4. Welcome
The Videos
One half of the class will discuss “What does it Mean
to be Literate in the 21st Century” and the other half
will discuss “Learning to Change; Changing to Learn”
Each person must be prepared to share what was
discussed at their table.
5. setting a Purpose for
Viewing
or
“squared” with me Plus +
“peaked” my Minus -
interest
still “rolling” around Interesting
?
in my head
6. Defining 21st Century
Literacy
Can we as a class come
up with a definition of what
it means to be literate in
the 21st Century?
What must a literate
person be able to know/do
in order to participate fully
in today’s/tomorrow’s
society?
Teaching strategy:
freewrite/snowball
7. Survey of Literacy
Practices
How would you adapt this
in for use with your
students?
9. Code Breaker
How do I crack this text?
How does it work?
Is there more than one
semiotic system operating
here?
If so, how do they relate?
What are its (their) codes and
conventions?
How do the parts relate singly
and in combination?
10. Meaning Maker
How are the ideas in this text sequenced—
do they connect with one another?
Is the text linear or nonlinear; interactive or
non-interactive?
How does this affect the way I make
meaning?
What prior knowledge and experiences
might help me make meaning of this text?
How will my purpose for reading, and the
context in which I am reading, influence my
meaning making?
Are there other possible meanings and
readings of this text
11. Text User
What is the purpose of this text, and what is my
purpose in using it?
How have the uses of this text shaped its
composition?
What should I do with this text in this context?
What will others do with this text?
What are my options or alternatives after reading?
12. Text Analyst
What kind of person, with what interests and values,
produced this text?
What are the origins of this text?
What is the text trying to make me believe and do?
What beliefs and positions are dominant in the text?
What beliefs and positions are silenced or absent?
What do I think about the way this text presents these ideas,
and what alternatives are there?
Having critically examined this text, what action am I going to
take?
16. Once your blog is set up
Using Google Docs, redesign the literacy survey for
use in your next practicum placement
Embed it on your blog
Write a one paragraph reflection explaining what you
changed and why.
17. For blog with me weekof the class
Share the url for your
next and the rest
via form on my blog.
Watch:
Xplanevisualthinking.Did you Know 4.0 (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8&feature=related
Lucier, R. (2009). Creative Commons: What every educator
needs to know. (Slideshare)
http://www.slideshare.net/thecleversheep/creative-
commons-what-every-educator-needs-to-know-
presentation
If you get really stuck--don’t freak out! I’ll try to have the lab
booked for next class too and we can work out any kinks
Hinweis der Redaktion
Begin and end on time: 6:10. Take your break when you need to. BYOD (it’s not a requirement, but it is an option). Framing our conversations: Don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes. Video I posted was meant to push your thinking. It’s a video that I know some teachers have found very challenging, and I appreciate your honest feedback. There may be times in this course when you’re uncomfortable because I’m asking you to try things that you haven’t tried before, but remember that feeling because it’s something that you’ll expect of your students. Based on your literacy surveys I know that you are a diverse group and have many different interests in terms of teaching English which is wonderful. The one little piece of advice that I want to give you is to remember that you will not in all likelihood be teaching mini clones of yourself and you still need to find a way to reach the kid who only likes writing rap lyrics. You also have to remember our curriculum must be informed by the needs of the students in the class, and the curriculum documents outlined by the ministry, and nowhere in the curriculum documents does it say you must teach Hamlet. One of the big things I had to do as an English teacher was examine my own value judgements about “literature” and literacy and remember that what I teach should be driven by my kids, not just my own interests.
Choose how you want to take notes.
This is a broad concept and based on your responses to the video I posted last week, I think there were be a great deal of diversity in terms of what your definitions are. Still I think it’s a useful exercise to try to come up with a definition. We’ll revisit this definition at the end of the course. I want you to think about what a literate person must be able to know/do in order to participate fully in today’s and perhaps tomorrow’s society. That’s a tall order, but I’m going to give you a few minutes (3 actually) to jot down what comes to mind. Make sure you’re writing this on a lose piece of paper and definitely not on your phone or laptop. You’ll see why in a moment. Snowball, add an idea or a disagreement. Snowball x 2. Read a few of the comments and ask someone to record them and send them to me.
