Winters Article - Noelle Reardon

I really liked the instructional strategy that was used to teach vocabulary words in the Winters article. The students were instructed to figure out the meaning of multisyllable words by identifying the morphemes. In school I was told to memorize the definition of a word and once the test was over the word was no longer incorporated into the classroom. After the test was over I very rarely remembered the word. The strategy used in the reading is great because the students have the ability to bread down a word on their own to figure out the meaning of it. When students are not taught this strategy they either skip over the word or they have to look it up. When you are talking to someone you can’t look up every word someone uses and knowing how to break up a word will allow you to figure out the meaning or general meaning of a word. This teaching strategy will much more likely help students later on, where a lot of other strategies teach students how to use words in sentences.

New Literacy Project - Noelle Reardon

Taylor Peel and I decided to explore visual literacy. • Review the definitions of literacy (see sidebar) that you and your colleagues posted. How does becoming 'literate' in the area you are investigating compare and contrast with these definitions? Ours focuses on interpreting meaning from what we see and others incorporate multiple things to interpret meaning. • What part, if any, do the traditional literacies play (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing) in becoming literate in the area you are investigating? It makes a difference in how students interpret what is occurring in books, understanding how to effectively communicate and understand others and how we write with expression and body language to describe things. • What new content are you learning as you become more familiar with this literacy? The power of images and how images have so much meaning. • What new skills and strategies are you learning as you become more familiar with this literacy? That there are many ways the I can incorporate it into my lessons and everyday instruction. • What surprises have you experienced during your exploration? How beneficial it is to use images with everything you teach. • Think about the students in your field placement. If they were exploring this new literacy, what support would they need in order to become literate in this area? Is this type of literacy already present in the curriculum at that grade level, or would this be a new learning area for the students? The students are mostly learning with images since they don’t know how to read everything. They connect letter sounds to the beginning sounds of the names of animals. • What else are you learning about your new literacy? That is present in our everyday lives. My review of Emma's Literacy Project: · Was the project easy to navigate or understand? Why or why not? The project was really easy to navigate. You can click on what you want to know and it will take you directly to that information. · To what extent was the project appealing, accessible, interesting? Did your colleagues provide ways for you to become involved with the content? How? It used colors and pictures. It was interesting to see and learn about all of the information. The page showed how we could become involved with activities to help our students. · Did the choice and use of the options available with this technology (e.g., use of images, sound, video, options to comment) seem appropriate or effective? Why or why not? They used pictures that were relevant to the topic, but they didn?t take away from the site. · What did you learn about the targeted new literacy? I learned how social literacy is important to teach how to use it and safety instruction as well. I never thought about teaching safety concerns when teaching how to use different technology. · What did you learn about the targeted technology? That social media networks can help connect students with their peers and help them connect with their future careers. · What ideas did this project give you about literacy, technology, and/or teaching Language Arts How I can add technology to my classroom that is safe, fun and educational. I can have students create fake Facebook pages where the page is all about someone important in history.

New Literacies- Elizabeth Buckner

I chose to explore visual literacy for the New Literacies project by creating a virtual poster through Glogster. Before deeply researching this topic, I had assumed that visual literacy had more to do with the aesthetic appeal of the picture or graphic and what it looked like, rather than what it communicated. Through exploration of the new literacies project I now understand that visual literacy is the communication and comprehension of a message through the use of graphics, symbols, and pictures, and that the aesthetic qualities of these have matter little without some type of the understanding of why it is aesthetically pleasing.

Through this project, Chi Wan, Emily, and I, were able to explore visual literacy as well as it's usefulness in the classroom. We focused on how visual literacy is used in education, such as using sign language, PECs, picture supported reading, utilization of visual literacies in picture books, as well as tips for helping teachers understand how visual literacy can aid students in learning and understanding curriculum.

We defined visual literacy as comprehending, communicating, and creatively producing graphics, pictures, and symbols that communicate some type of meaning, and looked for examples of visual literacy in the classroom. We thought that Glogster would be a good way to explain the literacy because it is such a visual website, and visual literacy is all about visual graphic representation. We were able to add pictures, draw arrows from one idea to the other, use visual examples and more!


As you evaluate and respond to your peer’s project, address the following ideas,  but also feel free to comment on other aspects that you noticed:

• Was the project easy to navigate or understand? Why or why not?

Angela, Tessa, and Miranda's project was extremely easy to navigate. Because Book Builder is so linear, there is only one direction for readers to see text. Because there was so few words per page, readers are able to pay extra attention to each page of the book.

• To what extent was the project appealing, accessible, interesting? Did your colleagues provide ways for you to become involved with the content? How?

I think the project was appealing because of the technology that was used. Angela, Tessa, and Miranda provided a means of interactive manipulative with the ability to flip through the book.

• Did the choice and use of the options available with this technology (e.g., use of images, sound, video, options to comment) seem appropriate or effective? Why or why not?

