Today's world is not the same as it was 60 years ago. We are currently living in a time period in which we can easily access information through multiple forms. Theses forms include videos, pictures, audio, text, and data. In the article "Digital Literacies for Disciplinary Learning: A call to Action", Michael Manderino argues that although we currently have multiple access to information, this access is not enough. He states that "Learners ability to use the internet's networking and knowledge building resources is only as good as their skills in disciplinary inquiry: asking questions, constructing meaning from data, generating creative solutions, and reflecting on how to improve these solutions for different context." (pg.79) Therefore, having access to information is pointless unless we are able to analyze, interpret, synthesize and communicate the information we gather. Thus, as future educators it is essential that we teach our students how to use digital tools to obtain, create, and share their knowledge. We can accomplish this by allowing our students to gain and share their knowledge by using blogs, videos, games, animations, and even music. By using techniques like this, we can help our students learn from each other and give feedback to one another. We can also build bridges between our students individual interest and school. This can be accomplish by giving our students important issues to discuss and express their understanding through digital means.
Using digital literacies is also crucial to the success of our students. This is due to the fact that in our current society many job opportunities require certain skills that deal with understanding, production, and communication through digital practices. In the article "Digital Literacies-Concepts, Policies and Practices" by Colin Lankshear it is stated that "richer children attain productive stances toward design and Tech-savvy identities to a greater degree than poorer ones."(pg.13) Thus, a new inequality gap is emerging between children of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Although a printed literacy gap already exist a new digital literacy gap is currently being created. Thus, it is crucial for us as educators to try to close this gap by helping our students display competence of the information they obtain in our classroom through digital practices. However, although it is essential that we help our students gain digital literacies; how can this be done in schools with very little technology due to low funding? Not all children have their own cameras to produce their own videos nor all children own their own computers.
I would personally like to teach my students digital literacies through memes in my future history classroom. This is due to the fact that I believe that memes are a form of modern propaganda since they serve as a means to express ideas that deal with our current culture. Since memes are a form of propaganda meant to make people think a certain way it is essential for students to be able to interpret and analyze them. They need to be able to answer questions such as, who is the intended audience? What is the author trying to say? What are his/her views on the subject? Why was that certain image chosen? And what does the meme says about society during the time period it was created? It is also essential for students to be able to construct their own meme to help them express their own ideas of a certain issue that they care about. By doing so they will have an understanding of how to take in information and express their ideas by creating their piece of propaganda.
Hello Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post and seeing your pictures. I feel like your pictures captured what you were trying to communicate. This illustrates this whole concept we are diving into regarding multiple texts and mediums to communicate a thought, concept, etc.
Manderino is absolutely correct. We all have the access to this information, but what good will it do for us if we do not know how to interpret it or decode what is really going on? We need to give our students the opportunity to work with a wide range of mediums: music, videos, games, etc. These are all so important because students come across these in their daily life constantly. This could also cause students to make connections from the discipline to the real world. These mediums also gain students' interests fast as well as keep them interested. In the classroom, this is definitely something we are always searching for.
I agree that as educators we need to try to close this gap that we are facing currently. We need to have our students communicate the concepts they are learning in the classroom through digital mediums as much as possible. In my future math classroom, I would like to implement the students writing a song about their favorite math concept they learned through the year. It is an opportunity for the students to get creative and communicate their thoughts.
I really liked your idea of using memes in your classroom. Students encounter these constantly and this would be a great way to expose students to digital mediums as well as hold their interest.
Thank you for post Elizabeth,
DeleteI really like your idea of making your students write a song in your math classroom. I believe that music is a huge part in students daily life. Thus,I can see the positive impact that it can have if we encorporate it into our classroom. I remember having a similar assignment in fifth grade. I wrote a song about Newton's laws of motion and had to sing it in front of the class. Although I was super embarrassed by it, it was also a very rewarding experience. Up to this day I can remember the song I created and can easily recall Newton's laws of motions.
