Learning Activities that I think enrich and broaden a students understanding of both Old and New Literacies

I think that all of the activites have been very beneficial to the understanding of New Literacies and incorporating the Old literacies as well.  The one that I particulary liked was the magazine cover we designed, as an art education major I liked including all of the visuals and having creative license to create.  The NETS that this follows I believe would be the Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.  Just as the title says 'design and develop' is exactly what we did when making the digital magazine covers.  This activity goes well with students being taught how to analyze pictures and what they are trying to convey to the audiance.  These particular images used, were suppose to convey ideas of teachers who had won teacher of the year; by placing an appropriate picture of ourselves and using words and images to convey what we thought about teaching and how one might go about using their experiance in a classroom.  I believe that this assignment would help teach both literacies by teaching students how to use tools in technology and use thier perceptive skills of the everyday world to deciefer the images.

Website Evaluation

The website I chose to evaluate is about the research of Dihydrogen Monoxide.  According to the homepage they want to provide an unbiased view on the suject.  When looking for the validity of the page I first looked at the domain name, which is .org for this particular site.  Though when looking a little closer at the publisher of this site I found that Tom Way, is a computer science professor and that he created DHMO as a science satire site.  At first glance the site seems like it would be a valid site with all of its links, which some of these links do lead to valid sites.  This site basically leads an individual to believe that 'dihydrogen monoxide' is very harmful to an individual, but what an average person doesnt know or realize is that it is really the scientific name for water.  When looking for information on Tom Way, I ran across a wiki article that exclaimed a young man wanted to ban these sites turning it into a science project named 'how gullible we are'.  After reading some of the artcles on the 'faux' website I found it rather amsuing how he even tried to link school violents with Dihydrogen Monoxide or water.  I agree with the above statement that we are gullible and that we should not always believe what we read and to take a few extra steps to examine what we do read.  And then teach to others, including our students because everyone I think needs to be aware that quite literally you cannot not believe everything you read.

Before and After Results of Students Using Edmodo to Write

This graph shows as seen above how elementry students felt about writing before they used Edmodo.  Most of the students were indifferent on the subject, though only a small percentage didnt ejoy writing at all. 

After the students finished their Edmodo stories another survery was taken of the students.  One of the questions that the students were asked was 'Did Edmodo make you like writing more?', in which all students answered 'Yes!'.  The graph above shows three main reason why the students enjoyed writing in Edmodo.  Most students enjoyed the collaboration that it allowed, others felt that it was easier to write with an audiance in mind, and the remaining percentage just enjoyed being able to use technology to write.

Thoughts on using technology in my future classroom

I think that the students were more concerned with getting their ideas down and having complete thoughts rather than their grammar skills.  Which I find nothing wrong with when beginning any type of writing assignment.  I could tell that the student who I guided in the writing activity really cared about how the story and plot was going to be laid out and that the story was complete and exciting.  I feel that edmodo really helped get their ideas down and could critique thier own stories after receiving feedback from a fresh pair of eyes who was able to give them ideas and pathways to take their story.  I think that their communications skills were very well thought out, I was able to follow the story quite easily and know where the writer was going.  With some polishing and final adjustments the stories will be very well written and most importantly thought out.  I would use edmodo in my classroom, for collaboration on art critiques.  It seems like it would be a great tool to see how other teachers approach different techniques and theories and what other students come up with in their classrooms.  I think that this tool is a great way to broaden the understanding of the subject area and collaboration in the real world.

Fellow Peers Reactions to 21st Century Literacy

I among many others in my class feel that computers are indeed becoming more and more important to the 21st century's classrooms.  Though some believe that books are becoming obselete, there are still mixed feelings about complete transition.  Which I agree with...transition into using more technology in the classroom should come gradually, with use of book and computer.  Students are still so use to the ideas of books and traditional methods some may not even have a computer at home.  Schools also may not have the funding to be 'up-to-date' with the technology of the world.  I feel that it will come in time, but in the mean time we need to remain open about it and try to include it into our future curriculumns.

Pictures speak A Thousand Words

In this blog I will be speaking about two photos and how the subject (which is the same) differs, and what kind of message it is sending to the viewer.

Photo 1 Oil Spill: BP Gulf leak could stain President Obama like Iran hostage crisis destroyed Jimmy Carter

In the first photo the subjects facial expression is in a furrow, and narrowed.  He seems to be intent on something and in a serious state of mind.  His face is clearly shown and close up taking up a third of the picture.  He is leaning forward and very much in a state of assertivness, though not aggressive.  This man is of African American dissent, he is older but not considered old, and he wears a plan checkered white and blue dress shirt.  He is cleanly and presented himself well, he must of course considering the role he plays in america.  The lighting in the picture helps fend off any deep shadows and like said before gives a clear picture of what his facial expressions are.  His leaning toward the audiance gives off an ambiance of something that is important and serious, I think that might make the viewer curious to understand why he may feel this way.

Photo 2 White House: Obama ready to seize claims process

The second photo, shows our subject entire body taking up a much less portion of the photo.  He is also surrounded by other people as well.  The lighting in this photo is much more natural and less of a concern.  More of the visual reading comes from is body movement rather than his facial expression unlike the first photo.  He seems to have a casual walk though he is still up straight and walking with purpose.  What I can see of his facial expressions, they are much more relaxed and not as anxious as the first photo.  His arms swing comfortablely side to side, and there is no rush to his step it seems.  He is still dressed in a plain blue toned dress shirt and dress slacks, looking proffesional and clean.  He seems to have become somewhat less stressed compared to the other photo and to the viewer is is much more comfortable to look at and may even lead them to not read the article because of that or read it to understand why his deminer is more comfortable.

Old Literacy VS New Literacy

I think that making such transitions in the classroom is challenging for the teachers, especially teachers who have taught a certain way for so long. The idea of using technology in the classroom is reletively new, unlike the technology itself. The cirriculum would also have to change I think and the some of the ideas of teaching in general. I really feel that it is time to change the education system in ways that it can keep up with todays youth and the world. Using books and continuing to teach like the computer does not exist seems ignorant on the education systems part. I dont believe we should do away with books completely, it is always a smart and safe way to have a hard copy of anything one may deem important. But computers and the possiblilites of using them as a literacy tool should be taken seriously and pursued for future progress in the education system.

This lesson plan I feel shows the differences between the actual magazines and the online versions, which can be changed or tweaked in some way.  This can help the studebts to learn how to read a hard copy and then switch gears to read online.