Media Ecology Case Report

Google Docs Report

Above is the link to my Media Ecology Case Report.  I hope that the link works!

Changing Literacies; Changing Pedagogies

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 7
"The students' presentation of their classroom experience suggested that schools, and individual teachers within them, were at different stages in their integration of technology within the curriculum." (Burnett, p. 121).
This statement is true for a lot of different schools in different areas throughout the state.  I know for a fact that the county I teach for uses technology in the classrooms daily whereas the neighboring county doesn't use technology hardly at all.  It is amazing to me how much of a difference there really is in a 20-mile radius.  There are even some schools within my county that do not have classroom iPads or mobile labs.  I believe that if one school in your county has these devices then all of your schools should also have them.  We should all be working together within the county to help get our students back on track and keep them on schedule.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 8
"An awareness that not all students are expert or confident with digital technologies, and that they require the support of teachers with relevant expertise, is fundamental not only to overt instruction but also impacts on critical framing discussed below." (Kerin, p. 139-140).
I like how this text also goes back to making sure that students have the proper instruction and guidance when it comes to the modern technologies.  It is important for teachers to assist their students with things that they don't understand and teach them the skills needed to use the newest technology.  Some people may think that creating a PowerPoint presentation is really easy but others may need some assistance figuring it out.  We cannot assume that our students are automatically programmed with this information.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 9
"Using the case of composing personal memoir, I consider how personal memoir contains a number of dimensions that retain their importance and impact, regardless of media." (Leander, p. 160).
I have always been told that "out of the box" thinking was a bad thing; I do not agree with that whatsoever.  I personally believe that you have to break out of the mold once in a while and let your students create something off the wall.  Let them use multi modal texts for a project instead of just a generic report or poster.  I also like the idea of having the students to keep an "interactive notebook" in the classroom for different subjects.  My colleagues have told me so many wonderful things about interactive notebooks and I will be using them in the Fall.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Conclusion
"We believe that teachers should be prepared to move towards structuring classrooms as learning communities where new knowledge is generated and distributed." (Robinson & Carrington, p. 167)
I have already attended one professional development workshop this summer focusing on implementing the strategies needed in the mastery of operations in base ten for grades 2-5 and am planning on attending two other trainings before schools starts back.  I am fully willing to do anything that I need to do to create an open learning environment for my students.  To say that I agree with the quote from the conclusion would be an understatement.


I am not sure if I am fully prepared to teach my students the design, construction, and critique of digital text.  I will say that I am prepared to learn alongside of them and help them as much as possible.  I do, however, think that I may have my students use iMovie, PowerPoint, or some other type of media designer to create lessons or projects for the class.  I love doing student centered activities where the students have to teach a lesson to the rest of the class without assistance from me.  This teaches them to be more dependent upon themselves and their peers instead of the teacher.


Illuminated Text
I chose to create my illuminated text using the quote from the Conclusion.

Analyze the Interview

Hanging Out: My young person uses her devices to keep connected with her friends via Facebook and Instagram.  She mentioned that numerous times during our interview and she uses Facebook frequently (as we are Facebook friends).  She also uses FaceTime to communicate with some of her closest friends from school.  She will take screenshots of her FaceTime chats with her good friend and posts them on Facebook and Instagram.  My young person is very technology driven and enjoys using the different modes of technology.

Messing Around: The fact that my young person is technology literate gives her the upper hand when it comes to completing classwork on the iPads.  She can easily navigate her way around an app and knows how to access her online classwork without any instruction.  When she comes over to visit, she easily connects our Wii to the television without any assistance (which she has been doing for many years) and can easily work on an iPad.  She said that her favorite computer game is called Crossyroad because it is entertaining to her.

Geeking Out: I believe that my young person has a skill when it comes to navigating technology.  As stated in the above category, she knows exactly where to go to locate her homework and how to turn it back in to the teacher.  She does not need any assistance from her parents to access the apps or the sites on the Internet.  She told me that she wants to be doctor one day and I believe that she will have the skills needed to achieve that dream.

Schooling: My young person did not mention the use of traditional literacy practices or any type of school-related activity.


