New Literacies and Technology

READ 600

2007-04-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Throughout this semester I was introduced to many new technologies I can use both inside and out of my classroom. I already was fairly familiar with technologies, such as myspace, but I had the opportunity to explore other similar sites, such as facebook. I also found the book and software about writing comics to be a great new technology to use with my students. If not for this class, the idea of comics books would never have come to mind. I am also glad we were told to constantly post and reply to others' posts on our blog pages. I was already familiar with blogging, but doing so really got me interesting in doing so, and what actually helped me decide on my final paper and project. Overall, this was a great learning experience of new technologies that can be incorporated in the classroom.

Hopkin Green Frog

2007-03-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hopkin Green Frog began when a 16 year old autistic boy lost his toy frog and began making fliers in Seattle trying to find this frog. Unaware of how many fliers were made, his father had no idea how big this was getting. And as everything else in this world, people found humor at this boys loss and began making humorous websites based on this.

It's amazing how many websites have been developed based on this phenomenon. For example, this website, http://www.broadcastgamer.com/crap/hopkingreenfrog.swf, is an actual mini movie, based on this phenomenon. It's about a detective searching for this "person" or so he originally thought. Very random.... all of a sudden Scooby and Shaggy are their. Don't really get it, but you may wanna check it out! But be careful, he does curse at the end:)

YouTube

2007-03-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have been familiar with youtube for a while and basically view it as a place where people can post any type of video that is free for people to post and view. Some may be from something funny that is happening with celebrities, or in the news, or homemade videos. Also, hear it is a great place for people that are looking to be discovered. Many bands post their videos on youtube, hoping to be discovered, as well as those silly videos, which these people are probably also trying to get discovered. I find a lot of forwarded emails I receive have links to funny videos on youtube. This is actually how i originally became familiar with the site.

Discussion Board Question for 3/10

2007-03-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

I feel literacies are a very significant factor with MySpace and facebook. Students who use technology are using and improving their reading and writing skills, without realizing it. Yes, i think both websites are an example of "new litericies" because students are using technology to email, create webpages, locate and communicate with present and new friends, upload photos, songs, and many more activities. This wide variety of activities all involve students reading information and using typing skills to communicate with others.

As for why these sites are so important to kids, as the years go by, technology improves and kids are just following along with our day and age. They've grown up using technology and it is just they way of life for them. Teachers may be scared of these new literacies because they did not grow up doing such things any many people fear change. Anything new frightens people and until we are all equally educated, i think there will always be some teachers that are unwilling to adjust to this improvement.

Myself as a reader

2007-03-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I wasn't very interested in reading. I never really read for pleasure, and barely read for school! But once I got to college, and made new friends who were avid readers, they began to get me reading on my own time, and of course in college I always had to read for my classes. Ever since then, I have enjoyed reading for pleasure and still do. Unfortunately, in the most recent years, i can only do so during the summer since I have been in grad school the past three years.

Since I'm a Special Education teacher, each year I teach different levels of reading from 1st-8th grade. I mainly have been teaching middle school students, which I also find the most exciting. My students have the ability to read more in depth novels, which is how I teach in my classroom. I do not use a textbook, but all novels, short stories and poems along with materials I have made and gathered throughout my years of teaching. The main way I have used technology along with reading has been the website my colleagues and I have developed of different novels that have links to interesting sites for the books, and many lessons, quizzes and additional activities for each book. We have been developing this website for almost 3 years and it should be ready to go by the end of the school year.

Answer to Discussion Board question

2007-03-03T16:33:00.001-08:00

I watched The Matrix today for the second time and it was much easier to understand the second time. I think the importance of us watching the movie was to explore the connection between human and technological being. The movie depicts the positive and negative effects technology can have on us. Technology is pretty powerful and can greatly impact the world we live in.

Trouble with the Discussion Board

2007-03-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

So oncce again i find myself having trouble with something! This time it's our discussion board. For some reason it will only let me add a title and no message, but that won't even post. So I'm just gonna post my message to my blog for now, and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to copy and paste it to the discussion board. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend:)

Facebook Page Creation

2007-02-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

So I decided to create a Facebook page this morning because I already have a MySpace page, so I thought it would be interesting to try this site. I developed my MySpace page over the summer while on break, and spent lots of time creating my page. It was VERY time consuming, but interesting to design all the aspects of my page. Creating my Facebook page today was also time consuming, but in a more professionally structured manner. Now I'm new to the program so maybe it will just take some time, but Facebook does not have the bells and whistles like MySpace. For example, I cannot change my background, colors, add music or slide shows. But I am new to the program so maybe it will just take some time for me to figure it all out!

Yeah, I'm on vacation:)

2007-02-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

I was so glad today to wake up without an alarm clock and realize I can do so for the next week since it's winter break! Although I am not a late sleeper, it's always nice to wake up naturally without a blaring buzzing in my ear. So I plan to take advantage of our time off and relax, sleep in and get a bunch of grad school work done over the week. But I am definately taking a break from doing any school related work for my job....it was time for a break and I'm taking it!

