Digital Literacy

After taking the digital natives quiz, I realized I am more of an immigrant. This came as quite a surprise as I feel like I can hold my own when it comes to technology. However, there seems to be words, and acronyms for things that I never have heard of. I would definitely see myself as an emergent digital literacy learner, as I am trying to become aware of the technology available with regard to literacy.

Tompkins writes about the different stages of emergent literacy for children. I can see the similarities between these stages, and where I am in terms of digital literacy. I am beginning to explore different digital tools to develop in my digital literacy. While I am fairly new to many of the different tools, I have used some things that I am familiar with to learn these new aspects of digital literacy. Just as the different stages of emergent literacy build upon one another as a student becomes more literate, I am hoping that I am able to become more digital literate, and grasp new concepts that build upon what I know.

Digital Native - Post 5

I was very surprised by the results of the digital natives quiz. When I compare myself to people like my parents, their friends, my aunts and uncles, etc, I would consider myself a digital native. Things such as texting, blogging, and instant messaging are completely foreign to them. This still seems strange to me because I basically grew up with these things in my life. I will admit that technology has come a long way (I still remember dial-up AOL) and I feel that I am still learning how many of these technologies function. When I took the quiz, I immediately was stumped by the first two words. I had never even heard the terms "modding" or "smart mobs". To be honest, I really only knew two of the words we were asked to define. I had heard of many of the terms but did not know exactly what they meant

With my failed quiz in mind, I guess I would still have to consider myself an emergent digital literacy learner. While I have the knowledge of some of digital literacy, it is obvious that I still have a lot to learn. I can now relate this experience to Tompkins description of emergent literacy for children. While we would like literacy to happen immediately and all at once, it does not work like that. It is a process that take a lot time and is a gradual process.

Am I a Digital Native?

Since I can remember, my family has always had a computer in our house. I always fought with my brothers about who got to use it first and for how long. Along with having a computer we also had video game systems that we played often. Although I was pretty young, I cannot remember life without computers or the internet for that matter. For this reason I would consider myself a digital native.

When I took the digital native quiz, I knew almost every term that was presented. Although there were some that I was unfamiliar with, I am sure in the near future I will have some type of exposure to them. It seems as though there is always something new coming out so it is very difficult for anyone to know every type of technology that is available at any given time.

In class we discussed emergent literacy and what it means for students. From the book and discussion I would word emergent literacy as the processes students go through in discovering new information. In terms of my own digital literacy I would say that I go through an emergent stage with each new technology I come in contact with. I usually have to mess around with a new technology when I first encounter it. Just at the Tompkins book discusses students scribbling as a stage of emergent literacy, my random clicking on different buttons of new technologies is my form of scribbling (pg 91-92). As I become more familiar with the devises of the technology I am able to navigate myself around to get the most out of the technology. This is similar to the way students move from emergent to beginning and eventually fluent literacy. It is a discovery process and builds with exposure and experience. With new technologies there are also tutorials and help tools that help the process, much like the role that teachers and even parents can play for students in emergent literacy. For example, Tompkins lists instructional methods for emergent literacy as having students manipulate sounds and encouraging children to make text-to-self connections (pg. 97) These types of instructional methods can also be reworded to characterize the methods used to move through emergent digital literacy. Students need to manipulate the tools of the technology to get a feel of how they function and they also need the encouragement to connect the information to what they already know. Digital literacy is a process, just like any other type of literacy and it is something that students need to develop on their own with encouragement and guidance.

Talk in the Classroom

On different occasions I have seen various types of talk happening in the classroom. For the most part the students and teacher engage in recitation in which most of the talking is done by the teacher with occasional input from students when prompted. The students in the classroom are very free to talk and I think good discussions could take place if given the opportunity. However, in order to do so ground rules would have to be established because sometimes the students have trouble respecting each others ideas. This could be a reason discussion is not used as much but I think teachers should try to push through these problems. As we read, discussions can have a huge impact on struggling readers by giving them an outlet to share their ideas without the anxiety they may normally feel.

I have actually seen the teacher incorporate response-centered talk in the classroom through centers. In their reading centers the students fill out various worksheets that get them thinking about the text. They practice predicting outcomes as well as pose questions that they find intriguing about the text. The teacher had to set these processes up in order for the students to carry them out properly. They practiced first as a class, then as small groups, and finally as individuals. I think that this is the type of scaffolding that is needed. Teachers hoping to use response centered talk need to model the type of thinking to the class so that they gain the comfort to do it on their own. In the classroom I am in, there are some students that need extra prompting from the teacher. However, usually she just needs to give them a couple ideas to build off of and be there for their questions when they have them. It is hard to keep some of these students on task so you have to be there to push them when they start to doubt themselves and give up.