Possible Quotes:
"One technological determinist view represents contemporary children as increasingly 'active' and 'worldly' because there are now technologies that enable and encourage this." (Carrington, p.66).

"This exposes the tension that exists between the idea of using an immersive and literacy-rich virtual world as a context for incidental but purposeful uses of digital literacy and the focus on teaching literacy, which was understandably foremost in some of the teachers' minds." (Merchant, p.101).

Changing Literacies

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 4:
"The lengthy apprenticeship in learning to read and write in order to access information is linked, in this view, to maturation and the path to adulthood."(Carrington, p. 67).
I do agree with this statement to some degree.  Learning to read and write is a lengthy process and continues well into adulthood but I don't think that it is the path to maturation.  Being able to read and write is critical when it comes to holding a job and supporting yourself.  Some people never truly "grow up" and become a mature adult.  Maturation is more a state of mind, to me, than it is a learned skill.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 5:
"We therefore believe it is useful for teacher to accommodate this notion of multiple literacies and to understand texts as constructed differently when literacy is used to perform different functions in our everyday lives."(Davies & Merchant, p. 83).
Teachers should absolutely accommodate multiple literacies within the classroom.  As we look at online texts, such as blogs and social media sites, we can make those connections to the social aspect of things.  We can incorporate a classroom blog or a classroom Facebook page (if allowed by your school) as a way to have the students to communicate with other students and share information.  I love the idea of being able to have " electronic pen pals" with other students from other schools.  I think this would benefit our students and have them to develop those multiple literacies.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 6:
"The whole concept of gameplay, and the notion that students might actually learn in game-like environments, contrasts with dominant interpretations of the curriculum." (Merchant, p. 103).
Chapter 6 was a little bit confusing to me.  I don't really understand the concept of gameplay within the classroom.  Are they talking about a virtual world where the students communicate with one another and role play?  I don't know if this would be something that I would consider trying this in my classroom.  I don't think that the students in my area would be able to handle that type of learning without taking advantage.  There are still some forms of technology that I am uncomfortable with and this is one of them.


As I have previously stated, I do like the idea of blogging in the classroom.  I think it would be nice for the students to keep an online notebook to write down their ideas and discussions and have other students leave feedback.  I am not a fan of Wikipedia.  The fact that anyone can log in and change the information makes it a very unreliable source for information.   I have always been told to never use information from Wikipedia because you never knew if it was true or not.  Our students need to know where to find reliable and trusted information.  And I have also said that I probably would not try the virtual world gameplay.  I don't think that the students in my district could handle that type of activity without constant monitoring and proximity control.

I am not sure about the CCSS for the blogging and the Wikipedia because I do believe that we are moving away from these standards.  The only reason I say this is because I am currently at a workshop and we have discussed the shift in the Common Core Standards.  Topics that we used to teach in third or fourth grade are now being shifted into fifth or sixth grade.



Illuminated Text:
Illuminated Text from Chapter 6

Media Ecology and Learning Case-Interview with a Young Person

The following is my interview with my niece, "Lynn"

1. Do you have a computer/iPod/MP3 player/Wii/etc?

• I have a phone, an iPod, and a tablet

2. What kinds of things do you use the computer/phone/iPad for?

• I use my tablet for Facebook and to message my friends

3. What is your favorite thing to do on the computer?

• To check Facebook

4. How did you learn to do that?

• I learned by watching my mom check her Facebook

5. What are some other things you use the computer for?

• To check Instagram and keep contact with my friends

6. What is your favorite game? Why?

• I like to play Crossyroad because it entertains me

7. Do you know other people who do this?

• Yes I do

8.  How do you use the computer at school?

• I use it to complete my classwork and homework assignments

9.  How would you like to use the computer at school?

• I would like to be able to check Facebook and Instagram and download my own apps.

10.  Do you think teachers would let you use the computers to do those things?  Why or why not?

• No because they are too strict

11.  Anything else you would like to tell me?

• School needs to stop assigning so much homework on the iPads and computers because a lot of students do not have Internet connection at their houses.

