Final Reflection

     This course has taken me by surprise. I wasn't really that sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed the material. I have to admit that at times, I had no idea what the authors were talking about (mainly with video games), but I learned a lot! One of the biggest things I learned is by having students use blogs or "fan fiction" ish websites, they can write in a new way. Students may be able to express themselves with more confidence than they would by speaking aloud. It's exciting that technology has become such an integral part of our world- especially in education! What I've loved about having this class this semester is that it has fit in SO well with my other classes. In my Trends and Issues class, we are constantly discussing the pros and cons of technology in the classroom. This class helped me gain more insight on that issue. I've learned that video games can help students with problem-solving in real time action as opposed to simply learning about the content. But I've also learned that students need things in moderation- and that includes video games.

     I am teaching fifth grade in a title 1 school next year and because of that, the school receives incredible funding from the state. When I went to visit, there were about 4-5 iPads and MacBooks per classroom. I want to incorporate and weave technology into all that I can next year. Having the technology, I will use web 2.0 tools whenever possible. I've learned that using some of these tools (Glogster, Wordle, etc) enable students to be creative and think in entirely new ways. I am not an artistic person myself, but I always love creating new projects using technology. The world is moving into a technological state and these students need to be able to use and thrive use technology in order to experience not only academic success, but success in their careers as well. Going back to day one in this class, as Millennials, we need to show the world that we are the smartest generation yet. We need to use this technology to explore worlds that were not possible before this. However, I do not want students to lose the desire to sit down read a book or play outside. Technology should not replace these learning experiences, only enhance them!

Text Set #4

The Three Branches of Government

Congress for Kids
http://www.congressforkids.net/Constitution_threebranches.htm


This is a great website for students to explore the three branches of government and the constitution! They may read all about the government and how bills are passed in detail. Very user-friendly and kid-friendly. Grades 3-5

Ben's Guide: Branches of Government
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html


This is a simple, yet informative website. What I like most is the visual that is on the homepage. This would be great to print out and display in the classroom. Grades 3-5




Three Branches of Govenment
http://government.pppst.com/3branches.html


This is a helpful website for teachers! It offers free PowerPoints for teachers and government games for students. It also includes some lesson plans, templates, and clipart! Grades 3-5


3 Branches of Government
http://www.wartgames.com/themes/government/3branches.html


What a fun website! There are activities and games for students pertaining to the three branches. They can play games that detail with all three branches or solely play games that involve a particular branch. Grades 3-5

Branches of Government Game http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/government/branches_government.htm


This is an interactive website that requires students to drag responsibilities over from a box into the right branch of government. Highly recommend this website! Grades 3-5  

Branches of the Government
http://www.texaslre.org/branches_game/branches_game.html


This is another great interactive website! The branches are split up into tree branches and the students must drag leaves that contain facts on them to the correct branch. Highly recommend this as well! Grades 3-5


The Three Branches of Government
http://www.slideshare.net/judgea/the-three-branches-of-government


This is a PowerPoint made by a student on the three branches of government. It is very informative, however I would use it as an example and have students create their own PowerPoint! Grades 4-5


SMART Exchange: Branches of Government
http://exchange.smarttech.com/search.html?q=%20branches%20of%20government


This is a great tool for teachers with a smart board in their classroom. There is a MULTITUDE of PowerPoint presentations to choose from to introduce/review the 3 branches. They are interactive as well! Grades 3-5


White House Grounds View
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour


This is a great website to take students on a virtual field trip to the White House! Students can watch videos, look at pictures, layouts, or take an interactive tour! Grades 3-5


Three Branches of Government
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110221/


This website simply allows students to explore all three branches of government. It is simply and informative! Grades 3-5


3 Branches of Government
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5M50xBz1cU


This video on YouTube is great to discuss the 3 branches! It is School House Rock video and it is catchy! Grades 3-5


BrainPOP: Branches of Government
http://www.brainpop.com/
socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw
/branchesofgovernment/


We all love BrainPOP! This a great video to introduce or review the three branches of government. Tim and Moby give definitions and the visuals are great. Highly recommend this! Grades 3-5




BrainPOP: Presidental Power
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw/presidentialpower/


