New Literacies

After completing TE 301 I had a new found knowledge about the mechanics of literacy. However, TE 401 has introduced be to the possibilities that literacy can encompass. My new ideas of literacy not only include the maechanics such as grammar, letter-sound knowledge comprehension, etc. but also other topics. Literacy is part of everything and can be expanded to include anything like culture, the enviroment, emotions, etc. Literacies go far beyond knowing and recognizing your ABCs. Those are just the beginning of a long and never ending road that you follow long after your school days are done. This project really helped me understand that. I started coming to this realization after one of the first articles we read. The Leland article made me realize that, not only was that class honing their skills of reading and writing, but they were becoming stronger mentally in their views on the world around them. They were questioning what they were reading; asking Why? This article really set the pace for me in this class and now I'm expanding even more to include new digital applications to my literacy education and schema.
To provide effective literacy instruction to a diverse classroom of learners means to include everyone. Let the students teach about their backgrounds. When I was in fifth grade our final assignment was a presentaion on our heritage. We were given months to research and find information on our backgrounds. I did mine on Ireland. The project included a 15 minute presentation and a 2 page paper. Up until that point I had never had a project that rigorous. However, I learned so much about my own culture as well as the cultures of my fellow classmates. This knowledge included food, language, customs, and so much more. I worked so hard on that and it gave me a sense of pride. Looking back on this and other experiences like it I now understand that I was expanding on a new type of literacy. A literacy that included diversity, social studies, history, and so much more. Projects like these are great for a classroom environment because it puts every student in the spotlight to say, "This is me, this is where I come from." Even though that was a long time ago and many of the digital literacies I've recently learned about were not available, these applications are really a great way to supplement projects like these.
For my New Literacies Project I chose to create a Scrapblog about Cultural Literacy. My focus was the Insider/Outsider debate in Multicultural Literature. This project went above and beyond my traditional literacy knowledge in the sense that I had to teach myself the ins and outs of the presentation method as well as the subject. The digital literacy was challenging for me because I have a rough enough time getting pictures from my camera onto my computer, I have trouble defragmenting my computer when its running rough, as well as many other mainstream issues that come about it the world of technology. Learning about something completely different was a whole other ball game. This project took somewhat of a great deal of effort for me. First of all, I had to complete it twice because of a computer malfunction and my inability to save it correctly the first time (there were two steps to the svaing process...something I failed to recognize). It took a lot for me to not slam my computer shut and walk away. The good thing was I was at work and had nothing else to do for 3 hours. The second time around I got it right! I was also very proud of the finished product.
I think this type of technology could be useful in a classroom environment as a creative way to track and showcase all students' progress within a unit or over an entire year. It will also instill a sense of pride in them which will help with their motivation.
This project further expanded my outlook on literacy in a sense that it was another frontier to cover in the neverending road to be a master at literacy.