Possible Quotes from the Readings:

"It is becoming increasingly clear that online social networking has become embedded in many people's offline lives across the world; while it is clear that many people learn the necessary skills to participate without tuition, there are implications for teachers in all this." (Davies, p.29).

"Crucially, even for youngsters with technological access, their activities may be constrained by social goals as well as limitation in terms of their technology skills, or in their ability to see the possibilities available to them in different online spaces." (Davies, p.33).

Digital Texts In and Out Of School

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Introduction:
"In contemporary societies, we must now include texts created via digital technologies when we speak of the texts that cocoon us in our everyday lives and allow us to make our way through the city as we navigate our various social, political, cultural and economic obligations." (Carrington & Robinson, p.1).
As we move through today's society, we are incorporating technology into our everyday lives.  Digital literacy becomes a more important aspect of our education because we see more technology in places that you wouldn't have seen it 20 years ago.  As the introduction pointed out, New York City is a great example of digital texts and technology.  If you look at Times Square, almost all of the buildings have an electronic sign on them that is promoting some type of product or production.  We need to ensure that our youth has the ability to understand these digital technologies so that they can navigate their way through society.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 1:
"Media education, therefore, needs to draw on the cultural experiences of young people, recognize the barriers to participation, and provide students with skills to analyze and produce media in ways which extend and build on their existing knowledge." (Willett, p.16).
This is what we have been discussing for awhile now.  It is vital to build upon existing knowledge rather than to start from scratch.  The idea of using iMovies in the classroom is wonderful.  My colleagues used iMovies as a supplemental activity in ELA and the students really took to it.  I think that exposing students to these forms of technology is beneficial to them because they are learning digital literacy and using background knowledge.  I hope that I will be able to incorporate these types of learning modes into my classroom next year.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 2:
"Further, in exploring meanings, we can take into account not just the written word, but also images, layout, font, sound, gesture, movement and so on." (Davies, p. 30).
The written language goes so much further than just words.  When I think of written language I think of books.  When I read a book I want to be able to imagine the characters in my mind; what do they sound like? What do they look like? What are their mannerisms? To be an effective writer you need to be able to give the reader these types of feelings.  The written word does not give the mood that the reader is looking for.  It is the images, the sounds, the moods, the layout, and so forth that make the story flow.

Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices Chapter 3:
"In order to succeed socially, as well as academically, across the myriad opportunities for text production available in the early twenty-first century, children must possess the ability to interrogate and recognize the power relations and forces that play upon and around their text production." (Dowdall, p. 51).
This particular chapter was devoted to a study of two children and the development of a profile page. Social media is a huge thing in today's society and more children are signing up for Facebook and Instagram.  The children need to know how to handle being on these social media sites and what is expected of them.  They should understand what type of text is appropriate for these sites and what type is not appropriate.  It is up to us as educators to ensure that they have the skills needed to recognize the forces that play upon their text production.


I believe that technology in the classroom is a wonderful thing if it is used appropriately.  I have used the classroom iPads many times in math as a supplemental activity for the students.  I also think that using age appropriate apps and games should be used whenever possible in the classroom.  We need to be building upon the background knowledge of our students and introducing them to technology that they may not be familiar with.  The only downfall to using the technology is that you cannot 100% prevent the students from straying away from the assignment and getting onto the Internet and looking up other things or playing other games.  I ran into that problem in my classroom a few times and often had to confiscate the student's iPad.  There has to be rules and consequences set before any type of activity begins.  That was the problem that I had with my class.  I learned that I had to give my rules and consequences up front before allowing  the students to participate.  Monitoring is also a key to using technology in the classroom.  You always need to be watching and walking around to ensure that everyone is on topic and doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Illuminated Text
I chose to create my illuminated text using the quote from the Introduction.

Digital Natives Stand Alone Presentation

Digital Natives Stand Alone Presentation

Above is the link to my Stand Alone Power Point Presentation on Author Share.  The main purpose of my presentation was to give a brief definition of what a digital native is and then to give examples of what it looks like, what it means, and what we can do about it.  The main idea of the digital native presentation is to educate our youth on digital literacy and new media.  We shouldn't allow our youth to become targets for advertising and marketing.  We should be creating the appropriate learning environments for our students and giving them the adequate skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the digital age.  We need to put an end to the stereotypes and begin treating the digital native as it truly is, a subset of a group.  The way that youth learn, create, invent, etc.  So let us all strap in and enjoy the wonderful ride that we call education!

