New Schooled Literacy

After reading all the assigned material it is clear that the definition of “new literacies” is going to change continuously over the coming years.  It had already been painfully obvious for years that students were beginning to outshine their teachers in certain areas.  I remember last year when we were having technological difficulties at the school were I was working, and I asked my administrator where I should turn for help.  His answer was, “Kevin.”  I am sure I looked perplexed.  Who was Kevin?  He continued, “You know, Kevin, from 7.1?”

Seriously?  I’m supposed to pull this kid from class to have him figure out why my sound isn’t coming out of my computer?  I did.  He looked.  He fixed it.  Awesome.  But, that is not his job.  His job is to learn.  Yet he’d taught me some things, and the kids all agreed, Kevin was the go-to man for these problems.

I guess there could be a number of problems here…the first one is that I don’t have the basic skills to troubleshoot on a computer.  The second is that there is a lack of technological assistance in the school district, and the third is that the children don’t get enough exposure to technology to all be as savvy and at ease with technology as Kevin seems to be with it.  Only about 15% of my students had access to a computer at home, and of those 15% about 5 had their own email address and had the ability to email me assignments and papers.

I can imagine that new literacies are going to be one of the most important challenges to impart into classrooms today and in coming years.  Not only will the ability of our students change as they come to us more and more electronically adept, but our teaching environment must change as we embrace their knowledge and accept that there is no going back to 20^th century learning.  Books and print media, while still around now, are not going to be around forever.  When I began my teaching career 14 years ago, I didn’t think that I would have to change so much to keep up with my students and the ever-evolving educational maze that is our present state.  For the last few years I have known that I needed to know more about technology, and have wanted to implement it into my curriculum more and more, but was unable to do anything about it for lack of resources and ability to change the curriculum.  Now, I see it is a necessity, or I am not working in the best interest of the child in my care.

I have been in a number of schools that both have and don’t have technology.  I spent a year with a SmartBoard in my room and used it daily to teach geography, social studies, and English.  I also taught in a district where I was given a computer that had a sticker on it that said “Y2K Safe!” and took 20 minutes to start up! In the districts where there is technology, there needs to be training.  It’s great that the district is able to acquire technology, but without the knowhow, it’s useless.  I agree with Marilyn’s blog (http://mciarleglio.blogspot.com/2011/11/response-to-week-1-readings.html?showComment=1320788091763#c3162245735738105220) and Cara’s response that there is little to no training on technology.  We had this great program that allows us to see our students’ data, which skills they specifically needed help with and it broke down their answers to the DCMTs (district tests,) but I only got about 15 minutes of training on it, so it was useless to me!  It’s the teachers who need to be taught and given some time to “give it a whirl” so that they are comfortable with it.  I think it might be scary for some teachers to make a transition from “old and comfortable” to “new and innovative.”

While watching the Dr. Leu videos (http://ctell.uconn.edu/canter/canter_video.cfm?movie=1a_new_technologies.mov) I was thrilled to learn the word “deixis.”  I now know what word to use to describe the world we live in.  It does continuously change, and so does the internet.  Cell phones do, video games do, and any other electronic toy will continue to change in our world.  This new technology will force us to redefine our world, just like the motorized vehicle did for our ancestors over 100 years ago.  We can never see the world in the same way again.

As far as the standards for NETS, they are superbly crafted and well-suited for their purpose.  I found myself nodding with each one, thinking; surely this is the most beneficial for current and future students.  After all, teaching one to help themselves is the utmost achievement.  These standards are basic skills that go beyond basic.  They set a regulation for success across the board.  No matter what field a student goes into, they will be mandated to meet certain requirements and perform basic tasks.  If these standards are to qualify as basic technological proficiency for all students graduating, then surely the educational institution they attended has done their job preparing them to do so.  The world that they, their children and grandchildren grow into is going to change at a rate so much startlingly faster than anyone can imagine, that without providing this basic knowledge to them would be greatly disadvantageous.  I am especially interested in the concept of digital citizenship, it is a realm of which needs to be discussed, but that can be easily overlooked.  Teaching students how to be ethical, responsible, and safe while maneuvering this digital world that they will live in is essential to their well being and their growth as a human being. It is another way to help kids become socially aware of polite and expected behaviors.   The best thing about all of this media is that those students who struggled with the “old school” way of learning, thinking, and processing, is that there are a lot more options out there for them now, and that is where the learning really begins.