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My conceptual understanding of literacy has changed a lot since the
beginning of this class. I used to think of literacy
as just the “ability to read and write”. This class has helped me see that
literacy expands much more beyond that and I have become aware of literacy all
around me. When
first defining new literacies I viewed a presentation, which said literacy is
“the ability to use digital technologies to identify questions, locate
information, evaluate the information, synthesize the information to answer
questions, and communicate the answers to others.” This definition does not
even begin to capture what literacy even is. I was focusing a lot on how
technology plays a part in literacy without thinking about environmental,
political, cultural, visual, etc. Since we had to pick a new literacy to research, I chose visual
literacy. I honestly didn’t realize how much visual literacy is used in
everyday life and how much it can enhance a classroom. Visual Literacy involves
interpreting, recognizing, creating, and evaluating images to create meaning
and communicate. It takes visual literacy skills to read signs, symbols, logos,
and even one another’s emotions. We are surrounded by visual literacy and we
use it everyday! How would we find our favorite restaurant, a women’s restroom,
or a new place if we were not able to recognize logos, signs or even read a
map. Visual literacy involves visually looking at something and extracting
meaning, creating meaning, and even relating it to something you know. Visual Literacy is also used throughout
all of the subjects in school. Graphic organizers such as concept maps, Venn
diagrams, flow charts, timelines, outlines, etc. can either trigger our skills
and help us recognize what to do (compare and contrast with a Venn diagram) or
help us represent information in a new way. A high percentage of learning is
now visual and this helps both ELL and ESL students as they can interpret
images with little linguistic skills. Visual literacy can overlap with several
of the other literacies as ones culture can affect how images are read, but
these images may also portray emotion.
Literacy can involve using technologies as technology helps students interact with images, videos, songs, links, etc. The growing world around us requires a great deal of skill in new literacies in order to participate. We need the ability to communicate in various different forms, technologies, circumstances, and places, whereas the more traditional definition of literacy involves only the skills of reading and writing. Using technology can enhance one’s digital literacy skills. As I created a Prezi about visual literacy, I was really able to organize my thoughts and ideas I learned about this literacy. As I mentioned earlier, my original thoughts about literacy were very constrained. I now believe that because of the growing and connecting world we live in today, to be a truly literate person, you must have knowledge in the various types of literacies and not just print
After
exploring different types of literacy I am more aware of literacy in different
places and this is important as a future teacher. For my students to understand
the importance of diversity within literacy, I must understand diversity within
literacy. It is my job as a teacher to expose my students to various types of
literacy whether it be cultural, environmental, social, visual etc.
Providing effective literacy instruction means to use tactics
that each student is able to understand and benefit from. Providing
effective literacy instruction to diverse learners is important when teaching
students to become literate individuals. I learned that there are so many
forms of literacy instruction, that it is almost impossible not to be able to
engage students. Specifically with visual literacy, it is easy to work with
English Language Learners. Using visuals, such as symbols and images, which are
usually universal throughout the world can really help a student that is
struggling with English. Showing students pictures with the associated words
can help them learn how to read or become more proficient with English. Beyond
that, some students are very visual learners. Visual literacy can help a
student organize their thoughts by drawing charts and diagrams. Beyond that,
visual literacy is applicable in all subjects. Students use time lines and maps
in social studies, symbols and graphs in mathematics, flow charts, and diagrams
in science and graphic organizers in language arts. Books with images are also
used throughout the different subject areas.
Students
and classrooms are becoming more diverse and this means that teachers need to
find a more diverse range of techniques in teaching new literacies and
technologies in order to appeal to them in the most effective means that are
possible. One way in which this can be achieved is through expressing
information through a variety of new technologies. In the world today,
children are exposed with different technologies at increasingly younger ages,
and therefore they are used to this extremely stimulating electronic based
environment. This means that some children may need this technology
incorporated into their learning to stay tuned and interested in the
information that they are learning.
When teaching my language arts lesson I
used the book, Voices in the Park and
now after completing this New Literacies Project I realized how I incorporated
visual literacy into this lesson without being fully aware of it. By this I
mean I required the students to analyze the pictures and think about what they
told us about the different voices. The students were looking at the colors,
textures, use of line to help them interpret the illustrations. Emotional
literacy was also used as the students again were instructed describe the
different characters using the text and illustrations. The students found that
one character was sad, depressed, un-hopeful, etc. but that after a trip to the
park with his daughter he was able to be cheered up. Cultural literacy was also
used as everyone’s diverse backgrounds played a part in how they interpreted
these images. A fifth grade GLEC: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.7 says students
will “analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning,
tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of
fiction, folktale, myth, poem).”
As a digital
literacy learner, I had to step out of my comfort zone for this assignment. I
had never done a Prezi before and in my original notes I was unaware of how to
fully use this technology but after the hours put into this presentation, I find
it way more interactive and interesting than PowerPoint. I usually always use
PowerPoint because that is what I am comfortable with but Prezi allows you to
have frames within frames, and create a frame around a sentence instead of
having a whole slide, allows you to add YouTube videos and images. As a teacher
I think it is important to work at staying up to date with the technology so
students have options. I explored another New Literacies Project and the group
used Popplet, I had never heard of this technology but could definitely foresee
myself using this technology. This site allows students to create a concept map
or a graphic organizer in a more interactive way. Instead of having the
students use Word or just fill out a graphic organizer, having them use Popplet
will allow for more creativity as images, songs and videos can be uploaded and
the whole thing can be color coded. Using new technologies such as Popplet is
also more engaging than just filling out a concept map on paper. The students
can then search the web for more information on their topic, add pictures, and
really be in charge of their own learning. When using any new technology it is
important students understand what they are supposed to be doing, how the
technology and the rules in case they are caught using it in a way they should
not be.
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