This BrainPOP is perfect to discuss what the president's duties are. Once again, this would be a great video to give a summary over what the president does and the powers he/she has. Grades 3-5


Branches of Government (Government in Action!) by John Hamilton
http://www.amazon.com/Branches-Government-Action-John-Hamilton/dp/1591976448

This is an engaging book that discusses how government got started and how everything runs now. There are great pictures as well as a glossary for students. Grades 3-5


The Three Branches of Government
http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/education/the-3-branches-of-government-4504165


This is pretty neat- it is a flip book that students can flip through online that scrolls through the branches of government and the constitution. Very visually appealing! Grades 4-5

New Literacies Glossary

Discourses (p.3) - Discourses are socially recognized ways of using language (reading, writing, speaking, listening), gestures and other semiotics (images, sounds, graphics, signs, codes), as well as ways of thinking, believing, feeling, valuing, acting/doing and interacting in relation to people and things, such that we can be identified and recognized as being a member of a socially meaningful group, or as playing a socially meaningful role (cf., Gee 1991, 1996, 1998).


Primary Discourses (p. 3)- How we learn to be and act within our face to face interactions throughout our lives.

Secondary Discourses (p.3)- Discourses recruited through outsides groups (friends, school, clubs, etc.).


Encoded texts (p. 5)- Texts that have been rendered in a form that allows them to be retrieved, worked with, and made available independently of the physical presence of another person.

Web 2.0 (p. 16)

Role-Playing (p. 67)- an episodic and participatory story-creation system that includes a set of quantified rules that assist a group of players and a gamemaster in determining how their fictional characters’ spontaneous interactions are resolved (2001, 5; original emphases).

Secondary Authors (p. 68)- Authors who construct specific fictional situations within a pre-established imaginary world. The secondary author takes the work of the primary author and uses it to create a certain situation.

Primary Authorship (p. 71)- The primary author develops a world and a set of rules. 

Agency (p. 72)- Agency describes the capabilities one has in terms of taking action within a space of possibility (Anstey 2005).

Authority (p. 72)- Authority refers to the ability to enforce and judge the results of those actions.

Textual Agency (p.73)- how much control one has over the actual text in question, such as the text of the book or the shot sequence of the movie.

Narrative Agency (p. 73)- refers to how much control one has over the story.this includes both an author’s capacity to have their characters act in certain ways within a narrative text, and a reader’s capacity to interpret and understand those actions (Anstey 2005)

Psychological Agency (p. 73)- Psychological agency describes how much control individuals feel that they have (Mateas 2003).


Narrative authority (p. 73)- refers to who makes decisions about the way the text or story actually turns out.  




Psychological authority (p. 73) has to do with the way that the text establishes its fictional authority over the reader, and the degree to which the reader buys in to the story (Bal 1998).  



Cultural Authority (p. 73) - How much value we assign to the text, and to the notion of the author as the final arbiter of meaning within it (Foucault 1977).


Physical Authority (p.73)- The authority that a traditional text has simply by being a text, as it is hand- ed down over time and becomes an authoritative resource. 


Fanfiction (p.116)- denotes texts written by fans about their favorite media and pop cultural icons. Such texts often extend the plotline of the original series (e.g., characters from Star Trek discover a new planet), explore relationships between characters (e.g., Shaggy and Velma from Scooby Doo fall in love), and/or expand the timeline of the media by developing prequels and/or sequels of sorts (e.g., a journal detailing the many regrets of Darth Vader before his death); however, these are just a few examples of the many creative contributions such fan texts make to the pop cultural imaginary.








Affinity Spaces (p.13)- to be and feel connected to other people and to celebrate a fandom: to participate in an affinity, to make shared meanings, to brighten the day, share a laugh, share one’s passion for a product or a character, and so on in an online space.


Memes (p.199)- Memes are contagious patterns of “cultural information” that get passed from mind to mind and directly generate and shape the mindsets and significant forms of behavior and actions of a social group. Memes include such things as popular tunes, catch- phrases, clothing fashions, architectural styles, ways of doing things, icons, jingles, and the like.

 All definitions came straight from:


 Knobel, M. and Lankshear, C. (eds) (2007). A New Literacies Sampler. New York: Peter Lang.