Discussion Post 4

One type of talk that I have noticed in my classroom is teacher-guided reporting. Many of the students have great ideas and want to share things with the class but often have trouble articulating their thoughts correctly. The often use vague terms like "it" and "this". If a student is addressing the whole class, the teacher tries to have the students use more specific terms. Unfortunately, I think that the teacher often guides the students thinking a little too much. She hints at what the right answer is and gives the notion that their answer isn't completely right. She will say things like "hmm..well I think you mean is this...." When in fact her interpretation is not what the child was saying. I think she is trying to save students from embarrassment because their answer is incorrect. The students often realize their mistakes and then simply agrees with her so they can sit down. The example in the book of teacher guided reporting is excellent, but doesn't always go like that. Questioning, commenting, and encouraging take time and many teachers do not take the time to do this type of talk properly in order for students to gain what should from it.

Response-centered talk is incredibly important to literacy development and there is evidence of this type of talk in the classroom. The students are divided up into "literacy groups" and each group does a different activity. For one activity, the teacher reads a book to the group and then do an activity related to the text. For example, the write a letter to the author asking questions about the book and then share the letters with each other to find similarities and differences in their questioning. The book being read are often about important issues such as civil rights, racism, equality, etc. They students often talk about what they learned from the book and what else they want to know. The teacher is there to help facilitate discussion when there is a lull in interaction. There are some students in the classroom that need encouraging when it come to group discussions. If the teacher does not call on the specifically, they often do not participate. The teacher will then ask, "well, what do you think?" or "Do you agree or disagree". Since the group is small and not too intimidating, this is usually enough to jump-start their thinking.

Diversity Post 3

Growing up, I did not have exposure to much diversity in my school. Everyone in my town is basically the same: white, middle-class families. When I went off to MSU, it was a bit of a culture shock. There was more diversity on the floor of my dorm then my entire town back home. Although it took some getting used to, I have been so greatful to be exposed to so many different cultures.

I have worked a lot at Red Cedar Elementary and the diversity within the school is nothing short of amazing. The fact that here are students from over 25 different countries in one elementary school completely blows my mind. The flags of these countries are displayed around the school and there is a great sense of pride for backgrounds. This school has made me realize how important it is for children to learn about diversity and accept it at an early age.

Since I do not know they type of school I will be in, it is difficult to say how I will incorporate the students' diversity in the classroom. If I am placed in a school similar to the one I grew up in, displaying the flags of their native countries would not really be effective. Every student has a family history so having the students tell their family history and being in a food dish or traditional piece of clothing from a country that their ancestors came from could show the students how diverse they actually are. This would show that there is diversity among all students. In class, Debbie told us how she felt excluded from the class because she did not speak English and could not communicate with her classmates. If this situation arose in my classroom, I would have made a point to tell my students about Brazil and give the students a change to ask questions.

Discussion Blog

Recitation is used in most of our class talks. The teacher talks for most of the time and introduces most of the new ideas and asks questions and opinions of the children from time to time, but the children are never allowed to converse freely with one another as in a true discussion setting. I do feel that our CT could give the children more opportunities to voice their opinions and suggest new ideas but I understand that a true discussion would be difficult to successfully use in a first grade classroom. Children get off-task quickly and often speak out over others. I think that in order to allow a discussion to happen the CT would first have to give examples, maybe with Erika, her, and I, as well as explain the rules of a discussion to the children. I also think that having a ball for the children to roll around designating the person who is talking would help control the chatter among the students and increase motivation for participation.

Discussion Blog

In my second grade classroom, I mostly see recitation type talk between the students and the teacher. She has done some discussion though, especially in science lessons. I think my CT is working up to having a discussion by setting and practicing norms with the students. They participate in class generally by raising their hand and getting called on. My CT does a nice job of reminding the students to listen to the speaker and they actually have to apologize if they are rude and blurt out while someone is talking. Having norms for discussion based class is vital, and work for when the students are having a scientific discussion. My CT generally stays out of leading the discussion, and allows students to ask questions to each other and state their opinion.

Like Goldenberg and Weinstein writes, my CT does have a purpose or goal she hopes to accomplish when she does hold a discussion. She also does a nice job of not facilitating the discussion. Yet, she still sits in front of the students and the students haven’t quite mastered holding a discussion just between them, so they still rely on my CT sometimes.

