STIOct22

=Session 1: October 22, 2007=


 * Today's Objectives:**
 * Reflect on your perspective of new literacies
 * Define a “new literacies perspective” of online reading comprehension
 * Propose a new way of thinking about reading, writing, and communicating
 * Spark conversations, questions, and reflection about new ways of teaching and learning with the Internet

3:30-3:45 Introductions 3:45-4:00 Anticipation Guide 4:00-4:45 Discussion: How does reading and learning change on the Internet? 4:45-5:30 Reflections, questions, and next steps
 * Agenda:**

1. Finding and framing a research question 2. Reading the literature in your area 3. Refining the design of your project 4. Strategies for data collection and analysis 5. Writing up/Sharing your findings
 * Classroom Inquiry** (Action Research)


 * Next Steps - Finding and Framing a Question**
 * Keep a teaching journal for at least one week - Don’t judge - just write!
 * I noticed…; I wonder…; I thought…
 * Brainstorm a list of ten things you wonder about your classroom and talk through with a colleague.
 * Read/share other teachers’ questions
 * Use “how” or “what” but remember: be specific
 * Focus your question:
 * What is the role of …? How do … ?  What procedures … ?
 * Leave space for thinking and revising after a little more journaling and reading.


 * Homework**
 * Read Chapters 1 and 2 (Hubbard & Power)
 * Keep a New Literacies Thinking Journal: brainstorm > observe > share > listen > reflect > focus
 * Email Julie (or others) with a topic for reading requests
 * Identify your main question and relevant sub-questions (independent or small group)
 * Identify your main question and relevant sub-questions (independent or small group)

Thoughts, Ideas, Concerns, and .... Curriculum: Concerns:
 * How does the reader's workshop change in terms of reading skills and strategies with texts? how do we start to structure things - do we start with offline and then move online, or do start with online and then move offline?
 * How can I rethink my writer's workshop to incorporate online technologies? podcasting, blogs, - how do I foster all of this for kids
 * How does the expectation for finding info on the Internet quickly affect reading comprehension?
 * How does the expectation for finding info on the Internet quickly affect reading comprehension?
 * Will my progress be impeded by the technologies we can use?
 * Assumptions that we make as teachers about the prior knowledge of our students when we give assignments. (especially for students with special needs) - gaps by the time they get to highschool
 * How do books figure into all of this? use books first?? why?
 * Feeling a little overwhelmed?? Where do I begin!!!!
 * Do I begin with my curriculum?
 * How can I link this process to make it meaningful to my students and me?
 * How can we as the computer teachers help everyone in the community - both adults and students - become more comfortable and familiar with new literacy skills so that it doesn't become an obstacle in the curriculum -baby steps where curriculum is not dependent upon it.
 * is reading something on a computer screen the same as reading offline and if not, how is it different in ways that students need to know?
 * Is knowing how to navigate on a webpage a part of reading comprehension?
 * what does that online reading assessment look like? how do we measure if students are reading successfully online?
 * what is success?
 * how can teachers best construct classroom learning environments to include shared thoughts and collaborative efforts - social learning

I listened to a radio news story today ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15655316 ) about how a San Diego NPR radio station used some "new technologies" (Google's "My Maps", RSS feeds, and the "Twitter" social networking website) to keep Californians informed about everything related to the wildfire crisis there. It struck me how well this example illustrates our discussion of new literacies. San Diegans were able to get minute-by-minute updates, exact locations of the fire devastation, and keep in touch with others. But only those San Diegans who have the "new literacies" that allow them to take advantage of the information....
 * An example from today's news .... (from Jodi G).**

Thanks for starting the posting, Jodi. It's amazing how much of the Web 2.0 technology is being used around us. Just this morning I opened my NCTE inbox and found a great article waiting for me titled, Reading and Writing 2.0. The article is all about the way that we are moving from a "page-based society to a screen-based society." The article highlights some of the ways 2.0 technologies are being used by students in classrooms to display their critical thinking skills and interact with information. Good stuff! If anyone is interested here is the link to the article: http://www.ncte.org/library/files/about_NCTE/overview/inbox/current.html PS Is anyone attending the NCTE Conference this month? There are several 21st Century Literacies workshops available. The 21st Century Literacies workshop (personalizing) on Tuesday has openings.
 * 10/31/07 NCTE Reading and Writing 2.0...(from Sue L)**