Beyond Digital Natives

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 10:
"From this position, it could be argued that "digital literacy" describes an ability to skillfully utilize one's knowledge of text construction and analysis (be it paper, digital, popular culture, and so on) in order to continuously develop one's ability to handle digital media."-Rachael Levy, p.153
I must agree with this statement brought about by Rachael Levy.  There are many broad definitions of the term "digital literacy" and I feel as if this may describe it the best.  I do believe that digital literacy is a person's ability to utilize knowledge to develop the ability to handle digital media.  As a teacher, I have to know the material that I am teaching before I can teach it to my students.  It only makes sense that someone would need to have the knowledge of digital literacy before handling digital media.

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 11:
"An important finding emerging from access studies of school-aged children---which are better at capturing a broad cross-section of the population than studies of university students because of the social profile of the latter---is that socioeconomic status is a factor in technology access even in affluent societies (e.g., Aslanidou & Menexes, 2008; Eamon, 2004; Facer & Furlong, 2001; Jenkins, 2009; Livingstone & Helsper, 2007; OECD, 2010; Otto et al., 2005).-Sue Bennet & Karl Maton, p.171
Socioeconomic status plays a major role in technology and the access to technology.  I was not surprised to read about it in this chapter.  I live and teach in a more rural area where there is a lower socioeconomic status, especially with the coal mines shutting down.  I had more students in my class this year that did not have access to Internet at home because their parents could not afford to pay for it.  That is a huge problem when we are so dependent upon iPads and other technology to complete assignments and homework.  It was also more of a problem for me because our school was under a paper shortage and I was unable to run copies of homework assignments for the students.  All of the assignments were uploaded to an app on the students' iPads where they could complete them and send them back for grading.  I feel as if this problem will only get worse with the decline in the economy.

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 12:
"The core idea, what we mean when we talk about digital natives, is to allow a term to describe a subset of today's youth; the manners in which they relate to information, technology, and one another; the problems that arise from some of these practices; and the new possibilities for creativity, learning, entrepreneurship, and innovation (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008, p.15)."-Palfrey & Gasser, p.188
I liked this statement.  We have been discussing Digital Natives for a few weeks now and I think I finally have a true understanding of what it means.  I like the way that Palfrey & Gasser describe the term "Digital Native."  They aren't describing a person; they are describing a state of being.  How the youth relay information, how they learn, how they use technology, etc.  I really enjoyed reading this chapter!

After reading the last few chapters of Deconstructing Digital Natives I now have a better understanding of digital literacy and the digital native.  I think that you need to have the knowledge of digital literacy before you can take on new digital media.  As an educator, I need to ensure that my students possess this knowledge before handling  the technology.  As far as the digital native is concerned, I enjoyed Palfrey & Gasser's description.  I don't like giving labels to certain groups of people or stereotyping certain groups of people.  The digital native, to me, is a state of being instead of being a specific group of people.

The philosoraptor wants us to think about what would happen if we taught digital literacy.  I believe that our youth need to be educated on the concept of digital literacy before they can use the new digital media.

The Case of Digital Literacy

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 7:
"Not all young people are digitally competent, nor are they all interested in every aspect of the new media (Livingstone, 2009)."-Ola Erstad, p. 99
I must say that I do agree with this statement.  Just because a person is born into a digital age does not mean that they are interested in the new media.  One of my fellow classmates pointed this out in last week's blog posting; young people still need to be taught the information to use some technology and digital media.  We are not born with a set of instructions that automatically makes us fluent in all aspects of the new media.  As Ola Erstad also said, "My interest is mainly in the role of education in creating the learning environments needed for providing all children and young people with the competencies needed to become literate in a digital culture and enhance their everyday knowledge, experiences, and skills." (Deconstructing Digital Natives, p.106).  It is up to all of us as educators to ensure that we are creating the appropriate learning environments needed for providing students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the digital age.

