New Literacies

Today we have been reading and discussing literacy, new literacy and technology. To me, technology consists of the tools available to make learning and life easier. Students can learn the old-fashioned way or they can learn using the tools that are now available - cameras, wikis, blogs, slide show software, and more!

A literate person can read and write, according to basic definitions. In an article by Smolin and Lawless (2003), four new literacies are explained. I consider these skills or competencies and not really literacies or genres. The four are: technological literacy, visual literacy, information literacy and intertextuality.

As a teacher, I want to make learning more student centered and more interactive. I feel that I have a responsibility to share new technological tools with my students. I hope this course helps me do that!

Already in my classroom, I teach listening, speaking, reading and writing. I focused on writing last year and plan to do that this year. In the past I have used digital photography, power point, word processing, web quests and gaggle.net blogs as tools for learning. I also tried recording chapters of novels onto CDs for my students to listen to at home, and it was a hit! I think my students' literacy in English will improve as I integrate more technological tools into my lessons. One of my major goals this year is to teach the kids how to do more efficient research using the Internet.