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DeleteI definitely agree with you on many points. First of all, I am glad you brought up Manderino's point about the difference between having access to technology and having the access to understanding how to use it within a discipline. As stated in "Digital Literacies for Disciplinary Learning", "Disciplinary and digital literacies are necessary to disentangle and critically read and write texts when authorship, credibility, and accuracy can be veiled in the open Web" (Manderino & Catek, 2016). This quote exemplifies your response and how I agree with you because students need to know how to go through a digital text and use technology to understand an author's point of view and the message they are trying to convey. In order for students to accomplish this, we need to be able to teach them, which means we have to be digitally literate as well. You're right about technological skills being critical to have now and in future jobs. Also, your idea of memes is intriguing because you do have to take the time to understand who made it and their intention to spread a certain message. I enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post Bess. I definitely agree with you and your point that in order for us to teach our students how to be digitally literate we must also be digitally literate as well. It is crucial that we have an understanding on how to analyze and interpret certain information we encounter through digital means before we even try to attempt to teach our students.
DeleteThank you for your post Bess. I definitely agree with you and your point that in order for us to teach our students how to be digitally literate we must also be digitally literate as well. It is crucial that we have an understanding on how to analyze and interpret certain information we encounter through digital means before we even try to attempt to teach our students.
DeleteHey guys!
ReplyDeleteI think that we are all on the same page when it comes to understanding how important it will be to teach our students how critical it is to be digitally literate. While reading everyone's input on the topic on this thread, it struck me how much easier it could be to engrain in students the important questions they should be asking throughout their reading of complex texts-- perhaps these ideas apply more towards the humanities as opposed to a more STEMs focused curriculum, but they are a big step in the right direction. I'm talking about helping students develop their skills in disciplinary inquiry: asking questions, constructing meaning from data, generating creative solutions and reflecting on how to improve these solutions for different contexts (Mandarino, 79). Information is at the tips of our fingers and someone is vying for our attention at all times when we are scrolling through Facebook or checking out the headlines of the day on our preferred news app-- I find myself questioning every post I see appealing to our emotions, every political clip [that is probably taken out of context] and fact checking all the time. I don't want to be caught up in the ease of access that has become both a blessing and a curse for our society in last twenty years. This is absolutely relevant to all of our students (who nearly all have access to social media and wikipedia) which, I think, will be in our favor when it comes time for us to teach them the proper etiquette to apply to the digital world which will then be easier to transfer into our own disciplinary literacies.
Hello Angelica!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post as it brought up a fw key concepts that i was thinking about when it comes to digital literacies. To start off with i think you are right about the purpose of digitilized literature. How helpful is it to use these digital resources if students are not aware of how to use it. I think it would be very helpful if, like in college, students gain more knowledge on how to use these digital sources they are expected to use in this day and age by having some kind of class to show them how they can use these resources. With these technologies students would be able to access futher than their own bubble in the world making them more knowledgable about what it is they are capable of doing.
Another thing i thought about, that you so well disscussed, was how would it be possible to have students access these digital resources if the school can not afford them? I feel like schools are getting better including technology in the classrooms but if they are not available i feel like it is our responsability to try and provide these sources to students. Especially since we do live in a technological age where we can find an answer with the click of a button. Being able to incorperate this technology would help students, overall, learn how to navigate in the world they live in today.
I enjoyed reading your post! I like your question about what happens to schools with low funding and those schools not being able to provide the technology that is necessary. I am lucky enough to be at a school where we have a sufficient amount of technology. However, before we started getting all of these new devices, many of our co-workers wrote grants and were then supplied with what they asked for. Some schools also have a selected person in charge of writing these grants for the school. This is only one way colleagues asked for what they needed. Many friends of mine work at low funded schools and try to create a rapport with their alderman. They then ask if there is any funding available to give the school for new or updated technology. It is definitely a struggle for some because many people do not understand how challenging it can be as a teacher not to be “up to date” with the ever changing world of technology. All students will benefit from being knowledgeable of all technology they are exposed too. This is especially true as they grow up and start to find jobs. For example, all students should be able to know how to send a proper email to a boss, co-worker, or job inquiry. Hopefully in the future, people will realize how essential it is to have the proper technology in all classrooms regardless of the schools funding.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post Suzanne. Thanks for sharing ideas on how your school obtains funding for resources.
