Week Three: Social Networking and Combined Medias

Out of all the readings and videos the topic that suck with me the most and interested me was the topic focusing on using social networks as a way to mobilize citizenship. I never really realized this. Now that is has been pointed out I step back and I am able to recognize how I have witnessed this more and more every day. This consists of using websites such as Facebook, twitter, intagram to send the desired message. Citizens are able to use these medias as a group and reinforce information of their choosing. An informal alliance is built between common beliefs and the will of support.

This made me think back to the day of the recent bombing in Boston. I woke up and checked my phone. Many condolences statuses were posted on Facebook and a family friend of mine even shared a local Boston page that was fundraising for the cause and locals. My instagram feed consisted of post after post of “Pray For Boston”. These social networks were being used as a mechanism for support and patriotism.

Henry Jenkin’s video inspired this focus the most. As said before in previous posts I am a visual learner so this caught the majority of my focus. He focuses on social networking and how young generations have the potential to do things that matter because they are our teachers within this World Wide Web. They typically introduce us to these new medias and then we learn the ins and out of them to keep up. I discussed the usage of social networks mobilizing citizenship. Schools that are children go to are blocking these websites because they are deemed to be useless. I don’t agree with this. Within my student teaching experience I actually used social networking as much as possible as a tool to interest and relate to my students. I assigned research papers discussing current news topics among their generation and ask them to pick topics out of their facebook feeds. Or when reading literature I have asked students make a “FAKEBOOK” of a chosen character of their choosing.

As stated in Networked Publics by Varnelis networking is part of everyday life. The internet is transforming our sense of proximity and distance so we are able to stay in communication with people, states, countries that are in the real world, far away from us. Key issues discussed are within children being able to decipher and balance all the information across all of the medias. (Jenkins pg.47) I don’t see this as a problem. I see it as a tool, an ability that needs to be developed. You use all of these medias to gain additional knowledge and then you combine your information to make your own opinions or to produce a response to the concept which is all generated by the combination of all the supplied information. I don’t foresee this as a problem because in my educational experience I was encouraged in school to use different medias with assignments. For example, when assigned a paper my teacher would tell me that I was required to use four resources for my paper, three which could be of my choosing, one being the focused course text and one of my choices must be another book. Schools are encouraging this more and more. Students need to balance these diverse medias and learn how to combine all the information to produce. ”Educators need to create new activities when new technologies are introduced into the classroom.” (Jenkins pg.39) I do agree with this, but let’s do this where we know we will be guaranteed success. We know social networking interests our students and they relate to it. So instead of ruling it out, let’s utilize it. 

R U Really Reading, Online

Literacy is nothing less of the ability to read and write. Nadia, the student focused on within “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading” by Motoko Rich choses to use digital media for her literature and she proves her proficiency by producing above average grades within school. She maintains A’s and B’s. Everyone has different interests; reading is reading. If a child chooses to read all day on the computer and still produces adequate grades then who is to judge her chosen method. If an adult asks a child to stop reading just because it is not a topic of their choosing then shame on them. All reading expands knowledge. All reading tends to increase vocabulary skills. Literacy proficiency is not affected by the topic or method chosen it is affected by the lack of the activity entirely.

Literacy is transitioning to new media landscapes and it is nothing but beneficial to those who require diversified learning. These new landscapes just further the learning experience. They are more visual as well as interactive. The visual aspect tends to provide a clearer understanding. For example, growing up teachers would assign a particular piece of literature. At the end of the unit the teacher would play the movie based on the book. This movie would always clarify points missed while reading or at least reinforce what was read. Students such as English Language Learners take much benefit to these new methods. Teachers often use these new technology mediums for their differentiated instruction to assist these students with their comprehension. When concepts are understood clearly they tend to help learners create connections, and when the learners create connections it tends to fuel critical thinking.

The internet holds much potential of value. It is appealing to all sorts of learners if used properly. From personal experience, when taught the difference between reliable sources versus non reliable the internet can provide you with endless information needed to get through required classes and curriculum. It is extremely common these days that even professors use the internet to facilitate learning; they obtain reading material that the course focuses on from the internet. There are endless amounts of literature databases at your fingertips within the World Wide Web. These classics that debaters refer to; claiming that students should be reading instead of browsing on the internet because they hold more value are most likely easily located in the tool that they are criticizing. The internet is not the enemy. Our students are reading and that’s all that matters. Instead of ruling out the internet as a literacy resource, we should just teach students how to use it properly.

Week One Journal

My own literacy practice involves visual need. Even when reading the directions and outline of this assignment I needed to rewrite exactly what I was reading on paper in order to fully comprehend. Growing up in school there were times where I could reread the same page of a book three times and still not be able to tell you what I read. It wasn’t until high school when a particular teacher introduced me to the usage of sticky notes and jotting main points down which tended to help my literacy comprehension. Over the years I developed my own method of note taking while reading which has helped me throughout my learning path.

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives"

(Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9)

When I read this quote it made me think about how society pays attentions to its citizens, their literacy levels and also what these citizens do for themselves for their own literacy skills. In regards to literacy habits when reading I had to take notes for outline and clarification, I had to highlight to trigger understanding and look up definitions to words that were unfamiliar. Those steps were all necessary for me to complete and understand all of the five readings for this week. Without using those literacy techniques, points may have been misinterpreted or completely forgotten. Each reading is different and my specific note taking allows for myself to break down each one as well as compare them. I do this to complete assignments accurately and also to expand my long term knowledge. If fully understood properly, this is information that I can remember, which will give me the opportunity to refer back to and utilize for life. Placing the text information in long term memory for use is important to me. While I pointed out how I break down the texts to accomplish this, the most important thing that I do for myself to really understand the information provided, enabling me to use within my educational career is to relate personally. I did this with almost all of the readings and personally relating in my opinion is what really separates information from being short term to long term.

The selected articles and chapters made several points which related to my personal literacy practice and its history. Literacy has become more than just reading print on paper. It is constantly developing and its biggest strive which has affected me the most has been the expansion of the internet and computers which was discussed several times. My bachelor’s degree required myself to observe classrooms and teaching habits. The school I observed had more computers than teachers.  That has to speak to its effectiveness and reliability. The schools trusts computers to provide students with the tools that they need to enhance their learning. Computers have the potential to help with students that require visual literacy as myself. Both articles addressed how teaching and learning are more effective with technology. The use of multimedia improving increases the results of critical thinking. The chapters paid attention to illiteracy especially adult illiteracy. How some countries such as New Zealand recognized theirs problem and took measures. Others discussed the effectiveness of new literacy techniques, paying close attention to what they can do to help not just in the classroom but also outside of the classroom. This I took heart too. Being literate is so necessary to further yourself in life. There are different levels of literacy just how there are different types of teachers. There are teachers who want you to know how to read and there are teachers who want you to know how to read and understand what you’re reading. Those are the teachers that want you to personally progress. That’s how I related to the majority of these readings. I asked myself…why do these readings matter to me? How do I relate? One day in my future I want to be able to be that teacher that helps to understand, advances your literacy, encourages you to go on beyond basic learning and understanding and that’s what all of these studies on literacy are about.