Revisiting New Literacies Perspective

     This article offered a lot of new insight that I had not yet considered when discussing technology throughout this course.  The internet has obviously opened the world up to a whole new way of communicating and exploring.  I really loved the point that the article brought up that the students graduating from high school have gone through such a transformation in technology throughout their educational career.  They began with a strictly paper and pencil curriculum and are now engaging in blogs, word processors, video editors, and so much more. (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack)  I can still remember the first day I ever tried using AIM and I was just so amazed by it.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was to chat with anyone with a screen name with just the tap of a button.       Throughout history people have been coming up with ways to communicate with each other be it for whatever reason; oppression, religion, democracy, etc.  In our time we are finding faster and more advanced ways of communicating with others to expand our businesses, schools, and minds.   Technology and communication is changing so along with that, the way we teach literacy is constantly changing.  Students are truly not experiencing all of literacy if they do not have access to technology or the internet.   When we talk about teaching this literacy differently we have to focus on teaching students to be able to accurately and critically read through a website.  Not only are students supposed to able to read the text on a webpage, but they will also be expected to interpret pictures, graphs, animations, etc. 

     This article also touched on the importance of emphasizing to be “critical” readers when exploring the internet or any text.  “There is an important need to develop critical literacies as an essential element of any instructional program because new media forms, globalization, and economic pressures engender messages that increasingly attempt to persuade individuals to act in ways beneficial to an economic or political unit but not necessarily beneficial to the individual.” (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack)  Even though I knew this goes on all the time in society, reading this statement really reopened my eyes to ensuring that we protect ourselves and our students from believing everything we read or hear.  I think those that are not educated are more susceptible to being “brainwashed” by everything they come across in life.
     This course has just reminded me to stay true to my teaching style and continue to REMAIN UP-TO-DATE on my education in this constantly changing world of new literacy and technology.  We owe it to ourselves, as professionals, as well as to our students that count on us to bring them the best possible education.
-Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging From the Internet and Other Information and Communication Technologies

      After watching the two videos, What are Critical Literacies? and Critical Literacies for all Ages I was able to form a clearer picture in my head of how to address this topic with younger children.  Many time we have debates and in depth discussions with high-schoolers, but we forget that elementary grades are capable of the same level of higher thinking.  We should be creating students that have “a lens that they view the world through.”  This lens allows them to be looking deeper into what they read, hear, or see happening in their life.  By teaching them this critical skill early on they will become more independent thinkers and learners, and they will begin to trust themselves without needing reassurance. 

     In the video they showed students coming up with their own questions about what they were thinking and wondering about while reading a story.  They were able to take their questions and really dig deep to find underlying meanings. 

     The third video that I chose to watch was “Loaded Language” because I had an idea of what it meant, but I was curious to find out more.  They pointed out that, “media influence will deliberately try to make the reader feel a certain way.   I loved the activity the teacher did in this video because she took an article and the students became like detectives picking out the words or phrases that they thought might be trying to influence their thoughts or feelings.  The students were coming up with really good words and changing them into words that would have less bias.  Instead of just reader the article and believing every word they were trying to find what the “intent” of the author was.  This is such an effective skill to teach kids that they will remember and take with them in their everyday lives.
-Critical Literacy Webcast