Well, this chapter is an introduction to what “New
Literacies” actually means. The authors
list “typical examples” of new literacies as: video gaming, fan fiction
writing, weblogging, using websites to participate in affinity practices, and social
practices involving mobile computing” (p. 1).
However, the underlying tone in this chapter is that these new
literacies will continue to evolve, and maybe even now shouldn’t be called “new”
literacies, as they are “old” in internet-years.
Brian Street defined literacy practices as “particular ways
of thinking about and doing reading and writing in cultural contexts,” which
seems to be a summation, more or less, of the sociocultural perspective that
says reading and writing can only be understood in the contexts of social, cultural,
political, economic, and historical practices.
We make meaning from texts based on our own personal
experiences and skills. The evaluation
of whether or not content is “meaningful” must be able to stretch to
accommodate the intent of the creator.
For instance, the creator might produce material as an “expression of
wanting to feel ‘connected’ or ‘related’ right now. The content might be much more relational
than literal. It might be more about expressing solidarity or affinity with particular
people” (p. 5).
I like learning about these “new literacies” because I know
they will serve as tools my students can use to create. And, if I can get around the red tape of
students posting online…and passed the fear of online predators, passed the
slow computers in my classroom, etc., I can offer my students a new way to
express themselves and to show what they’ve learned in an English class.
I believe this chapter can absolutely be applied in my
content area, and I’m looking forward to finding out more about how exactly to
apply it. One thing I really like is
that when students post online blogs, for example, if I can get Central Office
to let them have a blog that is not set to private, they can get feedback from
people outside of our school, our county, our state…you get the idea. In a high school, cliques and labeling are
so prevalent. Perhaps, they can actually
get credit in class and find an audience that they can relate to.
You have hit on one big area I think is a problem in public schools and education, and that is the fear of internet predators, etc. I think it gets in the way of some very real sharing and feedback opportunities and takes away some of students' chances to have their work be published in meaningful ways. I understand possible legal ramifications, but surely in this day and age there are ways to be somewhat anonymous or protected about such posting.
ReplyDeleteI know Know County has some system where students post using pseudonyms. That can't be that hard to do other places, can it?