Week 10 New Literacy Project!

I had a very interesting time with this new literacy project!  "Literacy is the ability to make and communicate meaning from and by the use of a variety of socially contextual symbols." Going off of this definition that I posted several weeks ago as to what the definition of literacy was, I think that this project ties in nicely. All of the technology used was very socially relevant- each of the technologies used is an up and coming tool for teachers to use to enhance their lessons and to help engage their students. Traditionally, I used to think of literacy as being the ability to read and write. Now, I realize that true literacy is an ability to competently use the tools around us. If a student cannot type competently, in today's world, I would not hesitate to say that they were not literate yet. There are so many new, awesome ways to help present information to students out there, like glogster or prezi.com, that are available to teachers now.

The only problem I see with this, is that since technology grows so fast, it is going to be the rare teacher that has the time and energy to keep abreast of all the new tools and technology as they become available. But, at the same time, I think that in order to provide effective literacy instruction to students, teachers have to at least know the basics of the technology out there to help students learn. It's going to require a lot of extra time spent learning new technology if teachers want to be able to help their students become as literate as possible.

For me, in order to present my new ideas of literacy into a classroom, I know that I will be spending a lot of time learning about new technology in order to help my students learn and use it effectively. I think that, at the basic level, all students should be able to type competently, know how to use some of the more popular websites out there such as google, etc., and to be able to figure out new websites. I don't want to just teach them everything there is to know about a new electrical technology- I want to present them with that tool and help them explore it to discover on their own how to use it. I think, in the long run, as technology continues to evolve and transform at such a quick rate, it will help them far more than just cut-and-dry explanations.