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 8:
"According to the 2009 ECAR study, 87 percent of students rate themselves as either early (ahead of their peers) or mainstream (on a par with their peers) adopters of new technologies."-Gregor E. Kennedy, Terry S. Judd, p.121
As you keep reading this section of Chapter 8 it continues to say that this data has to do with using social networks.  Using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are quite easy in my opinion, especially for teens and young adults.  As time moves forward there are more parents and grandparents joining Facebook.  My grandmother just recently joined and she doesn't seem to have much trouble navigating it.  I do agree that students are mainstream adopters of new technologies but that doesn't mean that they know everything about every new piece of new technology that gets released.  Some technologies are easier to work with than others.

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 9:
"The expectations regarding youngsters' participation in the information society builds upon stereotypes both in relation to the image of youth and that of technology."-Sheila Zimic, Rolf Dalin, p.139
This is what bothers me about the "Digital Natives" metaphor.  A stereotype is building around our youth and the use of technology that isn't quite accurate.  Referring back to my first quote from Chapter 6, just because a person is born into a digital age does not mean that they are interested and competent in the new media.  One of my fellow classmates also made a comment in last week's blog post about stereotyping youth and technology.  Technology can be used for so many wonderful things and that is what we need to teach our youth.


Let's consider the role of schooling in the development of young people's digital literacies.  I personally feel as if teachers should be responsible for the development of digital literacy in students. Digital literacy is important because it supports the development of academic reading and writing practises.  Just like Ola Erstad said in Chapter 6 is that we should be creating the environments needed for providing students with the competencies needed to become literate in a digital culture.  As an educator it is my role to create these learning environments for my students so that they will have the skills and knowledge to be able to use the new technologies appropriately and safely.  I use quite a bit of technology in my classroom and my students need to know about the technology before they can participate.  If a student is unable to use the technology appropriately then they lose their privileges.  Simple as that.

We need to ensure that we are teaching our youth to use the Internet and new media for the correct reasons.  If not, they will become obsessed with social media and online sites.

The Civic, Social, and Multi Modal Lives of Digital Natives

Deconstructing Digital Natives  Chapter 4:
"More widely, however, there appears to have been little fundamental shift in the acceptance of the idea that human brains are "plastic" and "mutate" in response to technology, thus allowing those who use technology most heavily (still mainly considered to be young people) to process, access, and use information in fundamentally different ways from other generations and non-technology users." (Shakuntala Banaji, p.51).
I found this statement to be particularly interesting to me.  I do believe that the Digital Natives process, access, and use information differently than other generations.  They mentioned in Chapter 4 that the "baby boomers" were introduced to color television as their technology advancement.  The invention of color television is nothing compared to the invention of the World Wide Web.  As I have stated before, my father was part of the "baby boomer" generation and he does well to use his laptop. He refuses to use a cell phone because he doesn't understand the need for technology.  There are many real world examples that I can give you that prove that the younger generations are more capable and willing to use the new technology than our parents and grandparents.

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 5:
"Juvenile crimes have been given considerable media attention, with some critics blaming new media such as violent videos and video games, mobile phones, and the Internet." (Toshie Takahashi, p.69).
This particular statement holds true in many ways.  With the recent attacks in Florida and other attacks around the world, it is no wonder that people are blaming the media.  Our children are being exposed to violence and terror on social media and the Internet.  Then there is the reality of cyber bullying causing kids to commit suicide or take a gun to school to kill the bullies.  How do we stop these things from happening? How can we protect our children from the violence and the crime?

Deconstructing Digital Natives Chapter 6:
"According to Skehan (1998), for long-term language learning success, we need to ensure a balanced focus between the pedagogical goals of fluency, accuracy, and complexity in the long-term learning of the grammatical system." (Mike Levy, Rowan Michael, p.86).
I agree with this statement one hundred percent.  You can not fully learn a language without fluency, accuracy, and complexity.  The problem with our children today is that they are used to speaking in "texting language."  They abbreviate their words and come up with phrases and words that we don't really understand.  When they get into the classroom, the students tend to write using the abbreviated text instead of writing out the full word.  They will also write in chunks instead of writing in complete sentences because they are used to texting all of the time.  We have to teach them that the proper goals for fluency, accuracy, and complexity when it comes to language.  They should be using more complex words (the words that I like to call "big girl words").  They should be able to speak fluently and accurately.  That is the only problem with texting and messaging; it causes our children to learn short hand instead of speaking and writing using the appropriate methods.


