M3 Blog Post 3: Leveraging Tools, Text and Talk in My Teaching Context

 

In social studies, new literacies can provide immense access to the places and periods of time students are studying. “Digital culture, for example, often highlights sounds and images that would be impossible for humans to witness in a purely analog context,” writes Antero Garcia in “Nondigital skills: Losing sight (and sound) in our analog world.” (Garcia, 2017) In my classroom, taking a virtual tour of the Lascaux caves, seeing images of the American West, and listening to the language of the native Alaskan Lingit people are all meaningful learning experiences that rely on “new literacies.” I’ve included above this post an example of a digital visual representation of population growth that makes a powerful connection with my students.

One of the examples in this module’s readings that stood out to me as a practice I will start to incorporate into my social studies classes, was an example given by Linda Jacobsen in “Assessing News Literacy in the 21^st Century.” She gave an example of how 11^th graders were asked to identify when looking at digital content what “information might have been left out of the story.” (Jacobsen, 2017, p. 22). I also loved the news photo analysis project she wrote about where the teacher had students write their own captions and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of first hand accounts. (Jacobsen, 2017, p. 19).

In designing classroom activities that leverage analog and digital learning experiences, I agree with Earl Aguilera in “More than Bits and Bytes,” that exploring topics such as intellectual property and internet censorship in class discussions can engage students in what lies beyond the screen. (Aguilera, 2017).

A complex learning goal for my students might look like this: Through active engagement in completion of course activities, students will develop the ability to analyze and interpret historical events by comparing multiple perspectives, evaluating the reliability and bias of primary and secondary sources and draw conclusions about how different groups experienced the same event.

 The number one project I have assigned to 7^th graders that can benefit from increased digital learning experiences that I hope to try in the future is an oral history project. My students have typically interviewed a person of their choice at least 25 years older than them about historic events, immigration, and genealogy of their family. The students have recorded interviews, made a transcript, written a reflection and then shared with their class some highlights in a slide presentation. Some of the interviews are extremely compelling and the students in the class and I have learned a lot from stories like a grandfather’s telling of the family gathered around the tv, waiting to see if he was selected for the Vietnam draft, for example. There is a fantastic opportunity to share the lessons and stories that are shared in this project with a wider audience including families, historians and in some cases affiliate communities that might include veterans or neighbors who could enrich the students’ experiences with their own stories.

One of the considerations is students who feel more vulnerable sharing. In my classes several students spoke Spanish at home and I allowed them to complete the interviews in Spanish and provide a translation. Even though I welcomed hearing portions of the interviews in Spanish, the students were both uncomfortable with this in a classroom where the majority of students’ primary language was English. I also have many concerns about individual students participating in affinity groups or social media individually but I am inspired by the idea the class could approach it as a group, as is introduced in “Affinity Spaces, Literacy and Classrooms: Tensions and Opportunities.” (Magnifico, Lammars & Fields, 2018).

Some of the Challenges I see students face in the digital realm:

Dominant ideologies

Misogynistic narratives

Cheating

What is appropriate to share with larger audiences?

Increased vulnerability to criticism

 But “pedagogy that effectively leverages technology is fundamental and is characterized by employing these seemingly neutral devices to teach in ways that are culturally relevant, build on students’ strengths, enable students to understand relationships of power and contend with the political nature of the gadgets themselves.” (Philips & Garcia, 2013) 

References

 

Aguilera, E. (2017, November/December). More than bits and bytes. Literacy Today. International Literacy Association. 35 (3). pp. 12-13.

Garcia, A. (2017, November/December). Nondigital skills: losing sight (and sound) of our analog world. Literacy Today. International Literacy Association. 35 (3) pp. 24-25.

Jacobsen, L. (2017, November/December). Assessing New Literacy in the 21^st Century: A year after the election that blurred lines. Literacy Today. International Literacy Association. 35 (3) pp. 18-22.

Magnifico, A., Lammars, J and Fields, D. (2018, September). Affinity spaces, literacies and classrooms: tension and opportunities. Literacy. 52 (3). United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA). Wiley and Sons.

Philips, T. and Garcia, A. (2013, July). The importance of still teaching the iGeneration: New technologies and the centrality of pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review. 83 (2). pp. 300-319.