Media Presentation

This is a video that I created to share with my class on the first day! I feel as if this is a great way to introduce technology into the classroom and start the year off right. Students will also get a great visual of a snapshot of my life! I'd also like them to do something like this in the first few weeks of school so everyone can learn about their classmates.

"New Literacies"

What was this chapter about/what does it tell us about teaching students?


In this chapter, Cynthia Lewis discusses how writing in this new digital era requires thinking on practicing tools. New literacies aren't "new" unless they involve both new technologies and "ethos stuff." As she writes, "Big L literacies are connected with identities, patterns, and ways of being in the world rather than solely with the acts of reading and writing. The three dimensions of practice I’ll discuss—agency, performativity, and circulation—are salient across the forms and cases of new literacies discussed in this volume" (p. 230). In particular, circulation is what I want to focus on. Memes can circulate, change, and reproduce as something new. We must have a deep understanding of why they change and how they are interconnected to pop culture. Lewis discusses how she was fearful of this book- fearful of the literacies that are talked about in this book. She states that maybe we should not be incorporating these new literacies into the classroom. Then again, the world is changing and technology is a large part of it. Should we be using these new literacies in the classroom to prepare students for the future and workplace? She concludes with, "The question is whether we want to make school literacy more engaging for students and more meaningful to their present and future lives in a digitally mediated world" (p. 236). This tells us that as teachers, we need to be making decisions on where we want our lessons to go and how we want our students to learn.
 


Does this apply to all content areas?


Yes! This applies to teachers everywhere in every classroom!

"Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production"

What was this chapter about/What does this tell us about teaching students?


In this chapter, Knobel and Lankshear discuss memes, which are "contagious patterns of “cultural information” that get passed from mind to mind and directly generate and shape the mindsets and significant forms of behavior and actions of a social group" (p. 199). For instance, a meme could be a popular song, a fashion styles, etc. Memes are often catchy propaganda. There are three types of means; fidelity, fecundity, and longevity. Fidelity is the quality of the meme, fecundity refers to the rate at which the meme is copied, and longevity is the key ingredient. The longer a meme is copied and passed down, the "better" its innovation. The researchers looked at online meme pools for a study and found that there are no particularly different characteristics from online memes to normal memes. They found that humor was a key component in the memes and also cross-references to pop-culture. Memes are also successful because they rely on the human mind. They state, "A “big L” conception of new Literacies recognizes that everyday life is often amplified through the participation of and interaction with people one may never meet and, moreover, that in online spaces this interaction and participation may occur in ways never before possible." As teacher, it is crucial that we help students understand why memes are occurring and why they are popular. Students need to learn to evaluate and analyze their culture around them. 





Does this chapter apply to all content areas?


Yes! All students should learn to evaluate their culture around them!

"Looking from the Inside Out: Academic Blogging as New Literacy"

What was this chapter about/What does it tell us about teaching students?


Davies and Merchant discuss blogging! They want to explore how we view blogging as a way of interactive text. Blogging has become a social practice. Their popularity is booming and it is extremely user-friendly. Basically, blogs are online journals that include updates often and short posts. Blogs can be used to share recipes, stories, travel stories, criticize, share obsessions, etc. Graphic design also plays a big role in blogging. This is extremely important in the semantics of the blog! Color, layout, images, and sound all contribute to the mood and meaning given from the author. Individuals develop blogger identities and often reveal very intimate details about their lives. Individuals develop online relationships where those in their social network will visit often. This chapter tells us that there are so many new interactive texts out there now. Students may feel free to share what is on their mind more openly if they have a blog. They may create a blogger identity and share important and personal things. However, once something is on the internet, it's out there for the world to see. So I think we need to be careful about how we go about using blogs in the classroom and extremely careful about privacy settings, etc. Blogging could be a great way for teachers to integrate technology and writing into the classroom! 


Does this chapter apply to all content areas?


Somewhat, yes. As students grow older, blogging could be a great way to share ideas and find connections. In elementary school, online blogging could be dangerous and too mature, but there may be a way to have them simply role-play or have them use microsoft word to practice their typing skills and share their thoughts on an idea.