Redesigning is something that we want our students to be able to do. If we contrast this with a 19th century view literacy we’ll see that this represents a shift from the old goal of literacy which was recall, copying, reproduction. In your designed literacy surveys, you will begin with an available design and redesign it based on a real world context that will be appropriate for you.
A competent reader approaches reading as a selfmonitoring, problem-solving activity where the context and purpose of the task are analysed, a plan of action decided and appropriate resources are identified and accessed. These aren’t skills that necessarily come naturally to all readers, especially struggling readers and need to be considered in a balanced literacy approach. The implications for teaching are that teachers need a way of identifying the different reading purposes that might be encountered, and the resources that a reader might need for each purpose. Teachers also need to identify pedagogies that teach students to analyse tasks, problem solve, identify resources and self monitor in real life contexts. Reading pedagogy must be socially situated. Last week I posted a chart for you to have a look at that is a suggested method for analyzing texts. That chart is based on the 4 Resources model which is an framework used to help create a balanced approach to teaching reading. I’m going to just introduce you to this model now and we will return to it throughout the course.
One of the jobs that competent readers do is break the codes of semiotic systems used in texts. They have to draw on resources that help makes sense of text, but don’t think of texts exclusive as words on the page, they can also include illustration, video, and sound. These are some of the questions that a reader might ask when engaged in code-breaking. (Model this with Rodd’s blog doing a thinkaloud.)
When we’re making meaning of texts, we’re making meaning at both the literal and inferential levels. Readers have to use their code-breaking resources and draw on all their previous social cultural and reading experiences in order to make connections and form conclusions. Model this for blog doing a think aloud. It’s important to understand that different social and cultural backgrounds will change how a reader makes meaning. eg/ literacy test example.
Most reading, even reading for pleasure is pragmatic. There is a purpose for it. The purpose for reading affects the way that we interact with a text. For example, if you’ve been assigned a text book reading for a course, there are certain pieces of information you’re going to focus on more than others while, if you’re reading for pleasure, you might focus on the way in which a character is developed or the beauty of the language.
Texts are social products. They are not neutral. These questions are the kinds of questions we have students ask when we want them to engage in what’s commonly called critical literacy. 19th century students were expected to accept at face value the ideas presented to them in texts, but consider for example Film and video similarly promote particular values and ideologiesabout the world through characterisation and setting; by associating particular behaviours and attitudes with certain classes, races or countries; or by adopting unexpected twists of the plot, such as the ‘bad’ character ultimately ‘winning’.
At this point we’re moving more from a theory mindset to a practice mindset. The main focus for assessment in this course is the construction of a digital portfolio using the vehicle of a blog. As a classroom teacher I have my students blog on a regular basis in my media class and for specific units in some of my other classes. I do not ask my students to blog because I think that writing online is “better” than writing on paper. It is different and achieves different goals. Blogging creates an authentic audience for my students’ writing. Writing for the teacher is not an authentic audience (usually). Writing for marks is not authentic either. It’s not a real world task. However, writing to share ideas with others, to help others, to solve problems, create something together is authentic. Also, blogging is interactive and has the potential to create ongoing conversations and a sense of community. Finally, blogging can be multimodal, incorporating audio, video, image, and text which provides more ways for students to demonstrate their learning (because I’m not always necessarily evaluating their “writing” since that’s only one component of the curriculum).
5 blog posts throughout the course. Your first post will be due by next class. And it will be your redesigned literacy survey with a brief (one paragraph) explanation of what and why you changed what you changed.
You can choose the platform that works best for you. I’m going to suggest three different options Blogger, Wordpress, or Edublogs. Right now we’re going to go down to the lab and I’m going to give you some time to check out all three platforms and decide which one works best for you. Then I want you to set up your blog. Some of you may do this very quickly, others may need more time which is fine. I’m here to help.
The readings required for next week are pretty light so don’t worry. I will posted additional resources on my blog and on OWL to help you if you’re not sure how to create a survey in google docs or how to embed a google doc survey on your blog. If you’re stuck, just have the survey and reflection typed and saved and I’ll help you post it in class next week.