"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).
Before I started my formal learning process in the traditional classroom setting my social environment was my first form of literacy. My parents and others within my community started to shape my cognition based on the characteristics of my surroundings to include my ethnicity, moral beliefs, and life experiences.
Once I started the formal learning process in the traditional classroom setting my literacy expectations were confined to what was in text. When in this environment I felt that students were limited in sharing the differencing and experiences of their social surrounding as a part of the formal cognition process.
Today, technology has allowed us to form an education environment that has no boundaries. Our literacy expectations are no longer limited by texts and our local social environments. In addition to the formal content, by using technology it allows students and teachers from all parts of the world/country to share their culture experiences, social beliefs, and life experiences as a part of the curriculum.
Additionally, with today's technology we are incorporating literacy as a part of our social practice. Word processing programs and other communication platforms allows us to create text and is contributing to our literacy process when we are probably not even thinking about it. I witness this - when I see how advance my children are in reading and writing compared to when I was their age.
Like most things there are pros and cons to being immersed in technology as it relates to literacy. One major con is what happens when technology is unavailable?
Your question is a good one - and what happens if schools don't have technology or if students don't have access? That becomes part of a "digital divide". It's something teachers need to consider.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great question, and one that I have seen from both sides. I was a substitute teacher in a suburban district that had more than adequate classroom technology available for students. In addition, these students had access to technology at home. In contrast, I did my student teaching in a high needs urban district. These students had limited access to technology in the classroom. Many of these students did not have access to technology at home. Teachers in the urban district would have to make sure that some of their assignments were not too technologically advanced, as not all students had the same regular access to technology. As a result, many engaging activities involving technology became extra credit assignments.
ReplyDeleteThat said, teachers have so many more options. I remember being able to preview and choose from over ten different youtube videos I could use in class for a lesson on Andrew Carnegie. These videos were much more engaging than overhead notes or a dry textbook. I could incorporate key vocabulary terms from the video into the lesson, as well as critical thinking questions.
And, then, also interesting...if (and I argue it is so) our world is more and more based in technology and those devices that give us access, are kids who don't have access denied another layer of knowing. Might this limit their career choices eventually?
DeleteYou seem to be raising the issue of the so-called "digital divide." In practice it seems to be shrinking. Kids who would never have thought of asking for a laptop more and more often have access to smartphones, even in poor nations.
DeleteSee, e.g. http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=icmb2014
This is a great question, and one that I have seen from both sides. I was a substitute teacher in a suburban district that had more than adequate classroom technology available for students. In addition, these students had access to technology at home. In contrast, I did my student teaching in a high needs urban district. These students had limited access to technology in the classroom. Many of these students did not have access to technology at home. Teachers in the urban district would have to make sure that some of their assignments were not too technologically advanced, as not all students had the same regular access to technology. As a result, many engaging activities involving technology became extra credit assignments.
ReplyDeleteThat said, teachers have so many more options. I remember being able to preview and choose from over ten different youtube videos I could use in class for a lesson on Andrew Carnegie. These videos were much more engaging than overhead notes or a dry textbook. I could incorporate key vocabulary terms from the video into the lesson, as well as critical thinking questions.