CCI #5 What Are the New Literacies?

Layer 1: Assessing Old and New Literacies

High-stakes vs. authentic, formative, reflective, standardized, differentiated, checklists, inventories, rubrics, portfolios, the list of various assessments and assessment strategies goes on and on and is frankly a bit overwhelming at times. In an era where teacher accountability is not just a notion but can literally come down to job security, we as teachers are faced with a need to prove that not only are our students are meeting standards but that we are meeting standards. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for accountability but it does seem that every year we are being asked to do more with less and the whole burden for a student’s success rests squarely on our shoulders. This year for example, I am teaching two new classes (for a total of four different classes) and have been asked to take on the role of Senior Project Coordinator for the entire senior class of 2012. My budget has been cut so there will be little to no resources for books or materials; we have had several administrative changes, and we lost a position that is not being replaced which will lead to larger classes. My goal as an educator is to provide my students with as many varied and interesting methods of instruction and assessment as possible; I worry that I won’t be as effective with so many demands being made. Creating and evaluating effective, reflective methods of assessment takes time. In an English class especially, there is an extremely large volume of written material to review. I’m just concerned that I will not be able to keep up. I have to find a balance between my personal and professional life; is there a class in that I could take?

But I digress; back to the task at hand! I am very familiar with the difference between authentic and high stakes assessments. I know that changes to the system of standardized testing are forthcoming, but in the meantime we are still required to produce results. I just found out that I will be teaching 10^th grade English again and they have a mandatory writing test in that grade level. I am expected to devote a huge portion of the semester drilling and teaching tips and strategies for test-takers. This will take time from other important areas of the curriculum that I think would be more beneficial in the long run. That being said, I did see some strategies in this chapter that could be helpful in assessing written work. They might benefit more from an adapted version of the Learning Participation Inventory than from the traditional red marks on the paper; this tends to cause some students to shut down and disengage. Perhaps more peer-review and self-evaluation would also be helpful. One thing I considered was asking parents to become more involved by reading and commenting on their student’s work. This could be problematic however for the students who don’t have a dependable adult to ask for feedback. With the Senior Project we utilize academic advisors; these are faculty members who agree to read and critique student work for the project. It might be a good idea to implement advisors in the ninth grade and allow them to build a rapport with the students they advise. There are bugs in this system as well. Some faculty members advise with more depth and insight than others, teachers move leaving students to find new advisors and some agree but lack follow through. It can be difficult to hold students accountable when the faculty isn’t always reliable.

Seniors at my school are required to create a portfolio as part of the senior project process and their ability to pass the class hinges on the completion of all required elements of the project. I love the portfolios; however, there are drawbacks as the Gillespie, et al article pointed out. Some teachers do not really use them as a tool to gauge student learning; rather, they are merely a requirement to be fulfilled. Also, they do create a heavier burden on teachers to check them adequately and reflectively. I can see ways in which I will modify the portfolios to allow for more student input. Right now, they have a checklist of things that must be included. The process has been fairly rigid due to the “need for consistency”, according to administration.

I also loved Valencia’s definition of portfolios; that they are “samples of work that exemplify the depth and breadth of (students’) expertise…It resonates with our desire to capture and capitalize on the best each student has to offer; it encourages us to use many different ways to evaluate learning” (qtd. in Gillespie, et al, p. 482, 1996). I think the three most important benefits are that portfolios “facilitate students’ understanding of the relationship that exists among reading, writing, and thinking”; they “provide an opportunity for students to assume responsibility for their own learning and to become more independent” and they “contribute to the development of self-esteem, self-awareness, and a more positive attitude toward reading and writing” (Gillespie, et al, p. 482). I can attest to the idea that it helps foster independence. I have seen this in my own students in addition to an increase in self-esteem upon completion of the project. The most prevalent comment I hear from students is that they didn’t think they could be successful with the project and they are so proud of themselves that they were. Oh, and my favorite, “it really wasn’t so bad”; this after 16 weeks of feet dragging and vociferous complaining.

I love the idea of a portfolio begun in the ninth grade that is developed throughout their high school career. It would be wonderful to implement something that really was cross-curricular; it would also help alleviate some of the burden from the English and other traditional writing intensive course teachers.

The Cerbin article was helpful for creating more effective instruction based on the idea of assessing how students learn. I was on board until the part about Lesson Study. I felt that this would be nearly impossible for the average public school teacher to implement. Most of my colleagues would be averse to giving up precious planning period time to implement this strategy. With the implementation of the one-to-one initiative, we will be giving up many planning periods for training so they will be jealously guarding what remains. Perhaps I am being too cynical though. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

The Bond article reinforced my desire to try the exit slip strategy. Again I was impressed by level of feedback a teacher can gain in an insanely short period of time. The other methods were similar in the feedback an instructor could gain. I can see implementing these in my own class.

My goal this year is to modify the portfolios for the senior class and to implement them in some way in my other classes. I can definitely see the benefit for the students; now I just need to come up with time-effective strategies for implementation.

Layer 2: Exploring New Literacies

First off, I loved the purposeful podcasting clip! Those students were so engaged and articulate. They were also very savvy in terms of their meta-cognition. The girl stated something like “if we get to use our creative side we want to learn more”. I loved that awareness and it is so true, isn’t it? It is true for me and I would guess for many of us. The Zits cartoon was funny, but I have to say, not necessarily accurate for all of us. As a parent of a rising junior, I consider myself pretty computer literate. I am not intimidated by new technology and can see the potential for wonderful application in the classroom. It is a great tool for differentiation because you can lead students to sites that are appropriate for them rather than relying on a one size fits all textbook.

One thing I will have to embrace though is the non-linear nature of reading text online. I like a set order of reading and can get distracted by all of the hyper-links and hyper-media that one is inundated with online. What I need to understand is that not everyone is like me and some people learn more effectively in a less linear way.

I am so going to embrace the blog this year as a way for my students to journal and respond to not only the literature, but also their own and their peers’ work. Thank you Cris for telling me about the online polling site that I can use in lieu of the voting add-ons for the ActivBoard. I had never heard on Ning before so I am looking forward to exploring that site in more depth in addition to YouthVoices which sounded like a great way for students to become more globally aware. My students are very insulated in some ways, being located in such a rural community. This would be a great way for them to be more connected to the larger, global community. And of course, I am looking forward to the implementation of my very own WebQuest! I think my students will be excited to use their creativity and will hopefully, as the student in the clip stated, be more engaged as a result!

I would love for our faculty and administration to move into a more tech-friendly era of instruction and to comfortably embrace theses new literacies. Sheninger does an awesome job of modeling for his faculty. I want to read more about his school and pass it along to my administration! I have to admit though that the Connectivism article was a bit dense and I took exception to some of the statements therein. I agree that we need to adapt our learning theories to embrace the technological environment our students are so fluent in. I don’t though accept that everything that came before is just obsolete. I had a professor recently who wouldn’t accept articles older than 2009 for research purposes. It is absurd to assume that any knowledge gained more than two years ago is now irrelevant. The statement that the “pipe is more important than the content within the pipe” is a dangerous assumption to make. I agree that it is more important at times to be able to access facts than to recite them by rote like some sort of computer; however, I believe knowledge is more than an assortment of random facts. Knowledge is the ability to think critically and to make connections between facts. It is the ability to form independent thoughts that aren’t comprised of a regurgitation of things one reads on the internet. You would lose confidence in people in a professional environment if they constantly answered your questions with the statement, “I don’t know, but I know how to look it up!”.