Meme:

One of my all-time favorite memes involves Batman slapping Robin.  I chose to create my meme using the quote from Chapter 6.  Teens use entirely too much text lingo instead of speaking properly.

Digital Natives: Reflecting on the Myth

Quote from the Forward of Digital Natives.
"Technology often plays a complex and ambivalent role in this ongoing, mutual construction of generations."-Professor David Buckingham
 I chose this quote from the Forward because I thought it was an accurate statement.  We have been categorizing ourselves into different generation groups for many years.  Technology has been ever-changing over the years and has most definitely shaped the construction of  the generations.  Going forward I have no doubt that technology will ultimately mold and construct our generation groups.

Quote from Chapter One of Digital Natives.
"Two hundred years later, the Internet has brought greater global access to information, education, and commerce than ever before, but these benefits have to be balanced against cybercrime, cyber-bullying, information overload, violent video games, copyright infringement, and 24/7 online pornography."-Michael Thomas
This quote spoke to me on many different levels.  It spoke to me as an educator, it spoke to me as an aunt to three nieces, and it also spoke to me as a possible future parent.  The Internet has been such a wonderful tool in the world of technology, but it does come with many risks.  In today's society, there are more social media outlets for our children to get caught up in.  Almost all of my fifth grade students had an Instagram account and most of them had a Facebook account.  We have to really teach our children how to stay safe while on the Internet and the risks that are involved.  They need to know about child predators, cyber-bullying, and inappropriate websites.  There are parental blocks that you can put onto your computer that block your child from freely browsing the internet.  We have Internet blocks at our school for the students' iPads so that they can only go to sites that we approve.  Even though the Internet allows us the opportunity to explore and learn, our children still need to know how to stay safe while browsing.

Quote from Chapter Two of Digital Natives.
"So to me, being a Digital Native is about growing up in a digital country or culture, as opposed to coming to it as an adult."-Marc Prensky
I was born in the early 90s so I suppose I can consider myself a Digital Native.  I grew up watching my older brothers play Nintendo and Play Station and hearing the dial-up sounds from AOL.  I would spend my weekends with my aunt and uncle playing Barbie Fashion Design on an old Windows 98 Desktop.  As an adult (who still lives at home), I am frequently helping my middle aged mother use my laptop.  She will often need help printing a document that she typed or completing an order on Amazon.  I tend to laugh at her and try to figure out why she needs help with such simple things.  After reading this chapter by Marc Pensky, I finally understand.  My parents were not born into a world with technology.  My father was born in 1951 and my mother ten years later.  They have had to develop a sense for technology as an adult and that has proven to be a challenge.  The good thing about our children today is that they will already have that technology background.

Quote from Chapter Three of Digital Natives.
"Prensky's revised position is still deterministic; it suggests that digital enhancement is essential, and even though it moves beyond a straightforward divide between immigrants and natives, the argument retains a simple moral imperative: digital enhancement has to be accepted in order to succeed."-Chris Jones
Digital enhancement is essential to move forward.  There are new technologies being created all of the time and that cannot be changed.  The world needs to continue to move forward in this direction.  Although I am still waiting on someone to invent a working hovercraft, I think we have been successful with technology up to this point.  Who knows what will happen in the next five or ten years.  There could finally be a cure for cancer and diabetes.  There could be a vaccine for HIV/AIDS.  Technology is continuously changing and we have to change with it.

Now that I have read the chapters from Digital Natives I have a new opinion of the effects of technology on young people.  As I have previously stated, our children today are growing up with technology all around them.  As babies they are exposed to early learning DVDs such as Baby Einstein.  As toddlers they are given toys that run off of a smart phone.  Once the children start school they are given iPads and shown how to use the Internet to find information.  The Digital Natives have the upper hand when it comes to dealing with technology because they are being raised by it.