The project included videos, visual diagrams, and examples. I think the use of these examples inserted into the book were very effective, and is apart of this technology that is so appealing to students. Because this project was a  virtual book, Angela, Tessa, and Miranda had the option of adding manipulatives that would not be possible with a conventional book.

• What did you learn about the targeted new literacy?

From Angela, Tessa, and Miranda's project I learned about the facets of emotional literacy and about many related texts that help teachers express this literacy in the classroom in a way that children can relate. Emotional literacy is not just recognizing emotions, but it is also gaining the ability to recognize and respond the emotions of others in an effective and healthy way.

• What did you learn about the targeted technology?

Because I have used UDL Book Builder before, I understood how to navigate the site, the accessibility of the book, and how to create and edit books. From this project, I saw the UDL Book Builder used for an informational text, which I really liked.

• What ideas did this project give you about literacy, technology, and/or teaching Language Arts

UDL Book Builder is an excellent tool not just for educators to learn about new literacies and technologies, but also can be utilized to help students understand technologies and literacies. Building a book about emotional literacy geared toward students rather than teachers, could be a tool that can be utilized in the classroom.

New Literacy Project

For my literacy project, I chose to find out more information regarding emotional literacy by creating a website using Weebly. After completing the project, I realize my conceptual understanding has completely changed. I originally walked in to the class knowing nothing about emotional literacy, I began by thinking emotional literacy was being able to identify emotions; however, after exploring a bit, I realize that it is much deeper. It involves being able to recognize emotions and respond to them in a healthy way that will help develop a better, lifestyle.

I learned that emotional literacy can be incorporated into the classroom by using more than just books as well. Emotional literacy can be carried about by having counselors and better emotional diagnosis. It can also be carried out through the use of technology. While creating my website, I realized Weebly would be great for informing people about emotional literacy. The website allows you to add links within your webpage to take users elsewhere. I knew this was a feature I would want to incorporate, so I did a little exploring on the internet. I found that PBS Kids had three online interactive games children could play that would help them identify emotions. By exploring many sites, and having the opportunity to create one of my own, I am now aware of the multiple strategies listed about that will help introduce individuals to the idea of emotional literacy. This information will also help individuals see the difference and similarities between traditional literacy and emotional literacy. One site talked about literacy being able to navigate through text. It soon compared it to emotional literacy by saying that emotional literacy is when we navigate our feelings and are able to read and decipher them. By becoming aware of the differences and similarities, we can better provide literacy instruction.

Providing effective literary instruction to diverse learners is extremely important, especially within the context of emotional literacy. Not every child feels the same way about certain situations. In addition, not every child is faced with certain situations. These factors will affect how students learn. Therefore, when I say it is important to provide effective literacy instruction, I mean it is important to take into consideration these differences and make sure students are aware of these differences. By making students aware of their own emotions, they can be more aware of others emotions and be able to understand how someone may be affected by words or phrases that were said. I think sometimes the words we used are overlooked, but this project and creation of a webpage really helped stress the importance of careful planning and forced me to recognize the impact some words could have.

Words and emotions have an impact no matter what age, but I believe that the younger one is, the bigger impression they leave. As a teacher, implementing emotional literacy is extremely important. It will help create a friendly environment where students can feel comfortable with each other because they will know how to better express their thoughts. Students would need constant modeling as a support mechanism in addition to opportunities for practice. I would provide this support by incorporating lists of helpful and hurtful words, modeling my feelings through personal messages and reflections, and provided ways children can express their emotions through communications, journals, or even a tattling turtle.

There are many outlets to explore emotional literacy, such as creating a new digital project such as a Weebly. In order to do this, students must be aware of how to use a computer and navigate a website. Students, especially younger ones, may need hand over hand support and explicit direction and visual aides/ demonstrations. With the right directions, students can better develop their digital literacy by openly exploring and creating new things.

Exploring a variety of literacy types in a classroom is extremely important. While I do believe emotional literacy is important, I also believe that it has to be joined with other literacy types such as digital, social, cultural, etc. to truly be effective.

New Literacies Blog Update- Buckner

 Visual literacy is comprehension and communication through a visual/ graphic means. Pictures and graphics can, at times, be extremely arbitrary. A picture can communicate so many different things, which is why, when paired with writing, visual literacy can be so powerful. Pictures allow for interpretation, creativity, and ideas that text might not be able to express with the same ferocity. Visual literacies are extremely important in comprehension tasks for young students who are acquiring basic reading skills. Often young readers use context clues, such as pictures, to determine the meaning of words that still have not been learned. 

Visual literacies can be extremely important for students will learning, social, or cognitive disabilities. Aspects of literacy such as Picture Supported Reading, which places visual representations above words for students with reading difficulties, or picture exchange communication systems, can be extremely helpful in communication for children with social differences or ESL students.

In children's literature, particularly picture books, readers can learn a lot about the a book that the text does not explicitly tell through pictures. Picture books are a really interesting and specific genre of storytelling because so much really depends on the visual aspect of the book. 

 

 Some of the web resources I have found include: 

- http://k-8visual.info/ - collection of e-books and resources for using visual literacy in the classroom