NEW LITERACIES FOR NEW TIMES

New literacies are especially important to the effective use of content area information on the Internet. They allow us to identify important questions, navigate complex information networks to locate appropriate information, critically evaluate that information, synthesize it to address those questions, and then communicate the answers to others. These five functions help define the new literacies that your students need to be successful with the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Teaching With the Internet:
Venita Rodriguez's Eighth-Grade Team

These and many other sites on the Internet directly support instruction in the skills measured on Venita Rodriguez' state assessments.

• American Memory  More than7,000,000 items are online here, providing teachers with important primary source documents for reading, writing, and critical thinking in social studies.

• ENC Online  The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education contains a vast array of content for every K-12 topic in math and science. Be certain to visit the Web Links section of this site for links to exceptional teaching resources and ideas.

• The Math Forum  Hands-on resources for immediate use in math classrooms, K-12.  Be certain to visit Math Resources by Subject to immediately find useful resources for your class.

•  Web English Teacher contains an exceptional collection of online resources to assist you in the classroom.

•Starfall This exceptional resource contains a series of multimedia, interactive talking story books that teach early decoding skills.

•The Literacy Web  offers a great collection of links to literacy education resources, including children’s literature, adolescent literature, and writing, that are organized by grade level, K-12.

Venita Rodriguez also used Projects Registry, asking for a partner classroom for revision conferences.  Her eigth grade class was also involved in a literature discussion group with classes from New Zealand, Arizona, and Florida using the popular Book Raps site while they read powerful works of literature.  Students exchanged responses to this book via email each day in a lively series of conversations. 

New Literacies in Jackie Thomason's Science Classroom and Yolanda Mathews' Math Classroom

 The Math Forum Problem of the Week Each week, challenging problems were posted for students at every grade level to solve. This Internet resource really got her students to think deeply about mathematics and use what they were learning in highly engaging ways.

New Literacies in Bob Richter's Social Studies Classroom

• American Memory, an extensive collection of historical docu-
ments placed on the Internet by the Library of Congress. Here, he discovered Civil War photos by Mathew Brady, the papers of George Washington, an Abraham Lincoln Virtual Library, as well as extensive collections of online videos, recordings, and documents from all periods of American history.

• American Memory: Lesson Plans, the Learning Page of the Library of Congress provided everything needed, from units and lessons developed by teachers, to links to historical documents located at American Memory.

• Historian’s Sources provides an introduction to the use of primary source documents.

• Turn of the Century Child uses the American Memory resource to study what it was like to be a child in 1900 through the analysis of historical artifacts and diaries.

• Learning About Immigration Through Oral History Explore the immigrant experience through archived oral histories.  

• After Reconstruction: Problems of African Americans in
the South provides wonderful opportunities for cross-curricular collaboration with his team members in English, math, and science.

Many of these resources provided opportunities for Bob’s class to exchange work and share projects with other classrooms around the world. Throughout all of these experiences, his students acquired many new literacies required by the Internet.

E-MAIL FOR YOU From: Lisa Brayton <Lisa.Brayton@MSB.Mat-Su.k12.ak.us> Subject: Using the Internet at our school Cybersurfari is in a sense, a scavenger hunt. Students went from site to site through links, looking for clues.  In the process learned navigational skills, neat facts, and felt excited and successful.  My class also participated in several other great projects at the Global Schoolhouse. Please visit Cottonwood Creeks Elementary School’s new website  and send your ideas or comments to us. Talk to you soon! Lisa Brayton 5th grade teacher Cottonwood Creek Elementary School Wasilla, Alaska

Integrating Multiple Theoretical Frameworks
Within the Context of the Internet:
A New Literacies Perspective

We believe that the Internet and other ICT, such as word processors, instant messaging, web editors, video editors, and others are such a powerful, pervasive, and unique set of technologies that they require theoretical perspectives to emerge from the essential nature of their own reality. There are many new realities that define this new technology. Several of the more important realities include:

1. the pervasive and rapid appearance of the Internet
2. the importance of the  Internet
3. the new literacies that the Internet and other ICT require

The Pervasive and Rapid Appearance of the Internet

We get excited when we discover a site like American Memory and think about how it can be used in the classroom. We become skeptical when we read about politicians who advocate higher standards for student achievement, but disappear when it is time to fund the important new programs in professional development and hardware that are required.