"Baby Einstein"

This child looks to be around maybe two years old and is watching DVDs on a laptop.  This child is a Digital Native because he was born into the generation where technology is prominent.  I captioned it "Baby Einstein" because it is a play on of the DVD that he is watching and also what the parents hope will become of the child for watching the DVD at such a young age.


Bibliography:
Digital Natives; Forward, Professor David Buckingham, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Digital Natives: Chapter One Technology, Education, and the Discourse of the Digital Native, Between Evangelists and Dissenters, Michael Thomas
Digital Natives: Chapter Two Digital Wisdom and Homo Sapiens Digital, Marc Pensky
Digital Natives: Chapter Three Students, The Net Generation, and Digital Natives, Accounting for Educational Change, Chris Jones

Texting and Multi-Modal Texts Continued

The important things I learned from the video are texting is not writing, speech came long before writing, and language is speech.  But the most important thing I learned is that a whole new language has developed among our young people.

Blabberize can be used for many different things within the classroom.  As an educator, I could easily use Blabberize to have my students display their learning creatively, help ELL students to enhance speaking and listening skills, to create a new way to introduce themselves to the class at the beginning of the school year, and many other different things.  It would be easier to use Blabberize for middle and high school students but could be effectively used in the elementary schools as well.

Texting and Multi-Modal Texts

Digital Media Effects On Conventional Reading and Writing Practices

“Writing isn’t just black marks on white paper. It’s full of sound, images, color,” Lunsford says.  This particular quote from "Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers?" really spoke to me.  Reading is one of my favorite things to do in my spare time and I always try to imagine what the character looks like, sounds like, acts like, etc.  I pick certain characterizations about each character that I feel best represents them from the text.  Other people who read the same story may define the characters differently.  Writing is a way of expressing the way that we feel, the way that we understand and comprehend the world, the way that we see each other and ourselves.  

"At least since the invention of television, critics have warned that electronic media would destroy reading. What is different now, some literacy experts say, is that spending time on the Web, whether it is looking up something on Google or even britneyspears.org, entails some engagement with text."  I absolutely agree with these statement by Motoko Rich.  Children, teenagers, and young adults alike will always come into contact with text.  Sitting here writing this blog has given  me a chance to read an online article and then write about it.  It does not matter how the students are able to come into contact with the text as long as they are reading. I think that allowing students to Google information during class or as a research project is a good way to incorporate literacy and text.  Literacy is like velcro, nothing else can stick without it.  

As far as the continuum between Web Evangelist and Traditionalist is concerned, I would consider myself somewhere in the middle.  I do believe that some digital media can be harmful to our youth but a lot of it can be beneficial if used appropriately.  According to Andrea Abernethy Lunsford, "Writing always changes given the context.  It molds itself to the changes."  I do agree with this statement because writing has been ever changing for many, many years.  We are writing differently than our parents and they are writing differently than their parents and so on.  Our future children will be using digital media to read and to write.  But with that being said, what is going to happen to the children who cannot read or write in cursive?  What about the children who struggle to even write their names because they don't have to use pencil and paper anymore.  "Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision." This is a quote by Motoko Rich explaining that alphabet print is different from digital print.  I like that children can read a book and create their own image of the character instead of having it all laid out for them on the Internet.  The future is clear; digital media will take over traditional print. I just hope that the digital media will be used for the benefit of the students. 

"Ever Changing"

I chose this visual metaphor because the leaves are ever changing, much like the ways that we go about reading and writing.  Reading and writing change with the times and molds itself with the changes.  

References:
"Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers? | Spotlight On Digital Media And Learning". Spotlight.macfound.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 2 June 2016.

Rich, M. (2008, July 26). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? Retrieved May 28, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=all

Literacy Comic

Literacy is like Velcro

Introduction

Hello Friends!  My name is Mary Beth Withrow and I am currently a 5th Grade teacher in Raleigh County.  I just recently graduated from Concord University with a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education and am currently working towards a Masters Degree in Digital Media.  I absolutely love watching football, spending time with my family (especially my three beautiful nieces), and reading. As Dr. Seuss once said, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go!"