New literacies

New literacies would be defined as "the next frontier" of all aspects of language for the present generation and generations to come. It encompasses reading and writing but through a whole new venue-technology and the information age. Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print. Key to all literacy is reading development, which involves a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. In order to be successful in the future, one will have to be able to apply these skills to all sorts of information one receives over the internet and on-line sources. The new definiton would have to includethe former as well as being able to differentiate bewteen valuable and invaluable sources, authentic and artificial sources as well as comprehension of nonlinear text. New literacies also include communication and how to frame communication and correspondence depending on the audience. (Leu et al., 2007)

The NETS for students and teachers reflect the same goals and indicators teachers have for themselves and their students within the conventional classroom. By applying these standards to technological lessons and applications, the transition from traditional classroom practices to technology -based lessons and units will be seemless. The expecations for the students and the teacher are understood and expected. As a techer, my lessons are guided by the major indicators outlined withing the NETS standards. Creativity, collaborative learning, responsibility, accountability critical thinking, problem-solving and decision making skills are all standards and concepts students must master in order to be productive members of a competetive society driven by technology.

As an educator, I have found that students differ when they are required to use technology to reserach a topic or complete a creative project. The one thing I have discovered, across the board, is the easy acceptance of facts as truth because the student found the information on the internet. They have a hard time deciphering authentic information from illegitimate information. They believe any source they encounter and have a tendency to just choose sources that appear in the top half of a google search rather than try to tweek their search and find more suitable sources and information. On the other hand, when students are required to use technology to create a creative project as a culminationg exercise, they seem to excel. I used technology with my lower-performing students in which they had to illustrate the imgery and motifs in Macbeth utilizing one of five on-line programs such as Blogster and Animoto. The students created amazing projects and demonstrated their understanding of the topic as well as important quotes within the play of Macbeth. They were much more successful and willing to participate because the assignment let them be creative, use technology to reinforce their understanding. The projects would have been much more limited if they were only allowed to use just pen and paper to illustrate their understanding.