Literacy

As we have explored in this semester, the definition of literacy has expanded in my view. From the start literacy was only thought of as reading and writing, but as we have learned it can be so much more. And even including the "new" literacies which before I would never have included in this heading. I thought it was very interesting to see the different definitions that people found and posted on the wiki. This just goes to prove that it is a difficult word to put only one meaning to.
The internship for next year should be interesting. I'm mostly okay about it, but a little concerned that I don't know enough about the special education portion of it or how it will work. I need to find out a few more answers before I will be comfortable about it. I thought that it was a great idea to have this years interns come in to speak to the class. I really learned alot from them. Over all I'm excited to get into the classroom and continue my education.

Literacy: Then and Now

Over the course of this semester, the term literacy has become a much more broad concept than I used to think of it. Even after four years of college, my definition of literacy did not even begin to cover the definition I now know. But with that thought, I should say that my "new" definition of literacy is not really a straightforward dictionary type of definition, but rather a collection of ideas or multiple definitions.

I feel as though I have learned a lot during this course. I really appreciate the fact that I have been able to "broaden my horizons" of literacy, so to speak. I really was dreading the technology/new literacies project, but I have to say that I really did learn a lot by doing it. I was not only able to increase my knowledge significantly on one certain literacy (cultural), but I was also forced to deal with the scary monster of technology. I look forward to checking out the other projects as well so that I can learn more about the other new literacies.

Thinking ahead to internship year is a scary thought. But, I will say that I feel better prepared for it now than I ever have. I look forward to implementing what I have learned about literacy in my placement and I feel much more confident in being able to do so. Technology has always scared me, but I know that it is important to incorporate into my teaching, especially since so many students are using so many forms of technology on a daily basis.

New Literacies Project: Cultural Literacy

I chose Cultural literacy as my focus for this project. When I first started looking up information, I wasn't coming up with a lot that seemed relevant or usable for this project. However, the more time I spent on it, the more I found.

I don't think I can actually post "my notes" in this blog, as they consist of many many pages of paper and post-it notes, but I will write about what information I've found and where I've found it.

First, I read a book with the title "Cultural Literacy" written by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. Hirsch has many good things to say about cultural literacy, but his views have been challenged by a lot of people. This book was the only real source I had for a while, so I decided to dig a little deeper.

I used the MSU Libraries website to look up "scholarly articles" about cultural literacy, and while not all the search results proved relevant, I did go away with a couple of pretty good sources. I would recommend this site if you're having a hard time finding information for your project.

Another good source I ended up using was NPR, which was really cool because I didn't think I'd find anything relevant there, but was mistaken, as I found a couple of really useful broadcasts.