New Media & New Literacies

  Case Study 1: Google Classroom  Overview: Google Classroom is a platform that is used across many different schools and classrooms. Google classroom gives teachers the ability to post announcements, class content, and assignments. Google Classroom allows students to access work that they missed when they were absent, as well as directions to the assignments. Google Classroom also allows teachers to upload grades, create a grading scale, and insert dates to separate grades by quarter.  User Engagement: This classroom allows for multiple modes of engagement. After any lessons, I always upload the class slideshow into Google Classroom. Students know that at any point, they can refer back to class slides found under our classroom “stream” for help on an assignment and to review for a quiz or test. Students are also able to access any of our classroom assignments using Google Classroom, and for some assignments they have the access of completing the assignment digitally or...

The topic that I would like to research for my final project is Personal Digital Inquiry. Personal Digital Inquiry interests me because it provides students with a way of learning that connects personal interest with civic action. PDI involves combining online research with digital participation and provides a great way for students to integrate their interests into their learning using new media and literacies. As a middle school science teacher I am excited to learn more about this method of inquiry so that I can implement it in my own classroom. I think that the use of Personal Digital Inquiry would provide a great way for students to choose their own topic in science to explore in an investigation using new medias, and allow students to practice communicating their results using different technologies. McCormick, L. J., & Heaton, L. (2020). Review of From curiosity to deep learning: Personal digital inquiry in grades K-5. Education Review (Tempe, Ariz.) , 27 . https://doi.o...

  Technology is a big part of instruction in the classroom today, so it is essential that as educators we are using technology in a purposeful and intentional manner. We must incorporate both analog and digital literacies in the classroom in an effective and up to date way that relates to the world around us. “Although digital tools can help document the world in newly nuanced ways and demonstrate new perspectives, digital literacies often primarily heighten the analog demands we have in our learning goals” (Garcia, 2017). Both digital tools and analog cultures have their pros and cons, and each of these practices come with concerns. “Practically, analog literacies remind us to consider the sensory nature of how we make meaning of our surrounding world” (Garcia, 2017). Analog experiences utilize the senses, and highlight cultural practices that digital culture occludes. Digital culture highlights sounds and images that we can not receive from in an analog context. Oftentimes when d...

The two articles that I will mention in this blog are Teaching Skills That Matter, and Improving Digital Practices for Literacy, Learning, and Justice: more than just tools. Across both articles, the main takeaway emphasized the importance of teaching our students digital literacy, while keeping in mind that technology should not replace our instruction but enhance it. Digital Literacy is important because it is used daily in our professional and personal lives and we are constantly, fluidly switching between non-digital and digital resources.  Main Take-aways In the article, Improving Digital Practices for Literacy, Learning, and Justice, the author emphasizes the importance of preparing our students for a world outside of school, in regard to digital literacy. Students must have authentic learning goals, and then digital resources can be used as an extra tool to enhance the lesson. For example, Garcia mentioned English teachers “exploring social justice movements by looking at th...

In today's day and age technology is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly widespread. But what role does this technological expansion take in literacy? Literacy as we know it refers to reading and writing, but when implementing technology and the media, how does literacy change and what does it look like? I will be referencing two articles that address this “new” form of literacy; Expanded Territories of “Literacy”: New Literacies and Multiliteracies by Yuan Sang, and Improving Digital Practices for Literacy, Learning, and Justice by the International Literacy Association.  As society changes, literacy must adapt and change with it. In the article, Improving Digital Practices for Literacy, Learning, and Justice, the quote “our classrooms must move fluidly between the digital and analog worlds that we simultaneously inhabit” stood out (International Literacy Association, 2018). In almost everything that we do, we are constantly moving between digital and analog worlds at t...

Hi everyone! My name is Kayla Mulvaney and this is my first semester taking courses at Suny Empire. I graduated with my Bachelors Degree from Russell Sage in 2022. I studied Childhood Education while I was there, and then received my initial grades 1-6 teaching certification. This coming school year will be my third year teaching 6th grade Science and Reading, and I am so excited for the school year to commence! When I had initially accepted the position as a 6th grade teacher I was very anxious because I had felt much more comfortable in the lower grade levels, however to my surprise I found a love and passion for 6th grade, and middle school!  I chose to pursue the M.Ed because I want to sharpen my teaching skills, and learn more so I can become the best teacher possible to my students. I want to be able to provide my students with the opportunity to excel academically, and become the best versions of themselves. It is important to be that I build my "teacher tool belt" so ...