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DeleteHello Angelina,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed about your blog post about this new digital era. With the development of technology, we cannot live without the digital technology and it is easy for us to get the information nowadays. Thus, I feel surprised that the author pointed out that such access to information is not enough. When we read any information online, many of us just absorb what having read and then go pass to the next one or blindly follow what the poster said, but the critical thinking in mind is so important to rethink any information seen online and then to transform other's opinions to our own opinions, which is what our teachers have to teach students. And I agree with your strategies to improve students analysis skills through digital literacy. Moreover I also agree with you that it is hard for us teachers to close the literacy gap by low fund. These years, we can see the news of CPS teachers are struggling against the government with the education funding and benefits. Obviously, we can see the difference of education between the urban school and poor suburban schools that more opportunities and information can be provided by the digital technology in urban areas, so education is kind of based on the money.
Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI agree that as educators we need to do the best we can to teach kids how to use technologies and all that they have to offer. Unfortunately, low funding will leave so many kids behind and eventually make it impossible for them to compete with kids who had access. This creates another job for us teachers. We should all we can to try to gain access to technology for our students. Whether it be asking companies, schools, or sponsors to donate, or going to the government and fighting for better funding. As you said, this will make school so much more engaging for so many students especially in low funded areas where school could potentially be a safe haven.
P.S. I have never thought about how memes and propaganda correlate. I love it.
Hi Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI want to comment on two ideas you bring up during your post. First you bring up when Lankshear mentions "richer children attain productive stances toward design and Tech-savvy identities to a greater degree than poorer ones."(pg.13) I completely agree when you say that this is another literacy gap that needs to be bridged and as teachers it is our job to tackle this. Unfortunately, the technology gap between rich and poor is probably caused by the fact that in general, if you have less money, you have less access to new technology. Also, lower funded schools will probably have less technology available to their students. However as teachers I think we can incorporate technology into the classroom in multiple ways even if each student does not have their own computer. We can show students all the different ways ideas can be portrayed online using blogs, youtube etc. We can also encourage students to visit their local library and interact with technology available there. Using memes is a very interesting idea and I think could definitely be incorporated into classrooms especially in addition to blogs, youtube, etc. Even though poorer students may not have as much technology available to them we can still encourage students to seek out technology and incorporate as much technology into the classroom as possible. It may be even more important to incorporate technology into poorer schools compared to the wealthier ones.
Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI really liked the first picture you posted it shows the way many students are attached to a computer now a days. You mention the gap that is place within schools, and I do think that is a huge barrier and it makes it difficult to incorporate the digital component into the classroom. Even though this generation has grown during an era where there is a lot technology involved from either our phones to a laptop we carry in our bags. But in some cases there are schools that don't have the resources available to have technologies in place for them to use.
I never occurred to me that history can be taught through memes but I can see the connection and how it can help students come to a realization on why they made/purpose.
Hey Angelica,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I'm glad that you mentioned Lankshear's point about the emergence of a new aspect of socioeconomic inequality. As someone who has been more or less against the idea of incorporating much technology at all into classroom environments, I was really forced to reconsider my ideals. I really like your idea to use memes, and I'm lucky that the ways digital components can be incorporated into a math classroom are relatively straightforward, but I can't think of any ways to combat certain schools' lack of funding outside of teachers using their own resources.
Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your piece, especially because I am a strong believer that along with allocating the proper tools for an assignment, it is essential for students to be given the proper techniques on how to use those tools effectively. An individual can be lost even with a map of he does not possess the knowledge of how to use it. I want to incorporate memes and other modern media outlets to bring them closer to the material that will be covered. We have to meet our students halfway in that we can make the material more relatable to their level and encourage them to express What they are learning in class in a way that is exciting and provides them experience with technology.
Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you focused part of your blog on the socioeconomic difference that is being created with the increase in technology in classrooms of well-funded schools compared to that of under-funded classrooms. It is interesting to think about the Opportunity Gap in context with this socioeconomic difference. Although, this is not the biggest difference that I believe technology is creating. Almost ever person on campus walks around with a computer in their pocket. Access to knowledge far beyond our understanding. I believe many students take advantage of this. We must teach students to use technology as a resource and not for information like SparkNotes, Wolframe Alpha, or other internet based computational engines. Knowledge must come from (and I know this sounds corny) within.