Conceptual Understanding
Before being introduced to this project and its contents, I thought of literacy in its traditional form. When I heard someone say the term “illiterate”, I automatically assumed that they were talking about someone who was unable to read or write. By exploring our class website about literacy and its various components, I learned that literacy is not just about reading, writing, listening, and speaking. More specifically, it includes the knowledge of how to interact socially with those surrounding you; the knowledge of one’s own culture and other cultures; the knowledge of emotions; the knowledge of the world and its geography; the knowledge and use of numbers; and how well an individual can benefit from visual representations. I first became aware of this when I researched definitions of literacy. The one that I found from the NCTE website provides a general description of literacy outside of the traditional form. More specifically, it encompasses many of the ideas and current issues discussed in class; with the constant change and new developments in technology, it is vital that literacy development parallel with the digital environment students are currently raised in. It has been recently noted that we are preparing children for jobs that will no longer exist once they graduate from college because of developments in technology, thus, instruction should incorporate various forms of technology into reading and writing. With this definition, I was better prepared to start my research on cultural literacy, as it was not included in my previous notions about literacy in general.
While researching cultural literacy, I found a number of definitions, some similar to one another and some that were not. Because of this, my group and I combined all the definitions found into one that we thought best described being culturally literate. I originally thought that cultural literacy only focused on the knowledge of one’s own culture; however, it also involves the knowledge of cultures around the world. Thus, our definition discusses both of these components and how they can affect one’s interaction with different forms of media. Forms of media vary across cultures, thus, the skills learned in one culture may be inapplicable or worthless in another culture. So, the cultural literacy of an individual can affect how well they are able to function in the society they reside. As a future educator, it is my job to ensure that my students are able to fully function in my classroom in terms of cultural understanding. For example, students from other countries or states may be unfamiliar with the behavioral norms or languages of a new culture and in turn, not know how interact with those around them. This may result in behavioral, social, or academic difficulties. But, with an understanding of the new culture, students can feel fully functional and have a sense of belonging in the culture they are within.
In addition to the development of my own cultural literacy, I believe that I also developed my own digital literacy. More specifically, I realized that it is important for students to be given a choice in how they learn, like in this project. I believe that currently, there is a significant disconnect between the digital literacy of teachers and the digital literacy of students. I am seeing this in my placement classroom; my students are five and six years old, and they already know how to access the internet, go to a certain website, and “log off”. This was astonishing as I went to the computer lab with them for the first time. I reflected on my own experience with the internet and realized that I was not able to access it in this way until I was nearly ten years old. Therefore, I believe that it is essential for teachers to be aware of the current forms of technology and use them in their instruction so that students are fully prepared for the world they will enter beyond their education. I consider myself to be in between a digital addict and a digital immigrant, so in order for this to happen in my future classroom, I need to continually develop my competency in technology and the digital world. I was able to see this in my use of Glogster; I was very unfamiliar with it even though it has been around for a considerable amount of time.
Classroom Implications
Because literacy is a combination of multiple aspects, it is important to include each in Language Arts instruction. Although this definition has been established, many schools are still focusing on reading and writing with print texts. As the amount of technology increases, I feel that as a future teacher I should strive to include multiple forms of media in the classroom so that students are able to improve their literacy in all cases. I discovered this while using Glogster, which is a site that allows the user to create products that are very similar to scrapbook pages, posters, or collages. Many times in my education, when I was given the choice of how I wanted to do an assignment, I used poster boards. Glogster is very similar to this; students are still able to organize information into a collage, but the product is much more interactive and intriguing. More specifically, students can include links in the product so that viewers can access additional information. I fell in love with Glogster as I was using it to make my group’s product, so I definitely picture myself using it in my future classroom, as well as giving the students the option of using it when creating a product. Giving them this choice increases their digital and visual literacy, as well as their traditional literacy by pushing them to read text in a form other than paper. However, in order for students to develop their digital literacy, they need to be aware of the dangers of using technology, as well as how to determine if a source is legitimate when researching. Therefore, before using different forms of technology in the classroom, it will be necessary to state the rules and expectations I have for my students so that they use technology safely.
Additionally, in order to develop the cultural literacy of students, it is necessary to expose them to different cultures, including the one that they currently reside. As stated before, without the literacy of one’s own culture and those around the world, a person cannot fully function in the world. In our Glogster, our group discussed the importance of knowing a culture’s primary language in order to interact with different forms of media that exist. This is especially an issue with English Second Language Learners. By only knowing minimal amounts of a language, the academic success of ESL students is significantly hindered; their reading comprehension, speech, listening, and writing all depend on how much of the language they know. Not only are academics hindered, but social interactions are as well. For example, if a student does not know that, in a certain culture, when speaking to another person, they are expected to make eye contact with them. When they do not know to do this, their behavior is considered disrespectful or they may be perceived as non-compliant. This, unfortunately, may lead to social isolation or solidarity in the classroom. With that, it is important to build a quality classroom community and an environment where students feel welcome and ready to learn the elements of a culture. Various activities should be used to make all students, not just ESL students, aware of the American culture, as well as different cultures around the world. Such activities include watching videos from the History Channel, reading Time magazine, following blogs, or watching newscasts. Learning about events outside of a child’s small community can lessen their egocentrism and expand students’ mindsets, especially those that are very young.