Last week I had fifth grade students examining a web site that had been changed since we looked at it last year. The interactive piece got students really excited. While it wasn't a back and forth interaction, students were able to actively make choices and get feedback. It was totally engaging to them, got them thinking and relating to the topic in a way that made more sense to them. It was great to see them so actively engaged.
 * 11/5/07 new literacies in the Library (from Jan S.)**

We have met two times to discuss our action plan and definition of new literacies. We have spent a lot of time wondering which avenue we will explore in depth. We agree we are not as comfortable in the free form the action research model. We were all educated in a more structured and teacher directed model and need recognize how we need to think outside our comfort zone.
 * 11/15/07**

Comment about Jodi's entry. Are those tools (Google's "My Maps", RSS feeds, and the "Twitter" social networking website) new literacies or is the new literacy being able to extract the information you need from what you are looking at the screen. It must include both, knowing what is available and then how to use it effectively. (QR team - Kerri, Pat, Michael)


 * Julie's reply (11/17/07):** Hi Kerri, Pat, and Michael - you asked a really important question about the notion of new literacies. From my perspective at least, the "new literacies" are the **unique sets of skills, strategies, dispositions, and practices** required to actively use each of these "technologies" in ways that prompt or facilitate inquiry, learning, and communication. They are "new" because each new technology causes us to change our "older understandings of literacy" (albeit, they might have previously just been changed the day before!) and to think differently about what it means to actively access, receive, construct, and share with other new knowledge and solutions to important problems. They are also "new" because they tend to rely even more on "social networks" of people that grow and change daily. And as each changing group of people uses each technology and adapts them to meet their own needs and interests, new environments and contexts are created (e.g., through open-source technologies - think Firefox and [|each of the new "widgets"] that have evolved from individuals who have a problem, adapt the technology to design a solution, and then share it online). In turn, each new environment (e.g., Google maps, RSS feeds, a new social networking site) prompts a new set of unique literacies (skills, strategies, dispositions, and practices), and our understandings of what it means to be "literate" is forced to change again. Do you see how the rapid cycle of changing online technologies (and the users who adapt them to solve their own problems and communicate their solutions) begins to almost define (and redefine) for us what it means to be literate? This is the "newness" that we need to face as educators when trying to determine what's most important to teach our students. So, then the question becomes...should we focus on the technologies themselves (in my perspective, no) or should we work to develop some overall set of "flexible" literacies (e.g., learning how to learn, being a healthy skeptic of information, appreciating diversity in purpose or audience when constructing new texts, etc) that is somehow "bigger" than each emerging technology that can help our students be prepared for these changes while effectively transferring their literacies between and among the multiple learning environments (many beyond what we can even imagine) that will continue to characterize and in some ways, create, their futures. If you're feeling "old" or "overwhelmed" now, just check out the [|100 best web 2.0 sites] from a recent survey or the [|emergence of a Web 3.0] to see what's on the horizon! ;-)

Wikis are a great tool - the video really showed how email is so inefficient for trying to track any kind of group project (ask Amy about preparing for making cranberry sauce with 5th and 1st graders and all the email that went back and forth...) We talked about how there is TOO much information out there -- we couldn't possibly keep up with (read) all the valuable links, articles, books etc. that are out there. How do we deal with this? Do we have to jump on the bandwagon for every new gimmick that comes along? How can we help kids discrminate between a crappy website and a well conceived one?
 * 11/15/07 (MaryAnn, Jodi and Amy, HE team)**


 * Julie's reply (11-17-07):** While you are exploring the potentials of wikis, you might want to check out [|Wikijunior], and the books that are created and produced by a worldwide community of writers, teachers, students and young people all working together. As described on their "[|About Us]" link, they proudly build their books around the core values of being kid-friendly (appropriate for children birth-age 12), collaborative, fun, reliable, and open (meaning YOU and your students are invited to become co-authors!). Check out for example the [|Big Cats Project] (one of the first to be created and completed) or explore the developing Wikijunior book about [|Ancient Civilizations] (scroll down to see the columns of publishable articles, developing articles, and article stubs) and imagine that YOUR students can join write now and be a part of the excitement! There's also a [|Staff Lounge] and [|Wikijunior Talk Page], for example, to keep things moving forward and provide support.

11/16/07 What do you think of this article - [|How I Outsourced My Brain] HE Team

12/16/07 The article mentioned above brings to mind many of my fears for the future. What happens when our kids rely almost exclusively on external resources for those things we have always used our brains to remember? Being able to access information is essential - yes. Giving up our ability to think is a worry we have to consider. -SB @ FM