While my CT does do a lot of recitation type talks, she does a nice job of not doing the typical ask a question, get a response, and evaluate the response. She asks students deeper questions about how they feel about a particular book, or what they think about their social studies topics. Since the students are fairly young, my CT does need to support them, and cannot expect them to be able to handle a discussion. Some students need particular types of scaffolding in my classroom because they may not be able to focus on the direction of a discussion type talk. In this case, my CT will assist them by reminding what has been said, or repeating her question.

Diversity Blog

Diversity is a wonderful tool that you can use in your classroom when it is present. With multiple perspectives present in your classroom, children are able to share their diverse experiences and bring new ideas forward to their fellow classmates. In many urban areas, the presence of diversity is assumed, while in more rural or suburban areas, the lack of diversity is assumed, but it is important to asses the diversity of your classroom yourself before jumping to conclusions. There are many activities and exercises you can guide your students through in order to figure out the levels and types of diversity in your classroom. You could have your students write an autobiography, a poem about themselves, or you could have them simply fill out a survey. In many situations, it would be appropriate to have your students share their final works with their classmates. This gives children a chance to express who they are, and discover who their classmates are. These types of activities can boost the confidence of children, and set the foundation for a deeply rooted classroom community.

Once you have discovered the types and levels of diversity in your classroom, you can cater your lessons to take advantage of this diversity. For example, if you know one of your students speaks Spanish, you can encourage him or her to help you in pronouncing Spanish words that might come up in literature, or when discussing certain holidays. You can also ask students to share their unique experiences regarding various aspects of life that other students may not have had as much experience with. Students can learn a great deal from each other, and tapping into your classroom diversity will only allow you to encourage student-to-student teaching.

Getting to Know the Diversity

I think it is extremely important for teachers to get to know their students deeper than a surface level. It is not only beneficial for teachers to know what level their students are at when they enter the classroom but it is also important for teachers to understand where their students come from and how their backgrounds impact their education. I feel that sometimes it can be difficult for students to open up to teachers because as adults we can be intimidating. I really liked that Lenksi et. al recognized the importance of group interaction and assessment. Students tend to feel more comfortable when they are with their peers and friends who they feel comfortable with rather than when they are on their own. For this reason I think it would be interesting to have my students interview each other to find out about their family background. This would allow for the students to get to know each other first and then report back to to class which would give them a sense of responsibility.

I think it would also be beneficial to for the students to write a brief essay (length depending on the grade level) about their family and traditions they do at home. As the Wheeler and Swords article pointed out, it is important for students to feel like their cultures, no matter what they are, are important and deserve recognition and respect. The essay would give the students a chance to share what is most special about their lives and it would also give the teacher insight into where they students were in terms of their writing ability. One activity that I have always wanted my students to take part in is to make a classroom cookbook. I would ask all of the students to bring in their favorite family recipe and have them share with the class where it came from and why they thought it was important. After, I would compile all of the recipes and make a book which I would copy and distribute to each student. This is a unique way for students to share about their family and their culture and one that I think they could have fun with.

I think that the more ways a teacher is able to incorporate the many differences of their students into the classroom, the more comfortable students are going to feel and the more the students will learn to respect each other and their cultural differences. Students need to have fun with activities like this or it could ruin the purpose.

Diversity Noteblog

I am really excited to learn about my future students. I think it is really important as a teacher to know your students, not only academically, but their cultural, social background as well. As we have discussed in class, teachers need to be assessing their students, and know what levels they’re at. This can be daunting, because that may mean finding a way to challenge all students whether they are low, medium, or high achievers. There can be such diversity in what students know. However, students also come to the classroom with their own unique backgrounds. Learning about the diversity of your students can help create a safe, welcoming learning environment which is vital. Lenske, et. al. discusses ways to evaluate English Language Learners, mentioning that whenever they are assessed, they are not only being assessed on the material, but also the English language. Also, Lenske writes that when assessing ELLs it should be on what they know, and are able to do, not what they don’t know or what they cannot do. I think this applies to all students. Focusing on what they are able to accomplish can give you a clue as to where their next assignments should be. Also, it gives the teacher something positive to tell the student. Other ways to learn about diversity in the classroom is to do predictability logs by speaking with relatives, past teachers, and the student herself.

Students may find a lot they have in common, but what will make a diverse classroom so great are the differences that each student brings. Acknowledging the differences and realizing that everyone comes from different backgrounds and has different ideas to share can be good for students. Celebrating our uniqueness is something I plan to do in my classroom.