My education was based around what Sang (2017) refers to as the "conventional view of literacy" which involved a print resource and was exclusively presented in English. While in college my literacy courses focused exclusively on encoding and decoding. It was not until I was in my own classroom that I was able to appreciate and understand the need to utilize and incorporate new literacies in order to tailor the education experience to each of my learners, and provide them with the training and tools to be successful in an ever changing world.
In my day to day professional life my instruction is infused with "new literacies" which was introduced by the New London Group and defined as, "a combination of multiple ways of communicating and making meaning, including such modes as visual, audio, spatial, behavioral, and gestural" (Beecher, 2023, p.4) This allows me to enrich my instruction and provide ways for my students to collaborate and think critically. Fortunately I work in a district that is concerned with empowering students to be involved global citizens who are able to understand how they learn and to seek knowledge. Learning is based around ten traits known as the IB Learner Profile Traits, and we rely heavily on digital literacy and responsibility. I am fortunate to have access to multiple platforms that help me to meet each student where they are and provide them with the compensatory skills to succeed, especially if they do not have the traditional print literacy skills. Programs like Padlet allow the entire class to collaborate using gifs, memes, websites, and pictures. We can share ideas and create projects as a group. This can look different for each person in my classroom. Some students are able to participate using speech to text or text to speech. Canva, Book Writer and Google Slides are taught so that students are able to understand that information can be presented and shared in many different ways. Along with having these tools comes the obligation to produce digitally literate students who can, "do research, find reliable sources, and make judgements about what they read online and in print." (Beecher, 2023, p.5)
When considering the idea of equity and access, tools like Screen Castify and Kami allow me to post assignments for students to complete on their own by listening to a recording of me reading a text as they follow along or reading a document to them. This past year the district began using an app called Parent Square which allows us to send information school wide, class wide, or to individual parents. The communications come across as an email or like a text message to a Smartphone. On my caseload are two students who have IEPs and are English Language Learners. English is not the language spoken at home and communicating with parents has been very difficult in the past. Using a translating service for a five minute conversation turned into a 45 minute phone call by the time all parties are on the line and able to work with the translator. One parent in particular did not know how to use email so communicating was especially difficult. With this new app, messages to and from the parents phones can be set to the language of their choice.I introduced the app at open school night and this parent had access to her children's teacher and an involvement in their education that she had never had before. As a teacher, I cannot imagine being able to reach and educate my population of students in a world in which education is based around traditional literacy.
As I prepare to go to school today, I have printed the NCTE Position Statement to keep in my classroom. The questions that are posed here will remind me to evaluate how I am guiding my students to "participate effectively and critically in a networked world" (NCTE, 2022, p.5) and remind me to continue finding ways to infuse learning opportunities and new literacies into my classroom.
*** For more on the MYB IB Learner Profile Traits please click the following link. https://sites.google.com/ambrit-rome.com/mypcentral/the-ib-myp/ib-learner-profile
References
Beecher, C. (2023, July 19). Chapter 1. what is literacy? Multiple Perspectives on Literacy. Methods of Teaching Early Literacy. https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/teachingearlyliteracy/chapter/what-is-literacy-multiple-perspectives-on-literacy/
IB Learner profile. MYP Central. (n.d.). https://sites.google.com/ambrit-rome.com/mypcentral/the-ib-myp/ib-learner-profile
National Council of Teachers of English. (2022, April 19). Definition of literacy in a Digital age. https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/
Sang, Y. (2017). Expanded Territories of “Literacy”: New Literacies and Multiliteracies. Journal of Education and Practice, 8(8), 16–19.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI love how you tied in MYP and learner profiles!! As I've previously mentioned, my current school also follows MYP and we definitely heavily rely on technology. I am frequently using the apps and websites that you mentioned above as a form of collaboration in my classroom. Technology and digital literacy really are great tools to reach students with disabilities. As for communication, my school as a whole uses parent square for all communication but I didn't know that I could be using that as a teacher to communicate home! Being able to communicate with all of your students and families is so important. I mostly just email or call home but I do have a few students who have parents that don't speak English, which makes calling difficult.
I am interested to see what the MYP looks like in your school. Does your high school offer an IB Diploma program?
DeleteThe district that I am in introduced Parent Square this year and I embraced it immediately. More senior teachers are hesitant to learn a new form of communication and prefer to stick to Google Classroom announcements. What I Iike about Parent Square is that it shows up on a Smart Phone like a text so there is no questioning if the parent or student saw it. My classes are set up so that I can send assessment reminders to a group, or communicate directly with families.
I enjoyed reading your blog and reading about your experiences. I think communication with students' parents and guardians is critical. My current school does not have a specific system to communicate with parents or guardians. I found about a month or so ago teachers can choose how they would like to communicate with parents and guardians. I started using Dojo. I'm hoping next school year I can utilize it more.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting that you are able to choose your communication preference. I have used Dojo in the past to support a classroom incentive program but did not use the communication feature. Regardless of the method it is nice to have a way to connect with families and provide them with information is a quick and effective way.
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