1.) YOUR CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:
My conceptual understanding of literacy has changed a fair amount since the beginning of this class. At the start of this project, I chose the following as a definition of literacy: ?Literacy is the ability to use text to communicate across space and time. It is often reduced to read and write, or, sometimes, the ability to read. In modern context, the word means reading and writing in a level adequate for written communication and generally a level that enables one to successfully function in a society. Recently the National Council of Teachers of English have added "visually representing" to the list of communicative competences that fall under the guise of literacy? (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Literacy). Although I still agree with this definition of literacy, I would make some additions to it. In addition to literacy being the ability to use text to communicate, it is also the ability to incorporate an extensive amount of themes into the ability to use text to communicate. The following is a list of the additional literacy topics that is more expansive than simply the ability to use text to communicate across space and time: cultural literacy, emotional literacy, environmental literacy, numeracy, social literacy, visual literacy, and political literacy. All of these different types of literacy my not be focusing as much on the actual text as my previous understanding of literacy, but they are all able to be conveyed to the viewer through text.
My research on environmental literacy and my development of my own digital literacy using prezi informs my new way of thinking about literacy. According to the campaign for Environmental Literacy, "Environmental literacy is the capacity of an individual to act successfully in daily life on a broad understanding of how people and societies relate to each other and natural systems, and how they might do so sustainably. This requires sufficient awareness, knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to incorporate appropriate environmental considerations into daily decisions about consumption, lifestyle, career, and civics, and to engage in individual and collective actions.? This definition encompasses so many different aspects of environmental literacy and really illustrates how complex each topic of literacy really is. This makes me think more about the importance of my future teaching and how difficult, yet important it will be to incorporate all the different types of literacy into my lesson plans. It also makes me realize by using all the different literacy topics, I can integrate all the subject areas including mathematics, science, and social studies into literacy teaching time. My development of my new technology has helped me become more confident to try new technologies in general. I chose to work with prezi, and was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. It is informative, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to access from any computer.
After reviewing several of my class mates projects, I have acquired knowledge on many different technologies that one can present literacy topics on. The following is a list of possible new technologies that I will try to incorporate into my future lessons: pod casting, blogging, prezi, wikis, comic strips, photo shows, website, short movie on you tube, and much more! These new technologies compare to more traditional literacies because they are both a means of transferring knowledge from the text and illustrations to the viewer?s mind. These new technologies contrast to more traditional literacies because they are more interactive and thus are able to keep the viewer?s attention for a longer amount of time. In addition, this variety of new technologies is tailored more towards all the different types of learners out there. Since no one person learns best in the same way, these new technologies offer learners to choose what works best for them.
2) EFFECTIVE LITERACY INSTRUCTION:
I think in order to provide ?Effective literacy instruction? to diverse learners one must offer their students an ample amount of alternative literacies that offer more than just the typical English Language Arts instruction our students are all too familiar with. The reason for this is that being able to read and write is an important part of being a literate person, however it extends out much further than this for a person to be able to make informed moral decisions about their life choices.
If I were to teach a similar project with my current second grade students, I would have to consider many aspects about both their environmental literacy and their technology abilities, in particular their prezi abilities. They would have to have at least some background knowledge on research projects, so they could research a topic in environmental literacy. Since there is so much information on the environment, this would be a great opportunity to allow the students to choose what topic in environmental literacy they would like to explore. They would need to be able to read about their topic, and write summaries on what they read. Also, they would need to know how to put together a prezi, which they would most likely need some assistance with. Since students are becoming more technologically aware, I think most of the students would be able to learn how to navigate the prezi after a short lesson on using the new technology.
3) LESSON PLAN:
Target area and rationale: exploring various types of environmental literacy by adding newly learned information to my existing prezi. This way, students will be integrating several parts of the unit into one lesson. They could work in pairs and then all watch their final prezi together as a class.
Objectives: Students will identify the main topics of environmental literacy by using text and picture based evidence from informational texts to create a group prezi, which will be watched as a class to help facilitate a class discussion on environmental literacy.
Materials and supplies needed: Computer(s), informational environmental texts, pencil and paper.
Outline of key events:
· Have class watch existing prezi on environmental literacy which focuses on water.
· Give a long list of possible areas for students to explore (in pairs).
§ This list can include the following: air, climate, weather, land, ecosystems, energy, pollution, food, environment & society, recycling, heredity, plants, animals, and much more.
· Give students time to research topic and collaborate with peers then write important topics they wish to post on prezi.
· Work with individual groups and assist them with posting their findings on the existing prezi
· Present prezi to whole class after everyone has added to it.
· Have class discussion on environmental literacy and feedback on working with prezi
Closing summary: Teacher will wrap up by re-iterating what was said in the class discussion. Teacher will also make sure class understands the use of the new technology and why it is an important alternative to traditional literacy.
Ongoing assessment: Teacher can make a post assessment based off the prezi made to see what more she/he needs to spend more time on, or re-teach all together. Also, teacher can integrate prezi into future lessons, gradually offering less assistance with it as time goes on until student is able to make their own prezi.
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