New Literacies Chapter 1 & 2

2007-02-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

After reading chapters one and two in New Literacies, I realized one of the major changes over the years on this topic has been the terminology. When I was younger, and as stated in the chapters, my subjects in school were called Reading and Writing. Today we call this Literacy. Along with the terminology, I feel the definition of literacy also holds more substance and incorporates a lot more into the definition than did Reading and Writing. In Chapter One, according to Freire's approach, "the process of learning literally to read and write words was an integral part of learning to understand how the word operates socially and culturally in ways that produce unequal opportunities and outcomes for different groups of people" (10). Not only does Literacy focus solely on reading and writing words, but Literacy encompasses more than that. In order to educate students and provide them with a well balanced education, they need to be presented with information they can relate to. I feel this is why stated in the definition it says "unequal opportunities and outcomes". Not everyone has the same prior knowledge and background information, therefore, we can not be expected to learn at the same speed, or in the same way as one another. I think the turn towards literacy aims to meet the diverse needs of our students based on their experiences and beliefs.

Throughout the chapters, the change to Literacy was discussed and the new cyber world students are brought into. Children today have grown up in a technological world, in which it has always been a part of their lives. They are unaware of what life is like without technologies, such as cell phones, computers and video games. I remember growing up and having the same conversations with my family. When I was growing up, answering machines had always been a part of my life, along with the telephone. Now my grandmother was familiar of course with the telephone, but had trouble getting used to the idea of an answering machine. Everytime I turned around she was either erasing a message or jamming the tape! It got to the point that she just decided not to use one. She figured, if someone needed her, they would call back. I feel this example relates to the hesitancies adults have with the technology today that children are accustomed to. This idea relates to the comment on page 53 of New Literacies, Those who have been born into the digital-electronic-post-industrial world might not be aware in the slightest that the world has changed and this change has a lot to do with the emergence of new technologies and the evolving social practices associated with them." I feel after reading both chapters, I am reminded of the major changes in technology and the positive, but threatening changes they have on those that are familiar and unfamiliar with them technology the world around us.

Podcst trouble..

2007-02-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

So I usually consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable with technology, but I just don't see why I'm having so much trouble viewing Dr. Dana's Podcast...At school, some of our webpages are blocked or don't work up to speed, so I have trouble viewing some pages. But now on my laptop, its shows that its playing but I cant hear anything. And yes, my volume is turned on! I guess I'll keep trying, but if anyone has any tricks please let me know!

Response the weekly reading...

2007-02-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

After reading this week's three articles I feel there were two key issues discussed. The first two articles, "What's Next? Toddle Netizens, PlayStation Thumb, Techno-literacies" and "Zero to Six" focused on the issue of the effects of technology on children six years old and under. "Zero to Six" provided many charts and percentages of behaviors that are going on in homes among children in this age group and explained how we do not have much research yet on the effects of their findings, but their results did show a great use of technology use in these homes. In the other article, Carmen Luke expressed his opinion on how we need to incorporate technology into children's lives because it is apart of our ever changing lives. Children, even when they are at a young age, need to be exposed to technology so they can evolve with the rest of the world around them.

The positive and negative effects of technology on children, such as television, has been debated many times over the years. The information you will hear depends on who is speaking. For example, for years we have heard it is not good for children to sit and watch television during the early years, as stated in the article, "Zero to Six". But some years ago, baby videos, such as "Baby Einstein," came out and suddenly it was okay for children in this age range to watch television. I feel when it comes to young children, there isn't enough research available to review so it is still unclear of the effects television has on young children. I do not have children yet, but I don't see the harm in children watching television. Not for large portions of the day, but I feel television helps keep children's attention. They spend time focusing on something, while viewing the motions and color changes right from their home. Overall, yes, more research is needed in this area, but I feel if parents monitor the amount of time their children spend using technology such as television and computers, they will be keeping with the ever evolving world we live in.

The third article, "Children Online: learning in a virtual community of practice," focused on an online community called, Gathering of the Elves, which was developed by a thirteen year old girl named Elianna. She used trail and error methods to develop the community along with the help of other children her age. There were no experts assisting to build this community, they all worked together and the community was developed as they began and continued working together.

I thought this was a great example of the positive use technology can have on adolescents. They all had a great time developing the community and without realizing it, they were using their literacy skills to enhance their reading, writing, and typing skills. Of course other skills were involving in order to build a community such as Gathering of the Elves, such as critical thinking skills. It also provided a relaxed environment for the children to sit back, relax, and enjoy the use of technology and a new way of interacting with their friends.

Great movie to see!

2007-02-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

So last night I went to see the movie The Departed. It actually was released last October, but since its up for best picture, they re released it last week. There are lots of great actors in the movie, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson. I didn't even remember hearing about the movie last October, I just recently read about it in the newspaper when it was released again. Although its two and a half hours long, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to go out and see a great action flick!

First Post

2007-01-26T08:19:00.000-08:00

My Hopes and Concerns For READ 600

Throughout this semester I hope to explore different types of technology to use inside and outside of the classroom. I teach special education in a pre-k through eighth grade school, and year to year my age group changes, requiring me to be familiar with a wide range of technology. For the past few years I have mainly been teaching in the middle school grades, so that is my main focus. I feel pretty comfortable using the technology I am familiar with and use, such as email, myspace and some online games. But I am very interested to learn about other technology that I am not familiar with. This is my last semester at Monclair and I will be graduating in May with a Masters Degree in Reading. Throughout my three years here, I have not taken any classes that focus on technology so I am excited for this upcoming semester.