The Importance of the Internet

Given this analysis of our personal, civic, and professional lives during an age of information, it is not surprising that the Internet and other ICT have appeared and become so prominent. These new information and communication tools empower individuals to lead more involved personal and civic lives as they permit economic organizations to successfully make the changes required to compete in a global economy.

Teaching Tip To see a preview of the exchanges taking place every day, visit the archives of RTEACHER, a popular mailing list devoted to conversations about literacy instruction. Notice how educators use this resource to ask questions about instructional issues and discover new ideas for their schools and classrooms.

What are the New Literacies
that the Internet Requires?

If you wish to read more about the theoretical foundations of a New Literacies Perspective, these articles are available online for you:

• Reading Comprehension on the Internet: Expanding our Understanding of Reading Comprehension to Encompass New Literacies

• Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging from the Internet and other Information and Communication Technologies

Visiting the Classroom:  Marci McGowan's First and Second Grade Classes in New Jersey

Take a look at Marci McGowan’s homepages at H. W. Mountz Elementary School in Spring Lake, New Jersey. You will note that you will actually find two sets of classroom webpages at this site: one for first grade, which she taught until spring 2003, and another for the second grade class that she started teaching in the fall of 2003.

Observe the many exceptional Internet projects Marci and her students have completed with classrooms around the world. Marci is widely known for developing these collaborative learning experiences, always organized around ISTE standards.

It is important to develop both foundational literacies and new literacies. Take a look at the wonderfully extensive set of resources for developing foundational literacies in her section on reading, writing, and spelling . These include resources for flash cards, word wall words, a list of Dolch words, reader response journals, comprehension and much more.

Notice many links to resources that develop new literacies including the resources at SCORE Cyberguides  as well as the new literacies developed through her extensive set of Internet projects.

Marci uses her classroom webpage in many ways, but one of the most important lessons it teaches us is how to use a classroom webpage to communicate effectively with parents, forging a tighter relationship between home and school. Marci has a special section for parents.

Especially useful is an extensive set of links to other first and second grade classroom webpages.

Using the Internet Effectively With Your Students

E-MAIL FOR YOU FROM: Marci McGowan Some activities I create and others are shared by teachers from all over the country. Our Month By Month pages and specific subject/theme pages such as the Ocean Study  are available as resources for year-round planning. If you create your own site, keep it simple and focus on content and ease of navigation. Join a mailring or listserv for your grade level or interest, ask for help, and share ideas—learn together! Best wishes, Marci Mrs. McGowan’s 2nd Grade 2003-2004 http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/2nd/index.html Mrs. McGowan’s First Grade http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/index.html

Additional Instructional Resources on the Internet

1st Grade Web sites  Marci McGowan has created this webpage with links to an extensive collection of first grade classroom websites.

Education World is an important online resource for many educators. It has a wealth of information, ranging from news in education to exceptional classroom resources.

Enchanted Learning is a great directory for teachers with a well-organized and extensive set of classroom resources.

ISTE Standards Project contains links to ISTE’s standards and also links to the technology standards for most of the states in the United States.

Leading Practice ICT Examples is an exceptional collection of the best curriculum sites identified by Australian educators.

Mrs. Renz’s 4th Grade Class has one of the best classroom homepages around. Pay a visit to see how new literacies are developed in her classroom.

National Geographic for Kids is an interactive site for younger students who want to learn about the world around them.

New Literacies for New Times This is the online website for this book, containing links to all of the sites mentioned in this book. Just open the screen for each chapter and follow along as you read this text, linking to each site mentioned.

Our children’s future: Changing the focus of literacy and literacy
instruction is an article in Reading Online that explains the many important reasons that we need to broaden our definition of what it means to be literate in an information age.

Pocantico Hills School Take a look at how this school is creating many exceptional resources, publishing student work and making these available to us all.

Position Statement on Literacy and Technology: The International Reading Association The leading literacy organization has come out with a thoughtful position statement on the new literacies that will frame our future. A most thoughtful document explain how and why we need to broaden our view of reading to include the new literacies of the Internet.