Week 3: New Literacies

Week 3 Assignment #1

“New Literacies” open up a whole new world of learning for students. Instead of just using pencil and paper work, students now have the opportunities to change the way they learn inside the classroom. Some of these tools might even seem very familiar to the students, which may make them more engaged in the activities when learning. In my experience, whenever students are given a piece of technology to work with, they seem to be more involved in the learning that they are doing. When students become more involved in learning, they tend to take pride in the work that they produce. When this is done, there is a much better outcome on learning. Using these “new literacies” can very much help students become more knowledgeable of the lessons learned in school. One student can be using Encarta Online Encyclopedia to find information about a particular president of the United States, while another student is using the Bing search engine to find out more about the Grand Canyon. These “new literacies” do not inhibit students from learning only through technology, but provide a gateway to a new type of learning.

Week 3 Assignment #2

The main idea that the ELA teachers I interviewed are incorporating into their classrooms/computer lab are online research activities. They integrate the technology of computers, search engines and online encyclopedias for students to conduct research on a particular topic.

What I can do to change their instructional practices to include the use of technology and the Internet in their literacy and content-area curriculum is to recommend using other technologies besides the computer to their curriculum.

There are some steps that will need to be taken in order for these changes to be made. The new technology that can be incorporated, oddly enough, would be the iPad. One of the resources that could be incorporated with the iPad could be the Dropbox App. This would give students the opportunity to collaborate among fellow students and submit assignments to teachers digitally rather than physically. The students can then check the feedback given by the teacher all by using the iPad.

Some ideas that I have for grouping students so that they will have equal access to technology in the classroom would be to give students access to their own portable piece of technology that will be used throughout the day. Although expensive, this would be a great way to utilize the “new literacies” theory within the classroom. If this goal cannot be achieved, then the next best thing to do would be to make sure that each student has equal opportunity to have time in the school’s computer lab to use the new literacies via computer, internet access and search engines.

­­­­Week 3 Assignment #3

Grade Level:

6

Topic:

Creative Writing

Standards Addressed:

ELA Common Core Writing Standards:

6.W.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

6.W.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

-become more familiar with a historical figure(s) in history and

-put themselves as a character in their story collaborating with the historical figure they chose to include.

Technologies Needed: iPad

Timeline for Implementation:

Approximately one school week (5 days)

How it can be integrated and implemented in the lessons:

The iPad will be integrated by using the “Easy Writer App” for the students to type their stories. When the students are done editing and typing their stories, the App gives them the opportunity to send it to Dropbox. The students will submit their stories to Dropbox for assessment.

Assessment:

-Students will create a double spaced, three page story about going back into history. They will have to encounter a historical figure within their time travel and a dilemma that happened to that particular person in history. Students will have to include the dates in history that have to do with the particular situation. For example, if the student goes back in time during the World War II era, the student may include the date December 7^th, 1941 to indicate the attack on Pearl Harbor.