay but I see now once the teacher is equipped with the knowledge of how to use it, when to use it and why to use it, lessons will become more engaging and fun for all.   

Before I end I wanted to point out the “recap of Jennifer Boyle’s recommended digital tools for differentiating instruction” on the right side of the last page of her article. We know that differentiated instruction is important because everyone learns in their own special way.

What activities do you implement in your classroom to help ELL, students with learning disabilities and or struggling readers and writers?