Before being introduced to this project and its contents, I thought of literacy in its traditional form. When I heard someone say the term “illiterate”, I automatically assumed that they were talking about someone who was unable to read or write. By exploring our class website about literacy and its various components, I learned that literacy is not just about reading, writing, listening, and speaking. More specifically, it includes the knowledge of how to interact socially with those surrounding you; the knowledge of one’s own culture and other cultures; the knowledge of emotions; the knowledge of the world and its geography; the knowledge and use of numbers; and how well an individual can benefit from visual representations. I first became aware of this when I researched definitions of literacy. The one that I found from the NCTE website provides a general description of literacy outside of the traditional form. More specifically, it encompasses many of the ideas and current issues discussed in class; with the constant change and new developments in technology, it is vital that literacy development parallel with the digital environment students are currently raised in. It has been recently noted that we are preparing children for jobs that will no longer exist once they graduate from college because of developments in technology, thus, instruction should incorporate various forms of technology into reading and writing. With this definition, I was better prepared to start my research on cultural literacy, as it was not included in my previous notions about literacy in general.
While researching cultural literacy, I found a number of definitions, some similar to one another and some that were not. Because of this, my group and I combined all the definitions found into one that we thought best described being culturally literate. I originally thought that cultural literacy only focused on the knowledge of one’s own culture; however, it also involves the knowledge of cultures around the world. Thus, our definition discusses both of these components and how they can affect one’s interaction with different forms of media. Forms of media vary across cultures, thus, the skills learned in one culture may be inapplicable or worthless in another culture. So, the cultural literacy of an individual can affect how well they are able to function in the society they reside. As a future educator, it is my job to ensure that my students are able to fully function in my classroom in terms of cultural understanding. For example, students from other countries or states may be unfamiliar with the behavioral norms or languages of a new culture and in turn, not know how interact with those around them. This may result in behavioral, social, or academic difficulties. But, with an understanding of the new culture, students can feel fully functional and have a sense of belonging in the culture they are within.
In addition to the development of my own cultural literacy, I believe that I also developed my own digital literacy. More specifically, I realized that it is important for students to be given a choice in how they learn, like in this project. I believe that currently, there is a significant disconnect between the digital literacy of teachers and the digital literacy of students. I am seeing this in my placement classroom; my students are five and six years old, and they already know how to access the internet, go to a certain website, and “log off”. This was astonishing as I went to the computer lab with them for the first time. I reflected on my own experience with the internet and realized that I was not able to access it in this way until I was nearly ten years old. Therefore, I believe that it is essential for teachers to be aware of the current forms of technology and use them in their instruction so that students are fully prepared for the world they will enter beyond their education. I consider myself to be in between a digital addict and a digital immigrant, so in order for this to happen in my future classroom, I need to continually develop my competency in technology and the digital world. I was able to see this in my use of Glogster; I was very unfamiliar with it even though it has been around for a considerable amount of time.
Classroom Implications
Because literacy is a combination of multiple aspects, it is important to include each in Language Arts instruction. Although this definition has been established, many schools are still focusing on reading and writing with print texts. As the amount of technology increases, I feel that as a future teacher I should strive to include multiple forms of media in the classroom so that students are able to improve their literacy in all cases. I discovered this while using Glogster, which is a site that allows the user to create products that are very similar to scrapbook pages, posters, or collages. Many times in my education, when I was given the choice of how I wanted to do an assignment, I used poster boards. Glogster is very similar to this; students are still able to organize information into a collage, but the product is much more interactive and intriguing. More specifically, students can include links in the product so that viewers can access additional information. I fell in love with Glogster as I was using it to make my group’s product, so I definitely picture myself using it in my future classroom, as well as giving the students the option of using it when creating a product. Giving them this choice increases their digital and visual literacy, as well as their traditional literacy by pushing them to read text in a form other than paper. However, in order for students to develop their digital literacy, they need to be aware of the dangers of using technology, as well as how to determine if a source is legitimate when researching. Therefore, before using different forms of technology in the classroom, it will be necessary to state the rules and expectations I have for my students so that they use technology safely.
Additionally, in order to develop the cultural literacy of students, it is necessary to expose them to different cultures, including the one that they currently reside. As stated before, without the literacy of one’s own culture and those around the world, a person cannot fully function in the world. In our Glogster, our group discussed the importance of knowing a culture’s primary language in order to interact with different forms of media that exist. This is especially an issue with English Second Language Learners. By only knowing minimal amounts of a language, the academic success of ESL students is significantly hindered; their reading comprehension, speech, listening, and writing all depend on how much of the language they know. Not only are academics hindered, but social interactions are as well. For example, if a student does not know that, in a certain culture, when speaking to another person, they are expected to make eye contact with them. When they do not know to do this, their behavior is considered disrespectful or they may be perceived as non-compliant. This, unfortunately, may lead to social isolation or solidarity in the classroom. With that, it is important to build a quality classroom community and an environment where students feel welcome and ready to learn the elements of a culture. Various activities should be used to make all students, not just ESL students, aware of the American culture, as well as different cultures around the world. Such activities include watching videos from the History Channel, reading Time magazine, following blogs, or watching newscasts. Learning about events outside of a child’s small community can lessen their egocentrism and expand students’ mindsets, especially those that are very young.
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