“But the fundamental questions remain: Where can students learn these new literacies? How can an over-crowded curriculum accommodate them? What do these new literacies mean to classroom teachers in the 21st century?” The main question from this quote that really stood out to me was, “How can an over-crowded curriculum accommodate them.” After completing my student teaching, I realized that teachers have so much they have to cover in a short amount of time. They are so worried about covering all of the CSOs, other activities and new concepts are sometimes left in the dust. I hope someday that teachers will be able to understand the importance of incorporating media literacy into their instruction without worrying that they won’t be able to cover the other required curriculum.
I found a great interactive website titled WorldWideWorkshop that allows students to use new-media tools and environments for creative writing and story telling. This website is engaging and would be a great resource for a teacher to use to help incorporate media literacy into her instruction. Students will be able to create their own definitions for media literacy. These skills should be incorporated and instilled at an early age because they are a necessity to have to be successful after graduating high school and growing up in a world dominated by technology.
Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/semali1/index.html
Social media technology and learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.worldwideworkshop.org/programs/past-programs/new-media-a-literacy
I completely agree that students, and teachers, are overwhelmed with CSOs that the learning activities are not as good a quality, sometimes. At least at North Marion, we are trying to find a balance of engaging students and meeting all the CSOs required for the class.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the problems with "over crowding the curriculum" is No Child Left Behind. Teachers have to teach to tests instead of teach what they would like to.
ReplyDeleteRight on! Covering a lot of content in a short amount of time for the purpose of trying to meet AYP leaves very little room for the teacher to be innovative.
ReplyDeleteStudents and teachers and becoming more overwhelmed daily! Every teacher in our school seems to be stressed to the max and completely overwhelmed. There are so many requirements that teachers can't just "teach" anymore. Overload for sure!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Diana that NCLB makes it difficult for teachers to be able to teach what the students need to know to be successful. Instead, they have to teach what will be on the test, no matter how irrelevant it may be to real world experiences and what the students really need to know to be successful.
ReplyDeleteWhen I finish my dissertation I'm going to work very hard at the state level to change how students are tested in West Virginia. Until we do it's going to be difficult to move into the 21st century!
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